Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT
Posted: Sun May 29, 2011 10:28 pm Post subject: Bantam River 05/29
Today, mep 21 (aka Mark) wanted to paddle and fish in a new (to him) body of water, so DirtyDawg10 (aka Derek) and I showed him the stretch of Bantam River from the canoe launch on Whites Wood Road downriver and into Bantam Lake. When we arrived at the canoe launch at 5:30 am, we were the first car in the parking lot. It was already fairly warm and beautifully overcast. There was also just a little bit of wind. The water level was just a few inches higher than it normally is during the summer. There was very little current; less than I've ever seen there. Mark is addicted to Baby Brush Hogs like I'm addicted to wacky rigged Senkos, so we decided to have a Baby Brush Hog versus wacky Senko Bass Off. We didn't get any bites in the first 100 yards downriver. But at 6:15 am, Mark and his Baby Brush Hog struck the first blow in the Bass Off :
However, four minutes later, my wacky Senko and I struck back:
And, yes, although Mark's first largemouth bass was a short, mine was a keeper. Almost half an hour later, Derek got his first bass:
Notice the wacky Senko. However, the fishing was slow. We later ran into another kayak fisherman, Russ, who had been fishing Bantam River for a few weeks. Hey, Russ! He told us that the recent rains had killed what had been a very active bite. The bite was very slow, but we continued to land the occasional rock bass or largemouth bass:
However, when we got to The Donut (aka The Loop), the bite finally picked up a little bit. In a span of 30 minutes, first I, then Mark, then Derek each caught a 16 inch largemouth bass. Mine weighed one pound, 12 ounces, Mark's weighed one pound, 10 ounces and Derek's weighed one pound, 11 ounces. Hopefully, Derek got a photo of mine, but here are Mark's and Derek's:
When I pulled mine up and took it off of my Mepps Aglia number five silver bladed squirrel bucktail inline spinner, I noticed a piece of monofilament line stuck in the bass' gut and sticking out of its mouth. I gave the line a gentle tug, but it didn't move. After I weighed the bass, I looked into its mouth to cut the line shorter and saw that its gut had opened a little bit. When I tugged on the line again, a Superfluke and hook slid easily out of the bass' gut:
Derek and Mark declined to penalize me an ounce for an artificially stuffed fish, so for the moment I still had the lunker. Meanwhile, Mark started landing bass on a soft plastic frog:
Although I was throwing an inline spinner along with my wacky Senko and Mark was throwing a frog along with his Baby Brush Hog, he was killing me by four bass on the Baby Brush Hog to only one on the wacky Senko in the Bass Off. I kept landing rock bass and, like both Mark and Derek, I also landed a small chain pickerel:
Bantam Lake is really high right now, so the water level in the river above the beaver dam is only slightly higher than the water level below the dam in the lake. We paddled over the dam and through the chop in the lake for a while, but soon headed back over the dam and into the river:
As we worked our way back upriver to the canoe launch, we ran into Greenfloaty (aka John). Hey, John! Strangely enough, although John was paddling a canoe, he wasn't fishing. Weird, huh? Derek soon landed a new lunker largemouth bass that was 16 inches long and weighed one pound, 14 ounces, so the pressure was on:
But as we passed The Donut, I fished a laydown that Fishface (aka Tim) always fishes when he's there and landed a new 16 inch, two pound, five ounce lunker:
And, yes, it was on my wacky Senko. But I was still down by four bass to three in the Bass Off. As we neared the canoe launch, all three of us were still looking for our "One More Fish", when I heard a splash and caught sight of it out of the corner of my eye in some grass on the bank. Derek was closer to it than I, so I told him to throw his lure at it, but he didn't know where it was. So I paddled over and threw my wacky Senko into the grass. Derek laughed at me because he thought that I had snagged up, but I knew that I had a fish on. At the last minute, I landed my fifth keeper bass of the day and my fourth on the wacky Senko. Phew, was I relieved to pull out a draw in the Bass Off. We ended up getting off the water at 5:30 pm, I think, after 12 hours on the water. But I need to get some sleep, because Mark and I will head out early in the morning to do it again, tomorrow. Happy Memorial Day, everyone! _________________ Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!
Last edited by PECo on Tue May 31, 2011 2:21 pm; edited 2 times in total
Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 2238 Location: Granby, CT
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 11:23 am Post subject:
Why is a Bantam River report under lake reports?
It was a beautiful day to be on the water yesterday. There was plenty of kayak traffic later in the day. I was ejected from the brush hog vs. senko battle because it was determined that I had an unfair advantage by using my cobrabait dead bolts (their senko type bait)
I actually think it was because I ended up with 7 LMB, 6 rockies and 2 pickerel and they didn't want me to win I landed (2) 16", (2) 14" and 3 shorts all on wacky senko style baits with a 16 and (2) 14 being landed on the cobrabait. I had a great time out there even though the fish were on the small side.
Cool report. You guys always seem to have a fun time out when you get together.
I bet the bigger bass where way back in the flooded back waters. I nice 1/4oz swim jig on some braid probably would have put this contest away!
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:
Almost half an hour later, Derek got his first bass:
Derek soon landed a new lunker largemouth bass that was 16 inches long and weighed one pound, 14 ounces, so the pressure was on:
I landed (2) 16", (2) 14" and 3 shorts all on wacky senko style baits with a 16 and (2) 14 being landed on the cobrabait. I had a great time out there even though the fish were on the small side.
