I remember when I was a kid I had a Field and Stream article with the same title. "The Best Bait of All." I'll get into what that bait was in a minute. Well, Ryan and I took a couple hours this afternoon to visit a local pond. A new pond to me starting this year but no more than a few miles away. I had done very well there this year both with Ryan and without. One trip without him I scored numerous quality bass, including one pushing 3 pounds in the middle of the day on a spinner bait. That same day I had an encounter with two or three other fish that were well into that trophy size class. But they were hesitant as you might imagine a large well educated lunker fish would be. These big fish came in hot, which is usually the kiss of death but never did commit. I remember thinking..... I know what will get them. It's not always the most glorious of tactics. But it's a sure fire way of sealing the deal. What you ask? Bluegill. In a farm pond there isn't much else but bluegill and bass. Maybe some frogs and dragon flies.. which there were plenty of those today and bass 12 inches and under were launching their aerial pursuit attacks at the damsel flies over the pond all day today. But if you want that giant, you've got to throw what's there. Of course there's a turtle in this pond that would scare even the Turtle Man. Absolutely gigantic. A few other turtles were harassing our baits too. But the first bluegill we caught on a fly rod went out. It got hit just seconds after splashing down. The bass bull dogged into the weeds and was near impossible to pull through. Ryan was reeling the rod and I tried to help by pulling on the braid to pull the fish out of the dense hydrilla matts. No go. Broke the line. So I decided to tie straight braid to the hook. The hook was a 3/0 VMC worm hook. Nothing fancy. Nice and big. The bluegill were rather large, bigger than I'd want to cast normally but oh well. It was either kind of large or very very small. The next fish hit shortly after the bait touched down. The bobber was set with maybe two feet of line below it. The bluegill often freaks out the second you cast it but then just chills. Usually laying motionless for a while. But when a predator gets near they start freaking out. They could only just barely pull the bobber under on their own and only for a second or so. I could actually see the bluegill swimming in circles to try and avoid the bass. It's amazing that they can swim so fast with a hook and line attached to them. Ryan ran to the rod and did all the work. How he was able to pull it through the weeds I have no idea. Somehow this fish just wanted to be caught. Another fish almost the exact same size followed it the entire way in too! Unbelievable one fish this size was in there but two? Success and high fives. Ryan was thrilled. We managed a couple more on the bluegill rig before calling it quits. We lost a few more too and the one I never did get to see that Ryan said was much much stronger and bigger.
But there was this one fish. I threw out the largest bluegill. The kind that could be a filleted. Why I don't know but didn't feel like getting something more suitable. The bigger ones are easier to hook on a size #18 pheasant tail dropped under a bluegill popper on a 3wt fly rod. Sometimes the bait fishing is too much fun. I first saw the bobber dip down for a second. Then dart in a few different directions. That's when I saw the silhouette. An absolute giant fish. 28 inches maybe? A bass that long you say? 24". I'd venture to say the fish we caught was 23 inches with a girth to match. A 6 pound fish in all likelihood. But the fish I saw out there tonight that came for only a single visit and decided something wasn't right and never returned.... now that fish will keep me coming back.
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