TWIF (This Week in Fishing) April 16th - 22nd

Saturday and Sunday of this last week were spent in Salisbury visiting with family. Loads of time spent helping my sisters at their homes as well as at my mother's. We also celebrated my youngest nephew's birthday. Timmy turned 8 and loves baseball. He also enjoys going fishing with Uncle Dave.

For his birthday my wife and I gave him a "Rocket Fishing Rod." Fun to use, and hopefully it will cure his tendency to cast to close to over hanging tree limbs, he enjoyed using it. Alas we didn't get any bites, but that won't stop us the next time.

My fishing adventures on Saturday and Sunday of last week were spent in the mornings. I paddled around Leonard's Mill Pond for a couple of hours each day casting the same Arkie jig head. I had it rigged with a 2" green bodied and white tailed tube as well as a silver tube. I caught several panfish, mostly crappie dressed up for the prom. But my biggest surprise came when after one cast I reeled in a close to 9" golden shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas).

I had never caught a shiner before, but knew that they were found in Leonard's Mill. To me size of a catch isn't important, I'm more interested in diversity; now I can add another species to my list.

Fast forward to Wednesday evening the night of my son's soccer practice. After dropping him off I took the 5 minute drive down the highway to Sewell Branch. A short trail leads from the parking lot of a car repair shop to a creek. Probably only 20 or so feet across, I made casts using a green and yellow inline spinner (a rooster tail). It got bumped a couple of times, and I hooked up once but alas no luck in getting it to shore. In other words SKUNKED!

The week ended with a few passing showers so my youngest son's soccer practice was cancelled. My oldest was still heading into town for swim practice. That meant I could head back to Sewell Branch for another try. I started with a small jig but didn't get any takes, I decided to switch to a chartreuse inline spinner, or Rooster Tail.

I made a few casts and did my best to retrieve it slowly. On the fifth or sixth cast it got hit and HIT HARD! After making sure the hook was set I did my best to make sure the drag wouldn't fail me. I fought the fish for a couple of minutes and then brought it onto shore. When I was all finished I was privileged enough to reel in a nice 18" chain pickerel. A very nice way to end the week of fishing.

Tight lines!