[PECo]

I paddled Spring Pond in my kayak, El Habañero, from 9:45 am to 1:30 pm, which is right when the heat wave began:



That shows the temperature change throughout the day, but doesn't show that there was full sun and a fairly steady, light wind out of the north at up to only five miles per hour. It was a beautiful day for an easy paddle:



The water had a milky, seafoam green color and there weren't as many weeds as I expected. It looks to me like they did a chemical weed kill there a while ago. I could see down only a couple of feet.

My plan was to paddle up to the flat in the northwest corner of the pond and throw a Bullfrog Zoom Horny Toad over the weeds. But, of course, I had to work my way up there, first. A weightless wacky-rigged five-inch Green Pumpkin with Large Red Flake Senko got me a couple of short largemouth bass:



It wasn't until I got to my secret spot that the Senko got bit by a decent fish:




Although I expect an 18-inch long Connecticut largemouth bass to weigh three pounds, the digital scale in my kayak bag said it weighed only 2.44 pounds. Yeap, it looked like a skinny, post-spawn male, even though there was no damage on its tail and the spawn had to have been over in that pond weeks ago.

After I finally began throwing the Horny Toad over what little sparse and dead-looking weed cover there is in the northwest corner, it was slow going. I got next to no action on it. I thought about setting the hook only twice in a couple of hours and the few swirls I saw were probably from carp, both big (I saw one torpedo that was at least 30 inches long) and small (they look like bass until you get a good look at their shape). I finally saw the wake from a fish swimming over to the toad from about a foot to the side of my line and hit it. I thought it might actually have been a small chain pickerel, but, Whoo Hoo!, it was a largemouth bass:



Yeap, I know it was just a small keeper, but it was for what I was looking.

By the time I got off the water, it was beginning to get too hot for me. With this heat wave, I'm going to have to get up stupid early to go fishing over the next week or so. But at least I got to set the hook on the last fish I caught.
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

[senecak]

Nice report Peco. You’d be close in your weight estimate. In the last two Congamond outtings I’ve managed 7 or so bass all in that range. Largest going 2.75Lbs
If I could figure out how to upload photos here, I’d show you pile of 2.xxlb fish. [/img]