Cold Fronts and Crummy Tide Cycles

I figured I'd take a short walk down to the river this morning to see what the tide was like and whether or not the shad were there and willing to eat. There was a boat race ongoing, and the wind conditions were excellent. I met a gentleman at the dock who said he would have been in the race if he had felt better in the morning. He, like many people I have met on that dock, had some interesting stories. I always enjoy chatting with people there for that reason. The tide was garbage though and I wasn't seeing signs of life other than a few huge carp leaping so I opted for plan B, largemouth bass.

Bass are a predictable fish. Today was not the best type of weather for them. Cold fronts shut off a lot of predator fish, actually, but what bass fisherman call finesse tactics will work during this weather pattern. Fly fishing is as finesse as it gets. I chose to use smaller sized streamers on a sink tip line with a slow jig type retrieve. The first pond gave up a few crappies and pumpkinseeds, but the one bedded up pair I saw, a one pound male with a 5-6 pound female, was more interested in chasing gills' and crappies than eating my flies.

Geese on the left, muskrat on the right.

The next pond was nerve racking due to the monsters I saw yesterday. I don't usually get the shakes from black bass. I've been fishing for bass for 8 years now and even the biggest I've caught never gave me the shakes, but today I was a wreak. Every bump was a 12 pounder and every missed fish was a missed chance of a lifetime. I don't care that I was lying to myself, and I don't care that the conditions were far from optimal. I new where the fish would be and it felt right. I got a few small bass and some snot rockets but the goliaths stayed hidden.