[PECo]

DirtyDawg10 (aka Derek) and I fished the upper pond at Nod Brook WMA today. We met at the paved office park lot near the entrance to the park where the gravel road begins at 9:00 am. None of the roads in the park have been plowed, so we left Derek's two wheel drive car in the lot and took my wife's all wheel drive, snow tire equipped SUV. And even with that, we still had some difficulty getting out of there at the end of the day. When we got down there, we saw virgin snow on both the upper and the lower pond:




We geared up and were ready to go when I realized that I had forgotten to bring the auger. Sheisse! So we spent the next half hour retrieving it from my house. We ended up getting onto the ice at 10:00 am. It was bitterly cold, but we had cloudless sunny skies and there was less wind than had been forecast. We decided to drill a few holes near the old beaver lodge on the east shore near the north end of the pond. At 10:30 am, Derek got the first bite of the day and landed a decent yellow perch:



Unfortunately, that was the only bite we got over there, so we decided to head over to the debris pile in the middle of the south end of the pond, which is deepest part of the pond. About halfway there, Derek broke through the top layer of crusty snow and took a couple of footsteps into the wet slush underneath, which prompted him to confess that he had gained some extra winter weight. We drilled six or seven holes in the vicinity of where we thought the debris pile is, but didn't get even a nibble. Around 1:30 pm, we decided to begin working our way back toward the culvert on the north end of the pond. Quite frankly, we were a little discouraged. But we weren't cold, and Derek said that he wanted to drill a hole where he had broken through the crusty snow and gotten his boots wet. I drilled a hole first and changed my jig. I got it into the water just when Derek finished drilling his hole. He dropped his jig into the water and, before it even hit the bottom, he yelled that he had a fish on. As his rod bent over double he yelled that it was a big one. And he began whooping when he saw the maw of a largemouth bass in the hole and bent down to lip it:



If you don't know or remember what it's like to catch your Personal Best largemouth bass, this is what it looks like:




The bass was 21 inches long and weighed four pounds, nine ounces:



I think that Bluegill Terminator (aka Pete) takes the best fish photos, so I asked Derek to pose for a BTesque photo:



But Derek couldn't really keep the big smile off of his face:




Derek and I joked that he might have caught the same bass that TurtleKiss (aka Kira) caught in the same pond last November. When I texted Kira, I think she doubted that it was. But if you look closely at the markings on the fish, you'll see that, yes, it was:




Catch and release, baby!
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

[Bluegill Terminator]

Haha nice report Phil and with all my pics I don't hold my arm straight out you can see that my elbow is bent. A straight arm is a dead give away that it's really not as big as it looks, but there is another way...
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http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o21/PickerelPete/IfeH-r.gif

[PECo]

You're the master of the fish photo, Pete!
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

[SeaDog1]

Hi Phil!

Nice pictures and Nice fish DD! -> Congrats

But Phil Where's the one of you in your New Hat

SeaDog1

[PECo]

No, I didn't get skunked. I drilled one last hole near the culvert before we got off the pond and caught a fall fish:



And here I am stylin' in my new "I'm no longer afraid of the cold" outfit:



I had been wearing GoreTex bibs over khakis. Today, I added Carhartt bibs over that. I didn't shiver even once. My fluffy new fishing hat probably helped, too.
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

[SeaDog1]

Hi Phil!

WOW! Nice Hat! -> And your color co-ordinated too!

SeaDog1

[asianfisher]

LOL... great catch and posts...

[DirtyDawg10]

Thanks for the report and the pics Phil. It was fun to see a head that big come through the ice. The moral to the story is...bring a fat guy fishing with you and when he falls through the ice drop a jig down the hole

In case anybody was wondering the fish was caught on a 1/12oz macho minnow golden shiner color with a live waxworm. Thanks SeaDog for the recommendation on the macho minnow kit.

[basswacka19]

Nice catch!! wow that must be fun catching a bass like that on a little jigging rod! I think i'm gonna get one and try jigging some bass up threw the soft water.
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this fish here is a real donkey!!!

[Bluegill Terminator]

[/quote] I had been wearing GoreTex bibs over khakis. Today, I added Carhartt bibs over that. I didn't shiver even once. My fluffy new fishing hat probably helped, too. [/quote]

Carhartt is all I wear. Best stuff on the Earth. For icefishing though instead of bibs I wear wool pants even better than Carhartt!
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http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o21/PickerelPete/IfeH-r.gif

[SeaDog1]

Hi BT!

Yeap!..... Wool pants -> The BEST -> because they will still keep you warm if wet
I get mine at the Army-Navy surplus in Portland, Ct.

Cahartts -> NOPE/NEVER -> Made of cotton -. Cotton is well known as the "Death Fiber" because it will retain moisture and freeze when wet!

SeaDog1

[SeaDog1]

Hey BT!

Forgot to mention, I also get the best wool clothing from Vermont.

www.johnsonwoolenmills.com

A bit pricy but worth every penny because they last almost forever

SeaDog1

[asianfisher]

Wool is the best to go.. Pricey but well worth it... some people like it inside but i had best outside shells to some mid-layer....

[PECo]

Better, right?


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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

[DirtyDawg10]