OUTDOORS

What’s that they say about the best laid plans of mice and men? The plan I mentioned in last week’s column concerning some greatly anticipated creek fishing for spawning crappie and white bass provided zero bites. The cold front had possibly pushed the fish out to open water, or they simply decided they weren’t hungry. We walked several hundred yards of creek bank tossing small spinners into likely spots along the creek. A week before, this stretch of creek provided red hot action. But, that’s fishing! There was no current, and the water level appeared to have dropped a bit. I love catching fish but after a hundred fruitless casts with nary a strike, it was time to regroup and concede that these fish simply were not hungry. There’s always a plan B when hunting and fishing, and we had some barbequed wild pork and camp beans waiting back at camp. It was close enough to lunch time to take a break and think this situation over. While enjoying a hickory smoked barbeque sandwich, I remembered a backwoods pond almost an acre in size on the land my friend had recently purchased; it was only a short walk through the woods from camp. When I mentioned to my buddies that we might want to give it a try, they were all in. My friend has been busy setting up the new camp on his property this winter and had not tested the fishing in his pond. The previous owner informed him that, years ago, the pond was deepened and stocked with largemouth bass. Fed by a spring, the pond holds water throughout the year.

As we approached the pond through the pines and a stand of sweetgum trees, I was reminded of the many remote ‘fishing holes’ I fished as a boy in Red River County. There is something very special about tossing a lure into these hidden jewels, not knowing if you would catch a big colorful red ear bream, a chunky bass or possibly crappie. My nephew, a retired crappie guide, still had a crappie jig tied on from our creek fishing and instantly pulled a 12 inch bass from brush along the shoreline. Then he caught another, and then another. It was obvious the pond held bass and probably lots of them. I thought it might be full of undersize bass and switched to a Beetle Spin, which is a little soft plastic bait with a small spinner. I’ve caught lots bass, crappie and white bass on Beetle Spins, and after a couple casts my theory that the pond was overstocked with stunted bass proved to be incorrect. Fishing from atop the dam, I made a long cast out toward the middle of the pond and worked the spinner back close to bottom. Just as I felt the bait falling into the deeper water along the dam near some submerged brush, a hard strike was telegraphed up through the rod. This was not the strike of a 12-inch bass; the light action rod I was using bowed heavily. The reel’s drag began to sing, and I was hooked solidly to a hefty fish of some sort. Initially I thought I had hooked into a hefty channel catfish, the one species of catfish that will occasionally hit artificial bait. The heavy fish bore down to bottom, and I could occasionally feel it shaking its head, in efforts to dislodge the lure. Had I been using bass tackle, the fight would have been short lived but with the lightweight spinning gear, I had to let the rod and reel’s drag system tire the fish. The fish was hooked well, and in a minute or so I had a five pound bass up close to the bank. After snapping a few quick photos, she was released to go back to her job of restocking the pond with fry. It’s spawning season, and I’m sure the bass was on a nest near the brush pile where she had taken my lure. Bass are beautifully colored fish regardless of where one catches them, but especially so in the pristine waters of a remote spring fed pond. The stain of tannins from oak leaves combined with gin clear water creates beautifully colored fish. She was marked with colors that the famous wildlife artist John Banovich would be challenged to duplicate.

After an hour or so of fishing, we caught a few more smaller ‘yearling’ bass but also several fish weighing between 2 and five pounds. It was obvious this little fishery supported a healthy forage base, probably sunfish and I’m betting some chunky bream. I can’t wait to return with my lightweight fly rod and some little popper bugs and do some bed fishing during the spawn. But with the very healthy bass population, the little surface poppers will probably produce as many bass as bream, and that will be perfectly fine with me!

I haven’t given up on the creek fishing just yet. With the next rain and warming weather, the white bass and crappie should again turn on. We often stretch a short trotline across a deeper hole in the creek, bait it with fresh pork liver, and do very well on channel catfish, especially a day or two after a heavy rain when the creek has a good current. With the trotline ‘fishing’ for us, we will again work the creek with little spinner baits on light tackle targeting white bass and crappie. I’m thinking fish fry on our next outing. The barbeque lunch of smoked wild pork sufficed on this outing but there is something special about a springtime fish fry on the banks of a remote creek that I find very appealing. Sizzling fresh fish in hot oil cooked over a fire fueled with wood gathered along the creek is the stuff great memories are made. I can smell the wood smoke now!