[PECo]

I was sitting on my butt watching baseball on television this afternoon, when JJay (aka Jason) sent me a text message that he was planning to fish Spring Pond. My lucky fishing hat had fallen apart in the wash and I just got a replacement hat, so I decided to join Jason to see whether it's lucky, too:



I loaded El Habañero onto my old Saab and headed down to the pond. When I arrived, the air was warm, but there was a slight north wind. I launched near the culvert in the middle of the west shore of the south cove at 6:00 pm, about 15 minutes after Jason. I saw that he was down in the southwest corner of the pond, so I paddled up the west shore before heading across to the south shore of the south island. I started by throwing a Crappie patterned 1/2 ounce Persuader Imaged Blade Spinnerbait and a wacky rigged green pumpkin/red flake five inch Senko. I soon tired of clearing slimy weeds off of the spinnerbait, so I swapped it out for a BladeDancer jighead baited with a six inch Creme worm. Jason paddled over and told me that he hadn't gotten any action, either. He headed to the north island and I headed up the east shore. The wind was still blowing pretty steadily, so I tied on a Perch Rapala Jointed Shad Rap JSR-07. I trolled it all the way up to the northeast corner of the pond, but didn't get anything other than weeds with it. I swapped it out for the wacky Senko, again, before heading across the north shore to the northwest corner of the pond. I didn't get any hits on either the Blade Dancer or the wacky Senko along the way. By this time, the wind had started to die down. I tied on a Bullfrog patterned Zoom Horny Toad and began throwing it over the heavy weeds in the shallows. I got a hit, waited a second and set the hook on a skinny one pound, 14 ounce largemouth bass:



Whoo hoo! I sent a text message to Jason to let him know that I had finally caught a fish. After I reset the Horny Toad on the hook, I threw it out and got another hit. Once again, I waited just a second before setting the hook on a smaller, but more solid largemouth bass:



After I reset the Horny Toad, I threw it back out. Two casts later, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Jason paddling over. When I turned back toward the Horny Toad, I saw a big fish swirl up out of the weeds and hit it. My line loaded up right away, so I set the hook on my third largemouth bass in five casts:



It was a solid five pounds, 13 ounces, so I finally broke the five pound mark this year. Whoo hoo! Hopefully, Jason got a better photo of me with it. Less than 10 minutes later, I got another hit and boated a two pound, 14 ouncer;



And four minutes after that, I got a little one:



I had caught five largemouth bass with the Horny Toad over the shallow weeds in the northwest corner of the pond from 7:34 pm to 7:55 pm. Jason lingered in the northwest corner while I slowly worked my way around the north island and back down to the culvert. I didn't get another hit after leaving the northwest corner of the pond. Jason caught up with me when I reached the culvert and we got off of the water at 9:00 pm. Thanks for getting my butt out of the house, Jason! I think that I've found my new lucky hat!
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

[Michael]

Congrats on the 5+ pounder Phil!

[rxpxtx]

Nice day out and congrats on the lunker. Great report as always. Your quite fancy in the hat. I'm sure they flock to you like cats on stinkbait.
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Dave..... I can be a pain in the bass.

[steven1smith]

That fish is a tank! Great fish!
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Catch and release only.
A 4lb bass is not going to grow to 8lbs on your wall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxCdnQ8WEfQ

[PECo]

The third and fourth fish were each really solid. The first, second and fifth were light, but especially the first. It must have taken a big dump right before I caught it.

Jason couldn't believe how much the lunker weighed. His first guess was 3-1/2 to four pounds! However, after I weighed it on my digital scale, he weighed it on his, and we each got five pounds, 14 ounces to five pounds, 13 ounces. I never round up on my weights and measures, so officially it was five pounds, 13 ounces.

I forgot to mention that the water in the pond was murky, with visibility down only a foot, if that. I'm thinking of fishing for black crappie the next time that I head down there. I didn't see any fish but largemouth bass, yesterday.
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

[JJay]

This was the 5lb13oz on my camera :



Congrats Phil!

[DirtyDawg10]

Sweet fish! Congrats!

[jjbassfishn]

Very nice fish!
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PB LMB 9.3LBS Winchester Lake
PB SMB 5.8LBS Colebrook Res.
PB Pike 3.85LBS Winchester Lake

Can't catch em sittin on the sofa!

[slim2043]

Nice! Spring Pond is back!




Good job, Phil!
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Never give up!

[BigEd]

Nice chunker! Gotta love when the sun starts setting and the water gets calm. It's my favorite time to fish.

[PECo]

Thanks, Jason!
_________________
Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

[Fishin'Fireman]

Sounds like the new replacement hat is a keeper . Nice 5 lber!
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A bad day of fishing is better then a good day at work

[SeaDog1]

Hi Phil,

Yup ! Looks like the new hat has the right Karma !

SeaDog1

[pikePERSUADER1]

Nice one, Phil Im jealous, I havent got a NICE largemouth bass yet this year!