Why Not Double?!

Cloudy skies, and cold temperatures is what was to be on Sunday, April 29th. I quickly rose up though, It was soon to be just another day outdoors, trying to accomplish another goal of mine on the water. This trip was an experiment, and was also a nice little friendly competition. My friend Richard, who was supposed to come and get his first opportunity to get fish number one on the season, had priorities to take care of, and had to miss out. Kruz, who also wanted to come with, did tag along, and we had ourselves a friendly competition.

A mistake of mine to start off, was forgetting my spinnerbait rod. Arriving at the water we were fishing is when I noticed it was left at my apartment. Oh well! I still had other things to experiment. My WFL tournament on May 2nd is at Pine Lake, and i’ll give you all a hint, PLASTIC TUBES really work well at the Pines. I figured this Sunday would be a great opportunity to test these baits out. Hot Rod baits plastic tubes is one product that I really don’t use much, due to all the success with my Producto worms. I know I can get Bass off Producto, and have got thousands off them in the past, so why use them today really, especially when this is a great practice day? I needed to try these tubes out for practice, get some confidence and experience with these. 

Kruz and I started off very slow, which was rather shocking. We made a bet..who ever gets the first fish, gets a dollar. Well, the TUBE struck through! Oh yeah, double pump that!!! I suggested that he used a spinnerbait, since I forgot mine. I told him, “lets see what I can do slow bait fishing, while you use fast flashy baits”. Fast flashy spinnerbaits in colder 40 degree weather are a great tool to use. Kruz nailed quite a few off them, I just laughed and said “Doctors orders, told ya they would work!” He was really hammering them, I wasn’t doing to well, but I was fine, I needed to really work on the tube, and I knew it would be slower fishing with slower moving baits, rather than Kruz’ flashy white “Booyah Pond Magic” spinnerbait. It was really getting cold, but thats when I started coming on with the fish! 2 Bass in 2 minutes, off the tube! Kruz soon pulled up a very strange fish in a lake like this..a WALLEYE! We put our fish in a basket for another thing I wanted to do..my goal: Why not get a double picture? Once we finished, we lost the stringer and basket off Bass, but somehow managed to snag it with a jighead hook, boy would I’ve been mad if we lost our fish! We didn’t though, and we got our pics for showcase. Kruz came in with the bigger fish today, with his biggest 2 fish being 15 and 16 inches, all caught on a Booyah Pond Magic. My two big ones were only 14, and just slipping over 15, and mine were hooked on the Hot Rod Baits tube! We then RELEASED ALL THE FISH, and saved them for another time. Good fish off the baits we attempted to get em on, and good pictures..MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Remember, colder waters, like today, and warmer waters, like in July & August..fish will tend to be in deeper waters, but can also be found in the shallow areas also with some luck (like today).

I’m glad I got this trip accomplished! Ever since I found a real enjoyment for writing to the paper, I’ve been very busy trying to set up fishing trips, which I can write on, and atleast change a few things within the writing to keep it interesting, instead of the same thing over and over again. Unfortunately, after next weekend, I will not be writing fishing articles AS MUCH..but still will, whenever I’m free this summer. Next week, I plan to hit a lake previously mentioned before in an article called “Twin Anchors”. Its about 40 miles west from Garwin, and I plan to meet up with a friend from the Colo-NESCO area, a good known friend who I haven’t fished with for awhile. After that article, the fishing slow down quite a bit. The reason why fishing will slow down a bit will be revealed in next weeks Twin Anchors article, so you’ll have to wait and see! Hope you enjoyed reading about my exiting and FUN day!  

Always Have a Plan B

Once again, I couldn’t resist to get out and get fresh air and feel the freedom of being outdoors. My close friends Lane & Austin Williams were telling me about this pond  a ways out of town for awhile now. So, we just had to try it out, which exited me. I LOVE  testing out new waters. This time, I was the one getting the ride, instead of giving rides. I learned Sunday, April 22nd, that you always should have a “plan B” with you. Luckily, I did. 

We arrived about noon, and saw this pond was very shallow, had a lot of shallow flats for structure. I tried my Producto like always..but I couldn’t get them no matter what. Lets jig slowly, nothing. Faster jigging and more action..still nothing. My friend Austin was out to a quick lead, he had 5 and I only had one..but the one I got was from “Plan B”. Spinnerbaits were definitely the key today. (Browning Silaflex rod) Austin and Lane were using small twister tail jigs and getting Bass and Crappie. Plan B, the spinnerbaits saved me once I started using them. Off the dam, the water was a but deeper, and I hammered them off a white & green spinnerbait. I never caught Largemouth like I did of spinnerbaits this day! I did not get a crappie because I had no crappie gear with me, as Austin and Lane got about 6 beautiful slabs of pond crappies! I only got one off my Producto worm, which was shocking, but spinnerbaits saved me from getting skunked. We got some pics of the spinnerbait Bass and Austin & Lane’s Crappie for description. The Crappie (around 14 inches in length) were a nice dinner for Austin! We left around 6. We totaled 24 Bass between the 3 of us. 

