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Friday Funday

What's your passion?
Well if you're at my site, it might be fishing.

If you've stopped here before you already know I've been passionate about fishing from four years old till now. And if I die with a fishing pole in my hand, I'll be happy. 

So let me tell you about today's fishing trip.

I arrived at one of my favorite ponds just before daybreak, and from the first cast it was "Fish On"!
First cast, first fish, just the way I like it, and it was a nice 16" bass so I invited him to supper, and in the bucket he went.

The fish were biting so well I only covered a small section of this large pond. When they slowed down in one spot I'd just move my casting distance down the bank and keep catching.

Finally I walked to the dam thru the tall weeds. At one spot I counted 15 casts and caught 14 fish, talk about some serious catching, man was that fun! 

Then the wind shifted, and they slowed down... A bunch. By this time I've bucketed over a dozen so I work my way back.

At the corner of the dam I cast along the bank, wham! Big bite! I reel it in, drag singing It's pretty tune and land a huge 12" bluegill. Now that was fun.

Thanks for visiting folks, now get out there and have your own great fishing trip this fall.

Jon

Stormy Saturday

I'm a die-hard fisherman, as long as they're biting I'll keep at it. I also love fishing in storms and have had some awesome fishing trips just before and during thunderstorms. Today Saturday 4-25-15 I knew when I stepped outside this morning that it would be a good fishing day.

So I grabbed my trusty Android, messaged my brother and we met at a favorite fishing hole.

A beautiful old country pond that's about 6 acres in area and full of bass, crappie, and big perch.

When I get there he's already fishing, so I get my gear and head to the water.

The fish are hitting lite due to a cold front moving in but we dealt with that. Finally about half way around the pond I toss a couple or big perch in my bucket and continue around the bank.

The wind is blowing hard but we manage to set the hook on many large perch and bass, no crappie today but I'm OK with that.

Here's the biggest bass that day, a bit over 3 lbs with the others in the 2 lb range, perfect eating size. Yum! Fresh spring time bass for supper.

Crappie Storm

The clouds were boiling, the storm was brewing, but... The Crappie were biting like crazy! I knew it was going to start raining soon, no worries that's the best time to catch fish. So about an hour and a half before the rain set in I hopped in the truck and headed to the ole fishing hole.

When I get there the wind is just staring to pick up, just enough to make my bobber dance on the waters surface. The very first cast something hits my jig, short striking so I miss. The next cast is a solid strike!

As I set the hook this fish runs for the lillypad roots and hangs me up, I get it free but this is a determined fish. It feels odd too, more like a catfish. Finally I get it worked lose and up where I can see it, I'm surprised, it's a nice crappie a 13"er, in the bucket it goes.

Now I walk off the dam to the other side of the lillypads, the fish are really biting hard! I catch a few small crappie and toss them in the bucket to stock another pond close to home and then the bluegill start biting, all small ones though so they go back in the lake.

It's just starting to sprinkle a bit off and on and now I'm not getting bites further out. The crappie have moved towards the bank so I short cast and catch another couple small ones. I cast in front of the lillypads and start retrieving.

About 5 feet from the bank a big crappie nails my jig, this one makes my drag sing! I get it to the bank and wow that's a nice crappie!

I just had to show this baby off properly beside my rod and reel. Last spring I caught 8 this size, over 15" and one was nearly 17". I've fished this lake for over 40 years, the same family still owns it and I've caught many nice crappie, channel catfish and bass from this old lake.

Well folks, enjoy the pictures, I sure enjoyed catching the fish before I got rained out. <(;HF+< jono

Spring Time Mamma Bass

Back in May 2011, a buddy of mine and I hit my favorite lake, fishing for a good mess of crappie
This little lake is well taken care of, the owner manicures about 2/3 of it. The rest has trees growing thickly next to the waters edge.

We were fishing the tree lined side, adding a few decent crappie into our buckets, when I walk down to the shallower end. There's nearly 2 doz. keepers in the bucket, mainly crappie with a couple of decent bass.

I cast next to a log sticking out in the water, something slams my jig, and the fight is on!!

With 4lb test line on, ya don't horse the biguns, ya play em and wear em down. My little ultralite rod is bent almost double, my reel's singing a pretty song to me, real music to my ears.

I play this fish over 10 minutes, finally I see it, what a fish, it's Big ole Mamma Bass, what a pretty sight to behold. She's starting to tire so I work her over to the bank, reach down and lift her up into the air.

