<h1>Bennett O. Hughes Memorial Tree Farm </h1>

Well, we are midway through January and I haven't done much writing recently. Much of that comes down to the fact that until today I had only caught one small bass at the private pond that I like to frequent. Also for a couple of days there was a good inch to inch and a half of ice on most of the water in our area due to a cold spell. Not knowing enough about ice fishing, I didn't dare to even try. But today all of the water is open and I headed out for a little bit. I started at the same private pond and managed to catch on nice size crappie. I caught it on a 1/32 oz jig with a Bobby Garland "monkey milk" baby shad. I thought that I wouldn't have much more time until my wife let me know that the serviceman for the washer wasn't coming until after lunch. So I decided to give another location a try.

The Tree Farm

Last year in May, I tried a location that a former student, now an officer in the Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources, told me about: the Bennett O. Hughes Memorial Tree Farm. Located off of Clay Hammond Road, a little east of Prince Frederick, MD, the area was donated to Calvert County in 1986. Today it serves as an example of a tree farm to demonstrate sustainable forestry. Mr. Bennett Hughes, himself, once served at the State Department as a Forest Advisor. He moved to Calvert County in the early 1950s and purchased the wooded area which is now home to the tree farm. The area has multiple hiking trails that allow visitors to see the area. Just recently some tree are being harvested.

About 10 minutes along one of the trails you come to a small, maybe one to one and half acre, pond. There is an earthen dam as well as a drain leading out of it. I figure that the pond is home to the typical species of bluegill, crappie and largemouth; but in all honesty I have only caught bluegill there. The pond itself is prone to "duckweed" which grows to be quite thick, so I will probably only visit in the winter and early spring months.

Today I was using a "Gulp Minnow by Berkley" in the black shad pattern on a 1/32 oz Arkie jighead on a small 5'6" spinning rod. I had the baits suspended about 3 feet under a float. I would make my casts out and slowly bring it back in towards me, pausing even few cranks of the handle. I ended up catching three bluegill, with the largest being just about 6 inches in length. I returned all of them to the water, and plan on making the walk out here multiple times after school, once the swim season is over.

On the way back to the car I stopped off to pick up a few pieces of trash that had been left behind. A couple of them were along the shoreline and as you might be able to see, had been there a while.

Until next time - Tight Lines!!