Sunday, December 4th:
Swim season is in full effect so my chances to go fishing after school are pretty much over. Add on the fact that my wife and youngest son were heading out of town for a week, and he had an NJROTC orienteering event on Saturday, my fishing for the weekend was really just today. I actually tried a little on Saturday up in Baltimore County but I hadn't done any research to find a good spot so it was fruitless.
So this morning I drove up to my new favorite spot, Hunting Creek. All the leaves that have been on the water's surface were gone. I had a small jig with buck tail and a half inch piece of "Hot worm" by Field & Stream. A few casts into the outing, my line went tight. The fight was on. Once the fish came to the surface I made sure I played it since I could see it was a good size pickerel. I got him to shore and was very happy to see a 22 inch fish. Again two inches shy of a "citation" fish but a really nice fish nonetheless, so a couple of photos and he was released. I moved to a couple of other spots along the stream but eventually I settled on trying a few casts from the old bridge. I ended up hooking up with an 8 inch yellow perch. I released it as well and then headed back to the car to head to the store for a couple of things.
After picking up a couple of things I stopped off at a private pond. I switched to a little heavier jig in efforts to get it out a little further. I caught one black crappie in about a half hour and then headed home.
Sunday, December 11th:
Got up this morning and did a couple of things around the house and then drove down to Lake Lariat with the kayak. The air temperatures were in the mid-30s with a slight breeze and overcast skies. I was dressed warm enough so I didn't have any trouble being cold. But with the fact that the temperatures had been much cooler recently, not many fish were in the areas I like to try. I used the same hair jig as last week and hooked up with one bass but it was such a light bite that I didn't feel it enough to give it a good hook set. A little later, along the same shoreline, I felt the same, barely anything, bite. I reeled down as quick as I could and was able to catch the only fish of the day, a small bass.
Sunday, December 18th:
After a fruitless day of fishing on Saturday I decided I'd try again. I had given both the private pond and Hunting Creek a try, but both were covered with a layer of ice. But the temperatures on Saturday continued to rise and this afternoon, after church, I found them clear and ready to fish. Nothing really happened at Hunting Creek despite trying a few different baits. So I headed over to the private pond I like to try. I had a 1/8 oz jig, with hair and a baby Shad, under a float. After about 10 minutes of casts, I made one and began to reel it in, pausing after three or four cranks of the handle. About 20 ft from shore the float gave a little bounce and I set the hook. I ended up with a small, maybe 12 inch, largemouth. Now in the interest of full disclosure, I was using my youngest son's old spincast rod and reel. The rod has plenty of bend and a pretty fast acting tip so the hook set came easily. But the reel itself isn't the fastest on bringing in line. Luckily it had enough to bring in the couple of crappie and small bass I was able to land. Unfortunately it wasn't fast enough to bring in the 3 - 3 & 1/2 pounder that came off right at the shoreline. If I had been wearing boots I could have reach out and touched it. Oh well- that's fishing.
Friday, December 23rd:
It's the first day of Christmas break so I took the opportunity to get out on the kayak for a couple of hours. Air temperatures were in the mid 40s with not a lot of wind. The skies were sort of overcast as well. I made my way to Lake Lariat and paddled around using the small hair jig I had tied and have been using. I can say that I had a perfect day because I was able to "boat" the fish that bit. Unfortunately I was perfect only because I had one bite the entire time. I'll have to see how I do the rest of break.
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