Top Water Triumph At A-1
Despite the sunny, blue sky weather we've been having, which often doesn't help the bite, I decided to make my first trip to A-1/Stump Pond in Westborough yesterday.
I hit the water in my 'yak about 4 p.m. and while I knew the weeds and timber were going to be a challenge and limit my bait choices, what I didn't expect was a persistent wind out of the east. I anchored to the side of the island and started throwing a wacky worm and within a half hour I hooked a decent fish but he threw the hook halfway to the boat.
I lost a couple more on Texas-rigged worms over the next four hours as I explored all the way back to the standing trees and big lily pad beds at the western end of the pond.
By 8;30 p.m. I was thinking I was going to get skunked and would have to be happy with enjoying the simultaneous beautiful sunset and moon rise. The wind had finally died down and I was back at the island, and decided to throw a topwater for a while before I headed back to the boat launch.
You know the feeling - the light is fading, but you keep telling yourself, particularly when it's been a tough bite, just one more cast. After a dozen or so casts I was ready to call it a night when wham! A sizable bass slammed my Jitterbug.
I set the hook and wrestled her in, a lean but mean 17 inch post-spawner that weighed in at 2 pounds. This is the first topwater catch I've had since I got back into fishing a year ago after many years off and it was a huge adrenalin rush.
It was a triumphant paddle back to the launch in the gathering dusk.
Since it was my trip to A-1. I have no comparison point but it sure didn't look like any weed treatment had been done recently.
Have they done a weed kill there yet?
With the top water fever that A-1 catch provoked, I went to the Sudbury Reservoir last night for the last half hour of light, before the heavy rain started, and the bite was hot with a top popper! Had 8-10 strikes, and landed a 12 inch smallmouth, and, surprisingly, a 6 inch bluegill.