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View Full Version : The Promise of Spring


rockfisherman
04-07-2005, 02:24 PM
The long winter is over…spring has really arrived in South County, Rhode Island…not by the calendar, mind you…IT claimed spring began over two weeks ago…but by deed and the signs of mother nature herself. I offer the following as evidence:

RI Bill and I headed to a secluded South County pond last night after work. I saw 2 ospreys on a nest on the way to the pond. The spring peepers were in full chorus, and the red winged blackbirds ringed the pond, staking out their territories with their distinctive calls. The swamp maples buds were red and swollen with the promise of bright green, new leaves.

The largemouth bass have awoken from their winter slumbers and are actively pursuing forage with the urgency brought on by the lengthening days. Action was fast at times, with double hookups and even an occasional double landing of fish. A pink sunset ended a beautiful spring day, although the temperatures fell rapidly after sunset. We would have hung around longer for the night bite of trophy bullheads if it were not for that.

Bill did manage a potential IGFA world line class record brown bullhead, but before I could stop him, he used his cigar to part the tippet so he could extract the hook for a quick release. No tippet sample, no record.

It was a beautiful spring day in Southern New England, the fish are biting, and the season holds promise once again.

RIBill
04-07-2005, 03:01 PM
Holy smokes, Batman... that was well-said! Thanks again for sharing your secret spot and this little-appreciated early spring opportunity for BIG bucketmouths. The bullhead was icing on the cake.

By the way, it was charitable of you to leave out that you were highline for the outing; and thanks also for letting me pose with all the fish! :)

I have nothing to add other than a picture of the scribe...

teflon_jones
04-07-2005, 03:19 PM
Mind if I ask what kind of flies (or lures, if you weren't using flies) they were hitting on? I've been out the last couple of days, but the pickerel were all I got. The guys with the shiners were doing the opposite and only landing ol' bucketmouth (right next to me). I was using some of my own black marabou/rabbit flies with a little flash in them compliments of flashabou.

RIBill
04-07-2005, 04:53 PM
Funny you should ask... we were discussing earlier whether we could have moved these fish with lures/flies (rather than the white perch-sized shiners that we were using). Earlier in the afternoon, I was throwing crankbaits, rattlebaits and plastics to no avail. The lack of success may be misleading, however. These fish turned on at 6pm like somebody threw a switch, and turned off just as abruptly at 7:30. I mentioned to Paul today that ,had we thought of it at the time, we should have tested whether they'd react to any of the lures that we had onhand. If yes, then what flies might they react to? Deceivers with rattles, snake flies? They were certainly on the feed, and getting a fish like that on a 5wt would be a battle!