Would ya look at the belly on that girl, what a lunker. I holler at T,"Look at this Baby" he looks over and his jaw drops.

Well after he put his jaw back in place, he says "That's gotta be at least 7lbs maybe more with that belly" I agree with him, but don't have weigh scales with me. I don't care really since I plan on turning her loose soon anyway. Now here's the kicker folks.

I walk over, ease her into the bucket, hey I want to admire her for a bit OK.

I walk back to where I was, about 30 ft from my bucket and resume fishing. A couple minutes later, my buddy walks over to add another crappie to our catch, he calls me over there. I look in the bucket, Oh no she's gone, so is most of our catch.

Big ole Mamma Bass, well I guess she had a mission. Laying that bellyful of eggs, and she wasn't about to let me stop her. So we caught another mess of crappie to replace the ones she took home with her, had a lot of fun doing it too.

Now that's been 4 years ago, I think it's about time to catch another big'un from that lake, I believe I'm ready too.

Thanks for visiting folks

Jon

Early Spring Crappie Fishing

Hi All Fishers
The Crappie Fishing was amazing today!! Yesterday...Not so much. But today my fishing rod and I, had great fun. And I even have some pretty cool 'crappie fishing tips' for you, in good time. hehe. ((-;

So for the 12th of March, we here in central Missouri near the Lake of the Ozarks, are having beautiful weather. It was 55 by 11:00 AM today and I was already at my favorite lake. For this early in the year the water temp is warming nicely, so I was hopeful the fish were biting.

3-12-15 First Fishing Trip in March
My Favorite Lake

I love crappie fishing folks, when they're biting the action is hard to beat. Today it started off slow as I walked to the shallow end of the lake, making a few casts along the way. When I get to the willow trees (red arrow) I start to see some fish movement beneath the trees. So I ease my way close enough to cast near the swirls.

Strike...And a miss! A few more casts, still nothing hooked, so I walk on down to the point of the cove. Now usually there's some slab crappie hanging out in this area, not today though. I started here because the water would be slightly warmer, but the wind is blowing towards the dam, the opposite end of the lake.

So after catching a couple of crappie, I work my way to the dam. Now here's a little "crappie fishing tip", whichever direction the wind is blowing, fish at the bank that it's blowing towards. The choppy water stirs the baitfish and that's where the bigger fish will be feeding, and that increases your chances of catching more fish.

I've been here about an hour, and it's warmed up a few more degrees, the fish are starting to bite more, so I've added a couple more to my bucket. This time of year in ponds and small lakes, the crappie are usually hanging close to the bank. I was casting 4-5 feet out from the bank and catching some 9-10" fish.

I like to use a bobber this time of year, about 12-18" deep. This keeps the jig at a consistent depth where the crappie are feeding and with a solid weighted bobber you can cast farther even with a strong wind

3-12-15 First Mess of Crappie

So I'm walking along the bank, casting ahead of my direction of travel. Finally a good solid hit, there's a slabbie, a nice 13 incher, in the bucket she goes. Prespawn crappie fight like the devil and I'm having a blast. I've added 8 to the bucket by now, and since crappie like shade I'm headed to the tree lined side of the lake.

Now it's warmed up to about 70 and the fish are really starting to bite. My next 5 casts I land 3 nice slabs. Next I cross the fence and sit down on a boat that the owner keeps there, this is a nicely shaded area, and the crappie have really started to bite.



For the next hour I land over 30 fish, some small 7-8" but out of those I have 14 nice keepers 10-13". I also kept a few small bluegill to fertilize my tomato plants, that makes those tomatoes taste so good! I ended up keeping 22 nice filleting size crappie, what a great relaxing early spring fishing trip.

Thanks for visiting folks
(-: jono

Childhood Fishing Ponds Revisited

Hi Fishing Friends

I made a trip back to my hometown this last May 2014. My sis Lois had some business to take care of there, and asked me to ride along. So we loaded our gear, and 'hit the road'.

We get to Fulton, she gets her business dealt with, and off we go, to my old favorite clay pit. When we get there, we grab our rods and tackle, walk about an eighth of a mile thru the brush and scrub and approach the water. This pit is a pale blue/green, and about 40 feet deep.

I scan the water along the edge, looking for bass, and all I see are perch. For the first half hour or so, we catch a few bluegill and shellcrackers. Finally Lois hangs into a decent bass, and lands a 2 LBer, good enough to keep so she puts it on a stringer.

