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PECo
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 5203
Location: Avon, CT
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 Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 10:20 am Post subject: Candlewood Lake 07/22 |
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Despite the insane heat and humidity, I went fishing on Candlewood Lake with flippy (aka Jim) on the back of his Stratos bass boat. We got on the water around noon and off around dusk as darkness fell. As I said, it was HOT and HUMID, with bluebird skies and just a little bit of wind. The air temperature was already 98 degrees at 10:30 am, so it had to be over 100 at noon. After Jim made me put on a sequined thong, grease up with sunscreen and do a little bit of what he likes to call "greco-roman wrestling", we launched from the ramp that's over by Squantz Pond:
 
 
Although there's a fee schedule posted for parking at the ramp, there wasn't anyone on duty to collect one. There was quite a bit of personal watercraft and recreational powerboat traffic, but only a handful of fishermen and kayakers. We saw one canoer. Jim immediately headed for a nearby weedbed:
The fishing started off SLOW. Well, it ended slowly too, but it started off SLOW. I had asked Jim to teach me how to flip heavy weeds, so that's what we did all day. We'd hit a patch of weeds, make a 45 mile per hour run to another patch and hit it again:
We went for an hour before Jim boated the first fish, a 2-1/2 pound largemouth bass. He was disappointed at the small size of the fish and tossed it back. A short while later, he boated a 1-3/4 pound smallmouth bass that swallowed his flipping rig. It was already bleeding as he pulled it into the boat. He cut the line and released it, but it was immediately obvious that it was not going to survive. Since Jim doesn't like eating freshwater fish  , he asked whether I'd like to keep it. Duh! 
I had the smallie for breakfast this morning; a little salt, a little pepper, a dusting of Wondra flour and pan fried in butter. It was absolutely delicious! asianfisher (aka Billy) had told me that smallie is his favorite freshwater fish for eating and, man, Billy has never steered me wrong about all things fishing. Look out, smallies! 
Jim and I had another long lull before he boated another largemouth. They were definitely few and far between. By 7:00 pm, he had boated only four largemouth and the one smallie. All were under three pounds, which annoyed Jim. I, on the other hand, had boated only a rock bass that I got on a wacky rigged Senko I threw just to annoy Jim a little more.  However, as the blazing hot sun started to set, the action picked up just a bit. Jim landed a couple of more largemouth before I finally felt a good tug on my watermelon red Rage Tail Rage Craw flipping rig and set the hook on a 1-1/2 pound largemouth bass that spit the hook a couple of feet from the boat. Yeah, my hookset was a little weak. I guess that after hours of nothing but watching Jim boat the occasional largemouth bass, I wasn't ready to boat one of my own. However, just a short while later, I felt another good tug and really set the hook on a fish that didn't budge when I did it. It swam around near the bottom for half a minute before I got it to the surface. My first flipping fish was a three plus pound largemouth bass:
Whoo hoo! I know Jim was annoyed that I ended up boating the lunker and that it was only in the three pound range but, thanks, Jim! He ended up boating seven or eight largemouth and the smallie, but his bag would have been only 12 pounds at best. We got off the water after watching and listening to a guy with a loud Harley of a V8 inboard take 10 minutes to get his boat onto his trailer. Jim noticed on the shoreline that the level of the lake had dropped several inches during the day. They must have been drawing it down while we were out there.
It was a long hot day and Jim was exhausted after having gone to work very early in the morning. We each drank over a gallon of liquid while we were on the water. It's a good thing that we weren't fishing a tournament and were able to use the livewell to ice down drinks instead of keeping fish alive. Fishing in extreme heat is tough! But if you see a guy standing on a Hobie Pro Angler in a small pond and flipping the weeds later this Summer, give me a wave.
By the way, I was kidding. . . well, about the thong, at least. It was hot pink, not sequined!
_________________
Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!
Last edited by PECo on Mon Jul 25, 2011 12:57 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bluegill Terminator
Joined: 03 May 2007
Posts: 538
Location: Plainville
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thenameissimon
Joined: 01 Jun 2011
Posts: 28
Location: Burlington, CT
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| Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 10:17 pm Post subject: |
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Nice catch! What area of the lake were you flipping for largies? I fished Candlewood on 07/20/2011 (Wednesday) and noticed that the water was down from its previous levels of a few weeks before.
As for the fee schedule I'm pretty sure that they don't collect anymore, if they do, maybe only on holidays? I've been there on weekends, weekdays etc in season and out of season and no one is ever there. The only D.E.E.P. representative I've ever seen there is a volunteer for zebra mussel inspection and education. |
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PECo
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 5203
Location: Avon, CT
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| Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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I have no idea what the areas that we fished are called. Jim tried to tell me about some of them, including Penis Point and The Mermaid, but it all went right over my head. He took me to spots with weed cover in about 10 feet of water.
Jim expected to see a DEP CO (i.e., Conservation Officer) doing zebra mussel inspections, but one wasn't there.
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter! |
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SeaDog1
Joined: 21 Dec 2009
Posts: 2629
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| Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 10:40 pm Post subject: |
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Hi Phil!
Even though it was a hot humid uncomfortable day -> Glad yYou and Flippy had a good day fishing.
Nice Bass you caught there!
HOT PINK THONG  
Ooooof ! Now that's got to be a eye blinding visual 
SeaDog1  |
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DirtyDawg10
Joined: 27 May 2009
Posts: 2238
Location: Granby, CT
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 8:23 am Post subject: |
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| Nice job out there fellas! |
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flippy
Joined: 25 May 2008
Posts: 1150
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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| What a BRUTAL day,, it was really really hot,, we were all over the place,, if you know candy there are weeds all over,, It figures that Peco would remember those 2 spots ,, considering the hot day I thought the fish would want it big and fast,, but I got them on small and slow,, the weeds are starting to slime,, you can flip anywhere there and catch fish,, its finding the big ones, which I couldnt do,, sorry Peco,, we tried,, NOW for you Bluegill,, I want you to show me how they smash a swimmin eel in 40ft of water,,,, What are you doing Friday |
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Bluegill Terminator
Joined: 03 May 2007
Posts: 538
Location: Plainville
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Smallies come up and smash it there works every time! Surprise your flipping baits didn't disintegrate with the heat 
