Pond and Lake Fishing, Seemed Simple Enough

A few days earlier I had gone for a walk with my wife around the lakes and ponds at Silver Springs State Park. There were hundreds of bass fry swimming along the shore line. In the small ponds, largemouth bass were cruising. At least a dozen of them were milling around with a few well worth catching. Lots of bluegills were swimming around with quite a few of them eating size. There was a school of gills building beds along one shore.

As we were leaving there was a stunning sunset event. At least I thought it was stunning.

I made a few jokes about the failed rapture, the spiriting away of fish instead of people and I thought I had pretty much laid that joke to rest. Or so I thought.

In a write up from the other day, I had the arrogance to announce the following:

I was going to hit another high water spot on the way home where I’ve been having a fair amount of success, but decided to just go home instead. Saturday will be another day. The creeks will be blown out, the river will be high. I’ll need to go out fishing, but I can’t do that again.

Instead I’ve decided to test my limits. I’ll be heading to a crystal clear lake that gets a tremendous amount of fishing pressure. I’ll walk the shores and fish, and I’ll catch fish. I know I will.

I was so confident in this arrogant stance that I decided to use the most inefficient means possible to put a lure in front of a fish, my fly rod and some kind of fly.

My reasoning behind this was sound, I had watched other anglers throwing all kinds of lures in the water. Lures that probably had names like Lucky Craft Sammy 100, or Strike King spinnerbait 3/16oz, or Terminator T1 spinnerbait 3/8oz Bright White Shad, or Strike King Series 5 Pro-Model Crankbaits Color: Blue Gizzard Shad.

They got nothing for their efforts.

Instead, I thought I would throw lures at them with names like spider, bumble bee, hellgrammite and minnow. I thought for sure I would clean up.

4 PM rolled around and in spite of the spotty rain, I headed out. Fishing in the rain is not a problem. Waving a stick around in the air with lightning in the vicinity, that was a problem. Luckily the lightning had moved off and I thought for sure the overcast skies and continued sporadic rain would make things that much better.

The first stretch of the lake and a pond I had to skip. I don’t care how good a person is at a roll cast, that wasn’t going to happen here. Not with any real success. As I moved down the pond I noticed a decided lack of fish. There were a few small pods of a few small bluegills and that was it. I put a spider on top of their heads.

The result was a major disappointment. These normally hyper aggressive predators that attack anything that touches the water swam up, stopped and stared. A couple would come up and nip at the fly.

No, no, no, these are supposed to be hits with abandon from fish that have no fear. These are the fish that if they grew to two pounds, people say they would quit fishing for bass. They’re not supposed to sniff around nipping at things. I kept wandering down the shore line making perfect casts to pods of gills with the same lack of interest shown every single time. By the time I got to the end of the first pond, I realized there was a complete lack of bass milling around.

I headed back to my car for my spinning gear. Drastic measures were required for the next pond.

The next pond was even bigger. The opposite shore was in reach with a little more effort than usual put into a cast.

I was nailing all the likely fish holding spots.

This was where gills and bass cruised just a few days earlier. Beds full of gills were supposed to be lining the shore. Only they were all gone. There was not a single sign of a fish anywhere. I threw my homemade topwater lure, nothing. I dredged the bottom with worms and crayfish, still nothing. I went over to the lake side, all the bass fry were gone.

I gave up.

Back at the car, gear all stowed away, I looked out across the lake. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Still another sign of the rapture occurring directly over the lake. Probably back for any fish that might have got missed. I like to have a little fun at the expense of those with such zealous religious fervor, but even I like to think I know when to stop.

Whoever is in charge of the universe, I’ll meet you half way. I’ll quit making jokes, you quit doing shit like this.

It’s not funny any more.

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