By then it's time for me to move, so I work my way on around the shore to 'the spot'. It's pretty overgrown since hardly anyone fishes this hole anymore.  Fighting, thorns, briars, and thick brush, I finally clear a place well enough to fish at.

Now you may ask, is it worth it?

Well my first few casts weren't. That third cast though - wham! That bass hit hard, then it took off running for cover. I lowered my rod tip, reeled some line in, and horsed him away from the brush. Oh man, I love it when a big ole bass starts 'tail dancing', shaking his head the whole time. Sorry bud not getting away this time, I reeled him into shore to my waiting hand. As I lifted him from the water, I could tell he was nice 5 pounder, sweet!!

First one for me on the stringer, and I'm not a bit disappointed in my ole fishing hole.  The next few casts I catch some perch and smaller bass, from about one to three pounds, add a couple more to my keepers, and man am I having a blast.

#2 H&W Claypit This is also where I learned how to swim.<(;HF+<

I work my way around the bank a bit, to a slightly less overgrown place, then make a few more casts. The darn perch keep hitting my jig. I make a long cast, quickly a perch gets
hooked. As I'm reeling in, A BIG bass attacks the perch I hooked. Oh baby, Fish On!!

This bass dives deep, I can't even turn him, no control at all. And then, SNAP!!! Grumbling as I reel in my line to retie a new jig on, oh well, plenty more bass in this pit. Pretty disappointing though, I didn't even get to see that one, it had to be a monster bass.

Still all in all, no disappointment in the fishing trip, I had just as much fun here, as when I was a boy, to me that's what counts.

We kept 8 nice bass that day, between 2 & 5 lbs, I sure do 'love them pits'. I'll be back next spring to catch that huge bass, we have a score to settle. :-)

Well folks thanks for visiting. It's the beginning of March now, in about a month, I'm heading back to that old pit, look out monster here I come!! (((-: j

Pond Fishing Love

Hi Fishing Friends

So you love pond fishing too, well YOU are in the right place. Here at my little site we can share that passion!!

My fishinglove bond
Began in a pond
My passion is plain to see
Scroll down my wall
Come one, come all
What pondfishing means to me.

Catfishing in the Extreme

Hi Fishing Friends

Pursuing catfish on a regular basis can be an extreme sport. On  Sunday Oct. 19th that's what I did.

I was at a new pond that I fish from time to time and at first the catching was slow. After about an hour and making one round of this fishing hole, I'd only caught a couple of perch. So not being a quitter, I caught me a few grasshoppers and walked around to the old dock.

<(;HF+< (Tip) Now here's a very important 'how to' tip, my friends. Catfish love grasshoppers!!

I set up a catfish rig, with my favorite live bait, and put it out there. I secured my pole on the dock, then picked up my other rod already setup with a crappie jig and started casting. Then the fish start biting, so I toss a couple in my bucket.

Spring fed pond that I caught this Catfish from
 (pic taken- 3-11-15)

Seeing movement out on the surface, like a big catfish swirling, I reel in my cat rig. Recasting it near that splash I secure my rod back down and start catching nice sized perch with my other one.

Making a cast, my jig gets hung in a tree, I break my line and begin to retie. Hearing a noise, I look up. My catfish rod is bent over, hanging by the biggest eyelet on the dock rail.


Quickly dropping my rod I run the 25 feet to my rig. Grabbing my rod, I set the hook and the fight is on. WooHoo it's a bigun' too. With my drag singing to me, (love that song) I walk down off the dock to a good spot on the bank.

It takes a few minutes to bring in my fish, oh man, what a fish it is, a big fat catfish. When I pull it out of the water, flopping around, I know it's well over 10 lbs. Loading everything up, I head to the local bait shop to weigh my huge channel cat.

Now a 10 lb channel is a big fish, I've caught many under 10 lbs. This monster weighed in at 14 lbs with a huge belly on her. Biggest channel that I've caught on a rod & reel. That's some catfishing in the extreme to this ole country boy. :-)

Hoping you have a great day my fishing friends.
Jon

The Fishing Time Poem

Fishing Time

First rays of sun, through the lakeside trees. 
The sweet smell of lilac, mixed with the breeze. 
To the quiet of shallows, my craft I did ease. 
It's mornings like this, that make memories. 

A dip in the water, I give to the oar 
Pushing off smoothly, away from the shore. 
Another few yards, just a little bit more.
I'll begin my ballet, That's what I'm here for. 

