A little lunch time pick me up....

In case you haven’t noticed, I have zero fishing posts.  None.  Zip.  Zero! That is very odd.  Fishing is how I usually start each Saturday or Sunday morning.   Out at sunrise, on the water until about 9 or 10am and then it’s off to do whatever chores, or responsibilities await.  It doesn’t matter what kind of fishing, where or when.  My preference is small stream bassin’ with a saltwater 6 weight flyrod or a medium – medium light baitcaster.  A very close second would be a med-fast action 4 weight rod or 7’ ultralight spinning rod for bream.

Today, I was to meet a fellow RTP fly angler for some lunch time bass buggin on a rather large chain of office park ponds.   Unfortunately, he was unable to break away for lunch.   So, I decided to go solo for a few minutes before returning to the office.   We’ll get together again, perhaps tomorrow (look out for the next post….. can I get two fishing posts in one week?!?!?!).  Looking at the geography and fauna of these ponds, I’d argue that the majority are natural and/or of natural origin and altered to comply with environmental or wetland conservation standards.

After the weekend’s storms you could track a ‘possum across some parts of the water and given I was only going to be there a few minutes, I opted for my favorite baitcasting set up instead of the fly.   I saw some activity in the far corner of the pond where two streams came together, forming a point, before entering the main body.  This area was loaded with structure and the banks overgrown with weeds well above my waist.  After three casts in the direction of a swirl I got a hit, on a ¼ oz chartreuse spinner with chrome and gold tandem willow blades. 

I just knew I had a nice bass on the line until it jumped…….. I couldn’t believe my eyes, couldn’t be, really?!?!?  No time to think about it.  My reel was singing to me, line peeling off and the drag working.  I felt like Larry Dahlberg fighting a giant aimara for a minute.  This fish was strong; I had to reset the drag three times to bring him under control and away from the structure.   After about a 5 minute fight…………… I landed this nice white catfish!

Measuring the distance between markers on my rod, I could accurately measure him at 23.5” long which according to the catfish weight estimator means he has just over 8.5 pounds…. I believe it! 

It was a thrill! I cannot believe how he fought, jumped and dogged it like a largemouth bass.  I’ve caught cats on crankbaits and Clouser flies in the past, but never had one fight like this.  Usually, they just bulldog it to bottom. Before this catch, I'd never seen one jump.

NOTE:  I just found out that this fish qualifies for NCARP (citation size for you VA folks).  Minimum length is 21 inches, I can verify 23.5 for this one!  I'll get my application in this week!!!