This summer, instead of fishing Geist Reservoir, I’ve been angling in small ponds for redear and bass. I’ve almost concluded that when I was wrong, I was right, and when I changed to right, I may have been mistaken.
Geist Reservoir has a stunted population of bluegill. To keep them off the hook, I went from the Alan Muey type 1/64th ounce felt jig to a larger plastic grub meant for crappie. I pinched the head off a two-inch grub to downsize it for redear.
One pond has nice 2-4 pound bass, 18-inch catfish, very tiny bluegill, and redear of unknown size. Unknown because I haven’t caught one since the pond owner restocked after a fish kill several years ago.
I didn’t fish for panfish because the bass fishing was so good. Also, my son Greg often went with me, and he’d rather fish for bass. Greg is getting too good, having outfished me on the last three trips.
About a month ago, Bob May was fishing this pond with small jigs and caught three large readers. Unconvinced small jigs were the answer; I fished the pond with red worms and nightcrawlers. The catfish liked the live bait, but I only caught one redear about nine inches.
Another friend who fishes Geist also uses the small Muey jigs. Perhaps I should go back to them. On special order, Muey will tie me some 1/32nd ounce jigs on a slightly larger #6 hook. I’ve had luck with these in the past.
Another pond has stunted bass, large bluegill, and big redear. They don’t seem to like the small 1/64th ounce jig, yet they love a gold head/red split tail Trout Magnet of the same weight, especially the redear.
I’m beginning to think each body of water is a riddle. Another pit of about 10 acres used to have redear and probably still does, but I can’t catch them. Again, I need to leave the bass rods at home.
How did I catch fish as a kid? I outfished all my childhood friends and gave the White River adult carp anglers a run for their money. Back then, I used black nylon lines, nuts, and bolts for sinkers and a piece of corn cob for a bobber.
I’ve never been satisfied with the status quo. When I was 13, I flavored dough bait with lemon extract. Mom was getting tired of me using her expensive Watkin’s Vanilla. Soon, the old river anglers were bumming bait off of the kid, so I had to make larger batches. Sugar, cornmeal, and flour were the other ingredients.
I recently met an acquaintance of my late friend Bill Shearer. He invited me to fish in his pond, surrounded by cattails. One must pole a two-person bass boat out to deep water, which is only about five feet deep.
The man told me he had stocked only bluegill, crappie, and bass years ago. The bluegill were hybrids, with 96 percent of their offspring being male. He didn’t think there were any bluegill left.
Greg and I found the bass somewhat stunted, topping at 2.5 pounds. We discovered plenty of regular bluegills up to 7-¾ inches. We caught no crappie but were surprised to catch a nice redear.
The bluegills and bass were hugging the cattails. It would be a fun place to ice fish.
Nothing is coming out of my tackle box, but I’m reintroducing some old favorites and always trying something new. If you have a suggestion, I’m all in.
Be the first to comment