I wind up my arm, to make my first cast. 
Just as I've done, many times in the past.
It's moments like this, I just want to last. 
It's "fishing time", and it surely goes fast.

An Original Poem by Jon Wright <(;HF+<
See More Great Poetry Here @ https://www.tsu.co/jonow

Photo taken on 2-16-15 by Jon Wright at a new lake I got permission to fish last year 

Crappie of a Lifetime

Hi All Fishers

Todays story is about my youngest son. When he was younger (He's in College now) I took him fishing with me sometimes and now he's a pretty good catcher too. This happened 2 weeks after I caught that platter sized 15" bluegill.

We were fishing a small country lake, it's a pretty deep one with a narrow cove at the north end. J & I
were fishing in this area, we both had been catching filleting size crappie & bluegill and had quite a few in the bucket.

I'm fishing about 30ft away from him, when I hear him holler" Dad, I got a good one " music to my ears, I can tell ya that! I actually drop my rod, run over to him and as I get close, I see, sure enough he's got a good sized fish on the line.

Js got a slight problem though, his fish is stuck in the water weed that grows in this lake. So I tell him
"don't force it in." I step into the water, sink into the mud to my knees, reach far enough out to grab his fish, and bring it from the water.

WOW what a fish, a crappie 16" long and fat as a hog.

Talk about excited now, My son had a blast that day & outfished his pop.
We weighed that crappie, 2-1/4 lbs, shoot I hadn't even caught a crappie that big at that time.
I was sure proud of him though!!

I hope you all enjoyed this story, I'm so glad to carry a great family tradition on with my sons.

Happy & Joyful Fishing to all.
Jon

Favorite Place

Hi All Fishers
I'm back!!!

So a short fish tail for ya today.
Another one of my favorite places to catch is about 20 miles from home, been fishing there for about

"Dam View"

15 years, never been skunked-yet!

In the spring it's the first place that I go.

The Crappie Catching is so awesome, this spring at one trip I caught 10 crappie between 14-15", talk about filling a 5gal bucket fast, wow, lovin it.

But the coolest thing is the Catfish. I know kinda hard to believe when I'm chunking 15"ers in the bucket, but true. You catch a 8lb cat on a 4lb line, then tell me that's not fun.

Many times I've been crappie catching there & hang into one of those cat, play it for a couple of minutes and then SNAP goes my line, Bummer.

Oh well, retie and go back to nailing the crappie. About 5 years ago that happened to me 6 times in the same trip, now that kinda ticked me off. Especially the catfish that run into that willow tree roots, right next to the bank, I even reached into there & couldn't reach him.( Grumble, grumble)

My Favorite Fishing Place
Shallow End

That's Ok, I've eaten a few of his kin, no doubt. Well folks, thanks for checking out my stories, I hope that you enjoy them, I know that I sure have fun putting them out there for you. Until next time.
                                      Have an awesome Day/Night. Jon
                                                  For L.W.

Passion Ignited - My First Big Fish

Hi Fishing Friends

I thought that I'd tell you a story about a little carrot top boy who began his love of fishing.

When I was about 4 yrs old my family & I went fishing in this pond near our home, it was really an old clay pit , but I didn't care, I just knew we were going fishing, oh boy was I excited,couldn't wait to get there.

"Are we there yet" I asked, Mom told me "almost son, settle down now". We get to the old fishing hole, Zoom, there I go, "I'm ready to fish" I told my Dad, as he was getting the gear from our car.

Finally everyone is set-up, poles in hand, lines in the water, bobbers set to depth, I wait for a bite, & wait, ya all know 4yr olds, ain't built to wait. So I prop my pole up on a  Y shaped stick & start playing with the baby frogs hopping around.

Of course I'm not paying my bobber any attention, lots of frogs to chase, Mom hollers "Jon you got a bite", I run to my pole, grab it up, yank back, and start cranking the reel.

The line is not coming in, I can't see my bobber. So... I clamp my hand tight on my rod, turn tail, & run up the bank.

First thing I thought of & you know what, it worked, cause soon that great BIG fish was flopping on the bank.

Mom hollers out "Jon you can stop now" I turned around, saw that fish & couldn't believe my eyes, it looked like a Whale.

Really folks it was a large mouth bass, near to 5lbs according to my family. I don't recall that part, I just remember it was a BIG fish.

And that is when my love for fishing began, in an old pond.
                                                                                               Jon