[Michael]

Monday I arrived at Mondo Ponds at 12:49pm to find all open water. Skies were mostly cloudy, air was mild and humid, winds were a light southwest, and there were lingering showers with a cold front approaching.

First stop produced a 10" yellow perch while doing the same retrieve with the HJ-6 that got the trout and yellows to hit at Great Hollow.

As I moved around, I'd see swirls on the surface in areas that were holding schools of bluegills back in September.

Later I come to another spot that had me thinking pickerel. It was too shallow for the HJ-6 so played topwater and slashbait with a brown trout FLR-6 which landed me 2 no bigger than a pound.

I then move on to find a fisherman cutting line from 2 lures he got stuck on in a tree but came off the tree with his lure. 1 of them was a Rebel Frog R I lost back in September and recovered it.

After hitting a number of other spots with the HJ-6 and catching another 10" yellow, I come to a certain area that has a thing for topwater, so I threw the Frog R. Started with a slow walk the dog which didn't result in anything. Next retrieve was giving it some aggression on the surface before pausing for about 2 seconds. That retrieve landed me a pickerel just over a pound and a 16" 2 pound largemouth. Also had what looked like a bass come shooting mouth first out of the water on 1 pause but didn't set the hook.

Switched back over to the HJ-6 in an area known for pickerel once nothing else happened with the Frog R and landed a 16" pickerel around a pound and a half.

Once it was getting darker out I headed over to my spring crappie area with the HJ-6. Third cast landed me another 10" yellow. A few casts later when I was about to end the day, I see a big mouth open up and grab the HJ-6. I set the hook and loosened the drag. Landed a 23" 3 pound 7 ounce chain pickerel that had a fresh gill or crappie in its tummy. This toothy creature had the lure in its mouth and I was very fortunate to not have the 6 pound mono snap.

Once I got the lure out of the pickerel and was able to get it to swim away, I hit the road.

These fish were very active due to the cold front that has the area dropping 15 to 20 degrees within 24 hours. The 3 perch were feeding on those small sunfish that don't grow much and are found in marshland and smaller lakes and ponds. This marks the latest time of year I've gotten into an aggressive topwater bite. Water seemed to have warmed up 2 or 3 degrees vs last time I was there.

[Michael]

16" largemouth bout 2 pounds on Rebel Frog R

[ChaoSki]

Very nice fish. You got this Mondo Pond thing on a lock down.