Austin won, catching 12 Bass, and I only got 10. Yep..I was outfished, but hey..thats the beauty of fishing. Somedays are just a little off, but still..I was very satisfied, because I luckily had my spinnerbaits saving me. You can’t win em all!  A great weekend, taking my nephew Ethan on Saturday, then fishing with Austin & Lane Sunday. It’s great to have friends who share the same hobby!!!

A Saturday Filled With Producto

Again, the weekend came. I didn’t go fishing last weekend, so of course I had a lot of outdoor ambitions to do this time. I got my nephew Ethan again for my fishing buddy. Once again, we chose another farm pond, because my boat is having a few issues, I need to get on fixing it before it gets on the water. So, we did the easy type of fishing, I just wanted to do something as a little project, and the pond was great for it. Yes, farm pond fishing is way easier than boat fishing from a lake, but no biggy, already had a great night in the WFL earlier in the week. My goal was to find a good bass off a Producto worm and get a descriptive picture and write on this lure.

Winds and rain coming wasn’t gonna stop me and my nephew from heading, as we arrived around 10 AM. Quickly, Ethan and I got fish, literally on our first casts, but not       big enough for the description I wanted. I wanted to fish the other side of the pond cause I never tried it before, and I quickly hammered two 15+ inch Bass off a drop-off. Ethan next got a beauty off his green Producto. It slowed down, till about 20 minutes later I found my fish I was set out for. A nice fat 16 inch Bass found in deeper water was landed, and I got my descriptive picture as shown. Rain started to pour around noon, I nailed a tiny 8 inch Bass, then decided I didn’t wanna mess with getting Pneumonia, so we left, with a total of 8 Bass in 2 hours. 

Producto is by far my favorite lure, of course they represent a live nightcrawler,  they are still in business, but you don't find them on a shelf at Walmart or Bass Pro, you'd probably need a special order. My father had a bait shop back in his day, and got to keep all the lures that were never sold. We have about 20 boxes and tubs of Producto in our garage. The boxes and tubs contain about 10 packages of lures in them..so we have got thousands! We would like to sell a few of them since we have so many, and as you people have read about..they maybe old school lures, but these lures catch Bass!!!!! If you would ever want to buy some from my dad and I, contact me at Hawkeye_1fan09@yahoo.com or on Facebook-Jer Ridout. 

A Day with the Nephew

A pond near Gladbrook was the place where I took my nephew Ethan Ridout on Friday. It was a great day, as we started off throwing my producto worms. I landed two keeper sized Largemouth in 5 minutes, and I knew I was gonna enjoy this trip! Ethan wasn't off to a hot start, till I suggested a green spinnerbait from my tackle box. Good guess, or genuis? quickly he hammered 3 fish before I got my next one, then it slowed down. I Bluegill fished for a bit and got about 20 of them, before I crossed the other side of the pond and landed a PIGGY (pic shown). Every fish was released, and the total count was 10 bass, a lot of chunky fish. Ethan doesn't get out much like me, so he usually doesn't do as good based on lack of experience..but he sure nailed them today (with some help on lure suggestions) but he got em, and was satisfied. These pics will be uploaded to Northern Sun Print, the paper I write for. He will love having his first pic in the paper, and I am glad to be a part of that opportunity. HAPPY EASTER!

A Little Pond Fishing

Its April! Can you believe it? Well, it has a arrived, and it is a great month for fishing! I set up a plan to fish a private pond (with permission) with my nephew for Saturday, March 31st. 

Everything was set up, and I headed to bed on Friday night just thinking about my trip I was about to endeavor. The next morning..I wake up with a fever and stomach cramps, look outside and the weather wasn’t too spiffy either. I was so angry, one because I just had to get sick on the day I planned to go, the other..because it was supposed to be 75 degrees and sunny, and it wasn’t, I would not take the chance of getting sicker so I stayed home.

The next morning though, after a good nights sleep, I was 100% better. My nephew though couldn’t fish that day, so I got myself another buddy. My friend Kruz, who was disappointed with not being able to fish the other pond to weeks ago, got his chance at this pond today. We hit the pond relatively early, around 8:30, and as expected..we had FUN. We Bluegill and Bass fished, and both were hitting. I started off getting Bluegills on Jigheads on about every cast, and rounded up to about 40 for the day (released). Then, the BASS had its turn, they were in trouble!!! Of course, using my ol’ reliable Producto 7 inch tournament worm, I threw about 20 feet out. Jigging it slowly, then feeling a hit, I landed my first Bass! Moving down the pond, it was even better. Kruz must be the master of Crankbaits, cause he was getting them left and right. Meanwhile, I was hammering them with my Producto, including a beautiful 17 inch Bass. Kruz and I got fish at the same time, and we just had to take the picture of both our fish. I was not totally satisfied though, as I missed atleast 3 of them (one right up to the bank, then flipped off). We left around noon, so three hours of fishing, and around 60 total fish!!! (Gills & Bass) 

It was a great morning, and I can’t thank the owner enough for giving me the access to his waters. Remember, if you ever do want to fish a private water, GET PERMISSION, and keep the place clean! Hope you guys found this story entertaining!