Topwater 6/25/13
 

Hit a local weedy section of a canal last night to try my hand at hollow body frog fishing. I really haven't done a whole lot of fresh water bass fishing the last 10 years or so, and almost no top water so I knew there was going to be a re- learning curve.

Got to the spot I wanted to try at about 7:30, at 7:33 I was on my way to the local grocery store to pick up a can of bug spray with (no joking here) 14 mosquito bites on my legs alone. About 7:50 I am back to my spot and make my first cast at which point a medium sized snapping turtle does his best to make a meal of my frog.

Fished till I couldn't see my frog 10 feet from the bank. Final count for the night was 7 bites, 2 hooked fish, and nothing landed. The first 6 bites where surprisingly light, no big splash just a gentle slurp. I think most of these were either smaller fish who missed the hook (as I did remember to wait a second on the hook set) or larger fish just non aggressively grabbing the legs. Last bite of the night was that classic giant swirl that I somehow just screwed up. Interestingly, no fish would come back for a second shot at the bait, it was all one and done.

Fun night on the water anyway. Wound up seeing 3 different Great Blue Herons, one beaver, about 100 turtles, a high school aged couple making out in the woods, and some type of small owl that didn't like my being where I was at all. The owl (I think perhaps a small Sey-Whet Owl) flew at me several times screaming and then would land close to me (within 15 feet) on a branch and clip/snap his beak at me. Really funny now, a little un-nerving in the dark.

Going to try again later this week.

Re: Topwater 6/25/13
 

Nice fishing report.
It's not always about landing the trophy bass. It's the overall experience of being outdoors, hunting down some big fish and seeing the the natural world at work around you.

That's what I always try to convince my friends who have only fished from party-boats offshore. From a party-boat, all you'll see is the ocean horizon. The captain decides on the spot. The paying customer is just a winch to bring fish up from the wreck.

Fresh water anglers have to do the footwork (literally), select their spot, present their lures or bait, and deal with the elements of being in the woods.

Re: Topwater 6/25/13
 

The owl part of this story just reminded me of something that happened up at Lake Champlain last week.

We were done fishing for the day, we had ate, so I decided to try some jerkbait and topwater action from our dock while my buddies were hanging inside. I was particularly drunk that night, and it was dark (already not a great combo).

So I'm fishing, nothing on the jerkbait, and switch to my spook. I heard these big flapping wings and saw a commorant in the moonlight flying by about 50-60 yards away and landed on a nearby dock facing me directly in a straight line(probably saw my bait on the water). I bring in my lure close to my dock and see the bird take off. I swear to god I saw this thing flying right at me and I freaked out and ducked. I think I even yelled a bit. Turns out he did take off, in the opposite direction from me but I couldn't tell from the darkness.

Damnit. :rolleyes: