CTFishTalk.com: Batterson Park Pond 05/11 - Connecticut Lake Reports ( CT Lake Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

Yesterday afternoon, TurtleKiss (aka Kira) sent me a text message that she just had to go fishing at her absolute favoritest pond or she wouldn't survive the day, so I reluctantly agreed to meet her at Batterson Park Pond. Laughing

When I arrived, she already had Dinghbat in the water. Since she was obviously extremely anxious to get on the water, I quickly got The Other Woman off of my trailer and we launched at about 6:30 pm. We could see four other boats with fishermen already out there. The sun was just starting to descend in the clear sky, the air temperature was still in the low 60s and there was just a little bit of wind that seemed to blow from every direction, but mostly from the west. The water was a little murky, but it was hard to see much with all of the ripples from the wind on it, anyway. The water temperature dropped with the sun; it went from around 60 degrees down to 57 degrees throughout the evening. As usual, Kira worked her way up the west shore in pursuit of largemouth bass, while I trolled a Bluegill Rapala Shad Rap SR-7 and a Yellow Perch Rapala Shad Rap SR-5. I tried to stay in the slowly lengthening shadows of the west shore. When I was almost halfway up to the beach, I got the first fish, which was just a little cannibalistic yellow perch:

I stopped to throw a slightly weighted Texas rigged green pumpkin/red flake Zoom Baby Brush Hog in the shallow cove where the stormwater creek flows into the pond and the naked guy often "hangs out" on the shore. Laughing

And, no, he wasn't there. . . this time. Rolling Eyes

I didn't get any hits on the Baby Brush Hog and didn't see any largemouth bass bedding activity. Kira caught up to me in the cove and headed for the weedbeds a little further up the shore, while I resumed trolling. However, it wasn't long before I heard a commotion as a black Midnight Special spinnerbait got her a decent largemouth bass:

I soon left Kira behind as I trolled up to the riprap covered dam on the north end of the pond at a leisurely 1-1/2 miles per hour. I boated four more yellow perch on my way up there:

Yeap, the first five yellow perch actually alternated hitting each lure; Yellow Perch, Bluegill, Yellow Perch, Bluegill, Yellow Perch. Shocked

Only a few minutes after the last one, the Yellow Perch got me a walleye:

It was just a 16 incher, but Whoo Hoo! Very Happy

And,of course, I had to follow up the walleye with a rock bass:

But just a few minutes later, I got another walleye:

After a couple of yellow perch and a couple of rock bass, I snag hooked a cannibalistic sunny:

I caught a couple of more yellow perch as the sunlight began to fade and got a black crappie after dark:

I must have been in a school, because I soon caught the lunker black crappie:

At the moment that I had hooked into the first walleye, I had been responding to a text message from JJay (aka Jason). As I continued to boat fish, I eventually convinced him to head down to Batterson for his first night kayak fishing outing. I knew that he was on his way over, so I met up with Kira in the darkness and we headed back to the ramp down the east shore. Along the way, I caught the first after dark walleye:

As often seems to be the case, I followed up the walleye with a rock bass before we met Jason at the ramp at 9:30 pm. After he launched in his Trophy 126, I trolled back up the west shore and back to the dam, while he and Kira went in pursuit of largemouth bass. I didn't get any action until I got back to the dam, when what I knew was a largemouth bass hit the Bluegill:

It was a feisty 15 incher. Whoo hoo! Very Happy

I sent a text message to Kira and Jason to let them know that I had found a largemouth bass and, almost immediately after, I was into another that I could tell was a little bigger:

Whoo hoo!

Looking back, I can see that I was intensely focused on catching walleye and not largemouth bass, because I didn't even bother to weigh either of the largemouth bass. Shocked

Incidentally, in the dark, you can tell almost immediately when you've hooked into a largemouth bass instead of a walleye, because largemouth bass swim up and shake as they fight the hook, while walleye swim down and just pull. My focus paid off, because I boated another walleye with the Bluegill within 10 minutes:

After I threw the Bluegill back into the water behind my boat, a fish hit it before I could even reel the slack out of the line. It was a litle white perch:

About 10 minutes after I reset both lures, I got a big hit on the Bluegill that felt like I had snagged a rock on the bottom. But the rock moved! Shocked

I knew that I finally had a keeper walleye on the line as I horsed it as gently as I could up to the surface. When I got it near the boat, I fumbled through my boat for my grippers, throwing tackle all over the place and totally disregarding my other line that was still in the water. The walleye actually turned The Other Woman around. Shocked

I spent what seemed like an eternity trying to get the jaws of my grippers into the walleye's mouth, but finally got it:

It was a 23 inch long keeper! I felt like Captain Ahab probably would have felt if he had caught Moby Dick. Whoo Hoo! Surprised

After I got it on a stringer, Kira and Jason pulled up out of the darkness and I got to show it off. By this time, the wind had risen out of the southwest and the air temperature had fallen to the low 50s or maybe even the high 40s. It was cccold. I caught a rock bass, of course, before boating another walleye, which was almost anticlimactic after the last one:

Jason and Kira had trouble fighting the wind, and soon headed back to the beach to get alee of it. I caught only another rock bass before trolling back toward them. We decided to head back to the ramp just before midnight, after I had already started to lose the feeling in my frozen feet. Along the way, I boated one last white perch:

We got off of the water just before 12:30 am. Although I felt like going out to celebrate my new Personal Best and first keeper walleye of the year, I had to head home to get it on ice. Mr. Wah Li will be joining us for dinner, tonight! Very Happy

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JustinSolak · Joined: 17 Jul 2011 Posts: 245 Location: East Hartford, CT

Congrats on the keeper! Finally got it! Well deserved, my friend. You definitely put in the time.

I gotta say, the pictures toward the end. The one with the walleye and white perch. You look absolutely "high on life" Laughing

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Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

Thanks, Justin. 28 fish of seven different species in six hours is a pretty good day out on the water. Unless. . . does that last white perch look an awful lot like a golden shiner to anyone else? It's really hard to see in the dark! Wink

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bowhunter095 · Joined: 20 Jan 2011 Posts: 392 Location: Berlin, CT

Hey Peco, you know that kid you talked to on your way back towards Kira? Well that was me Razz

I had no idea it was you as you could tell because i paddled toward you thinking you were one of my friends Razz

CT_BASSman · Joined: 23 May 2011 Posts: 349

Congrats on the keeper Walleye!

TurtleKiss · Joined: 09 Mar 2010 Posts: 1200 Location: central CT

Man, was it cold last night! I was shivering for a good 2 hours after I got home. Also, did anyone see the moon last night? It wasn't there! Clear sky, plenty of stars, but no moon...very strange. Congrats again on the keeper walleye, Phil.

Favoritest pond everrrrrrrrrrr! LOL
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Kira

*~ "Not everything about fishing is noble, reasonable and sane..." -Henry Middleton ~*

DirtyDawg10 · Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 2238 Location: Granby, CT

Nice job getting a keeper, Phil!

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

When we launched at 6:30 pm, Kira was recognized by someone from the DEEP who was sitting in an SUV by the ramp as, "The girl who caught the tagged fish." When Jason launched at 9:30 pm, some guys at the ramp also recognized her as "The one who caught the tagged fish." I clarified that her name is Kira, like Shakira, but without the "Sha". She got no sha! Laughing

I've caught well over a dozen walleye at Batterson so far this year and none of them was tagged. What's up with that? Were the Cabela's fish taggers unable to catch one to tag? Did they tag only two pound largemouth bass? Rolling Eyes

Hey, maybe they tagged a rock bass! Laughing

Hey, bowhunter095! How'd you and your buddies do, anyway? It didn't seem like you were out on the water for very long.
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

DirtyDawg10 · Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 2238 Location: Granby, CT

We know they didn't tag a rock bass. You caught them all at least once and none of them were tagged Razz

bowhunter095 · Joined: 20 Jan 2011 Posts: 392 Location: Berlin, CT

We didn't do too well. That's why my friends wanted to leave. I trolled a perch colored shad rap up and down the side of the island about a million times but got nothing. My friend did end up getting around a 3 pound large mouth off of a floating original rapala though. Its still bugging me that I cant get one of these walleye so i'm thinking about heading back out there tonight although my friends are bugging me to go up to west hill for trout because we did pretty good the other day.

NWDarkcloud · Joined: 23 Apr 2012 Posts: 474

Nice fish guyz well done!!!!

Michael · Joined: 28 Jan 2012 Posts: 3823 Location: Bridgeport

Excellent Phil! Congrats!

My PB walleye is very similar to yours. 23" with not much girth caught at Squantz in August 2007.

Wanna Fish · Joined: 30 Jan 2012 Posts: 662 Location: Earth I Think

Hey Kira! We were thinking of ya today! We fished Saltonstall and got the Smack Slapped out of us today! After the past few trips spoiled us!

We went into a small cove. There had to be 200 baby turtles on a log basking in the sun. I moved closer to take a picture and they all jumped in the water as I zoomed in! It was like a machine gun hitting the water.

I thought it would be a photo you'd appreciate!

Greatly appreciate your appreciating the sport of fishing.
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TurtleKiss · Joined: 09 Mar 2010 Posts: 1200 Location: central CT

Fishing Addict · Joined: 22 Apr 2012 Posts: 20 Location: Hartford