CTFishTalk.com: Crappie Fest @ Mondo - Connecticut Lake Reports ( CT Lake Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

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

Thursday afternoon around 2pm I arrived at Mondo Pond. On my way there I decided to stop at Walmart to pick up some lures, with 2 being a tennessee shad HJ-6 and copper gold Yo Zuri Pins Minnow.

Once I got to the first spot I caught a 9" crappie within 10 minutes on the HJ-6. Later I caught another one on the Yo Zuri and had a hit on the perch FLR-6. Tried a few other lures that have been working but nothing happened.

As the afternoon went on I stuck with the HJ-6 and found that was the lure. Retrieve was giving it 2 quick snaps to get it down 2 feet or so and then varying number of snaps and twitches before pausing.

Total was over 20 crappie up to an 11"er just under a pound. Most fish were 8 and 9 inchers. Also landed 4 bluegills with 1 being a chunky bull just under 10". That fish was the fight of the day and show of the day. It did 2 flips out of the water. Bass total was 3 with them being all under a pound. Pickerel total was 5 with all being no bigger than 15" and slender. Had a school of yellows follow the HJ-6 all the way in. Lost a number of crappie and pickerel too.

As it was getting closer to 7pm, it turned into one of those days where you were having a great time catching fish but then you started running into trouble as the end of the day gets closer. I got the HJ-6 snagged twice before losing it the third time Crying or Very sad

That's when I decided to hit 1 certain spot that was producing like crazy before leaving. The lure I switched over to was the perch FLR-6 and made sure I attached a snap swivel to it. Caught 2 more crappie and 1 pickerel, which was part of the total.

Called it a day around 7:30pm

Pickerel and largemouths seem to be waking up more now cause smaller bass and many pickerel were chasing and hitting the HJ-6 as I did a constant jerking retrieve and 1 snap every half second.

What I found in the stomach of the 11" crappie looked like one of those tiny sunfish that grow no bigger than 4" and are found in smaller bodies of water.

ladyfisher · Joined: 20 Apr 2009 Posts: 46

I've lived / fished Mondo Ponds for 30+ yrs......the Water Co. used to own it & there USED to be some quality Bass along with a Pickeral in almost every other cast.....Crappie were never there. About 15 yrs ago, I came upon a guy with a bucket of Crappie he was putting into the pond that he told me he caught at Lake Zoar.....said he wanted to catch something else besides sunnies since the Bass were getting fished out since they opened it to the public. It looks like the Crappies survived ! In a way , it's nice ...glad to hear you had a good day. !