Conditions Could Not Have Been More Perfect...

This morning the stage as set for the final showdown. The wind died down. The pressure was slowly dropping. Some light fog rolled in. The pond's water temperature and the air temperature were both up from the previous week. It was actually warm enough for shorts! I put the kayak in before 8:00 and was fishing almost immediately. I was completely ready to catch some big largemouth bass.

It was going to be good. Fish were active. On a number of occasions I watched bass and pickerel busting on bait tight to shore. I was getting pickerel follows right away. I caught some perch. Things just seemed right. These are the kind of days when it can be expected that any cast could produce a hawg largemouth.

But the universe had other plans for me. I did not catch one bass, not one pickerel, not even a decent crappie. I had to walk away shaking my head. What is with these fish? Same conditions, same time of year last year I was getting the predator slam in this pond with relative ease (bass, pick, 'eye). There is no reason why I shouldn't have caught some big fish today.

I actually gave that pond the finger. That's the first time I've ever actually been angry at a body of water. It's just that I know how generous this place can be, and for a good part of this fall it has been giving me the finger! One walleye and two pickerel in a month... that isn't right.