TWiF (This Week in Fishing) December 27th -December 29th

Tuesday, December 27th: Merry Christmas everyone! The holidays have been relaxing, which for my family is not always true. For the first time in over 15 years, my family and I weren't heading to Asheville, NC. We did have my wife's family come to St. Leonard on the Saturday before Christmas and we had a very nice time with them. The next morning we got up early and drove down to Myrtle Beach, SC. We were using some of our vacation points for what we planned on being a week's stay. Our condo was right on the beach, and I brought down a couple of spinning rods to give a little fishing a try.

A visit to the Bass Pro store, and a couple of questions to one of the clerks, showed me that trying surf fishing in late December might be time wasted. So I purchased a two week freshwater license and decided to visit some of the retention ponds in the area.

This morning I drove to one that was behind a couple of small stores and began to cast my trusty 1/32 oz jig dressed with deer hair. The second cast paid off with the small sunfish above. According to the catalogue that came with my license, South Carolina is home to eight species of sunfish. It was my hope that maybe I'd get a new one, but alas the two I caught were just typical bluegill. I also caught one small largemouth but as I was removing the hook it slipped from my hands and back into the water. I'll probably try a couple of other baits and techniques in that area, or maybe even try another pond or two. I'll just have to see.

Wednesday, December 28th:

A week at the beach, in winter, but who could tell? The temperatures here in Myrtle Beach were in the low 70's with a slight breeze. We spent the morning on the beach playing games as a family. After that and a quick lunch I drove up to try a little more at the same retention pond I tried yesterday. Being in mid day, I struggled finding the right combination to catch much. I did manage one nice bluegill, but that was almost an accident as I was putting my fishing bag down when he hit.

Later that evening I drove back to the same spot just before sunset. I had a different jig head, this one was paint yellow, with a small Berkeley minnow style bait. It also was yellow with some white on the underside. I got several pulls on it before I cut it in half, figuring it was too long. That paid of with a nice redear sunfish.
Eventually the bait was torn apart so I switched to a small piece of " which was about the same color. It brought in a couple more bluegill. At that point the sun had set and I decided to head back to the rental. We'll see what tomorrow holds, but the weather is about the same I plan on trying some more.

Thursday, December 29th: Last full day in Myrtle Beach and I started it with some time along the pond. I used the same small jig with a piece of the hot worm as before and was lucky enough to get three bluegill to bite. Now being the Fish Nerd that I am I was well aware that the first one I caught was going to be my 1,400th fish of 2016. He wasn't the largest fish in the pond probably, but he was my favorite! I thought it was cool that I could catch a "milestone" fish outside of my home area.

I'm not sure if I'll get out again before the end of 2016, so I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Thanks for staying with me on my adventures and I hope to continue with the updates in 2017.

TWiF (This Week in Fishing) December 4th - December 23rd

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.