Throwback Thursday

Hi All Fishers
*Throwback Thursday* Maybe you've seen this term today, when I saw it, I was reminded of another pit fishing trip.This trip was at a series of  river "scour holes" along the Missouri River at a certain conservation area.

No motorized vehicles were allowed there, hiking trails/ bike paths allowed access to the fishing area that we wanted to fish. My brother David & I loaded up backpacks,our mountain bikes,lunches and fishing gear for the 5 mile bike ride to reach this fishing area.

About a 30 mile drive from his place to the parking lot, gave us time to visit and prepare ourselves for the long bumpy bike ride back to an awesome fishing hole. