CTFishTalk.com: Yak outing at Williams Pond, Lebanon, 7/8 - Connecticut Bass Fishing Reports ( CT Bass Fishing Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

rxpxtx · Joined: 06 May 2012 Posts: 259

Couldn't have had a better time at the outing, though it started out sketchy. Home from work at midnight and up at 4am to pack gear. Freakin mapquest told me to go right on 207, which was the wrong direction and took me 10 miles out of my way before I found someone awake to ask. I now reconsider not shooting the crackhead that boosted my GPS in New Haven. 10 boats showed up. What a great bunch of guys! Launched at 7 on the button to catch the on water "rules meeting" for the $10 lunker pool.

Williams is a nice lake, with lots of houses on the north end, and many islands scattered throughout. Breeze was supposed to act up, but stayed in our favor for most of the morning. Surface temp was about 81-83*. I was a bit surprised by the depth, and it foiled my plan of avoiding the lily's and carolina rigging with 10" worms. 8' and less for the whole pond, with one hole I found at 12'. Phil got it right, and his numbers proved it, by hitting every swim platform and shady spot it had to offer. His 20 to my 6. Tip my hat sir! My first was a dink by a floating swimming dock.

At least I'm warming up. I went to the northern houses and some gardens out in front of them and tossed the pads for a while and hooked up with a two plus pound 16" shortly after. Got caught up in the lilys, but I was able to drag it out with a little help from my frog pole and 50# braid.

This was the measuring set up for the pool. OK...I 'm in the hunt. I threw cranks, and texas worms. Every fish I caught was on a bruiser 4" frog with a 4/0 screw lock hook. Decided to hit a small cove I saw coming out, and trolled twin frogs on the way. Rod doubled over in center lake and when I went to set, I looked over my shoulder to see a fine fat fish a foot out of the water spitting my frog like a piece of old chewing gum. It was a biggun....well over 4 lbs. Totally my fault it spit it. I wanted to hurl. I had this huge stanley ribbit, but not the correct hook for it, so I used what I had. The girth of the frog never let the hook become exposed enough. I dont know whats worse...never getting the hit...or watching that link spit the bit. Got out to the cove and just before I hit this 3.1 on my other rig.

I really wanted to catch some pickerel. Seems I was remiss in not going to the back pads. I thought it was super shallow back there, but a new friend Carp hooked into 30 of them sharp tooths searching for a bass. I dont know if I had the frogs to withstand that kind of assault. They tear your sh*t up. Couple more here and there and I made my way back to the beach. Waterskiiers were making it hard to paddle by noon, and my butt was singing a song about buying a gel seat for my canoe. Next purchase for sure. Everyone came in shortly after. Phil was a pleasure to chat with. I'd like to fish with him again for sure, as we didnt spend any time together on the water. His pyrethrum shirt kept the bugs isolated to his neck....one of my favorite places to have colonization.

Great bunch of fishing machines, and set ups to check out. I just really enjoy hanging out with fishing folks. Lot's of banter about everything from baits to trips to PB's....it was a fine assembly of guys.

We commenced to cookin up a storm. Tons of food and a couple of adult beverages. Thank god Mase thought to bring his grill, cause when the other guy's on grill duty pulled out theirs, with the bottoms rotting out, he had the portable super sled ready for action. I cant thank Mase and his son (what a great fishin kid!!) and Phil enough for showing up. Too bad Hila had a mother in law invasion, or fishtalk would have had half the representation at the event.

I'm hoping Phil has some better pictures of the lake, as he is the report picture master. All in all, it was a stellar day. Fishin, eatin, and some nut crackin. There's now talk of a fall event with the success of this one. Hope more of my new friends will attend. Big fish pool is still up for debate. 3 fish are neck and neck for 100 beans. We put it up to a vote online.
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Dave..... I can be a pain in the bass.

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

Sounds like fun. Hopefully I can make the next one.

rmflint · Joined: 16 Mar 2012 Posts: 360 Location: Wallingford

Awesome trip guys. To bad you lost the biggun!
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You know it was a good day when your thumb is all scratched up.

SAP284 · Joined: 07 Jun 2011 Posts: 655 Location: Central, CT

Sounds like a great time. Let me know if you have something involving boaters. I would be happy to join and bring my boat. Yaks kill my back lol.
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Steve

MarkO · Joined: 12 Nov 2007 Posts: 330

Good times...excellent!

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

Williams Pond (aka Lake Williams) is decent sized, but shallow. We parked in the lot on the south end by the dam. Although electric and internal combustion motors are permitted on the pond, the launch by the dam is for carry in boats only:

When I launched in The Other Woman, the air wasn't hot, at least not yet, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. What little wind there was blew out of the north. The water temperature ranged from 79-1/2 degrees in the morning to 85 degrees after noon. In the full sun, I could see the bottom almost five feet down through the slightly murky water:

The bryozoans (aka pectinatella magnifica) are colonies of small animals and are NOT a sign of poor water quality. They consume algae, so they're actually a good thing to have in a pond. After we began the lunker pool at 7:00 am, I first tried swimming a Bullfrog Zoom Horny Toad over beds of lily pads. I didn't get a single hit and didn't see any fish activity on the surface, so I changed gears and began throwing a wacky rigged green pumpkin/red flake five inch Senko at the shore and around the beds of lily pads. At 7:37 am, I got my first largemouth bass, which was just a short:

I got another short before I got a rare wacky rigged five inch Senko sunny:

I got into the running for the lunker pool with my next fish, which was a 13 inch keeper:

Whoo hoo!

My next fish was a slightly bigger 14 incher:

I got another short before I got a 15 incher:

I was starting to get a little warm as the sun rose higher in the sky, so I pedaled across the pond to the east shore, which was still mostly in the shade. I got two more largemouth bass that were shorter than 15 inches before I got a 16 incher:

I began finding largemouth bass in the shade of every dock or swim platform on the east shore. They'd pick up the wacky Senko off of the bottom very gently; half of the time, I didn't feel the bite or even see the line move. I got six more that were all shorter than 16 inches. After I removed my wacky rig's little Gamakatsu Number 4 Octopus Circle Hook from one of them, I removed another hook from it:

Who the heck uses a 4/0 EWG offset shank worm hook with nightcrawlers? Rolling Eyes

Underneath a swim platform, I got a rare wacky rigged five inch Senko black crappie:

I caught a couple of more largemouth bass that were shorter than 16 inches as I approached the north end of the pond. When I got to the big beds of pads on the north end, I broke out the Horny Toad and set the hook on another:

I got one more with the Horny Toad before time ran out and I had to head back to the launch in order to get there by 1:00 pm. I ended up catching 19 largemouth bass, one sunny and one crappie. Unfortunately, my 16 inch lunker was an inch shy of winning the pool. The guys from CT Fish Finder were great. They're easygoing, and love to kayak and fish. Thanks for including me! And thanks for inviting me along, Dave!
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

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

Awesome fishing guys!

JJay · Joined: 23 Sep 2011 Posts: 113 Location: Farmington, CT

Very nice! Looks like good times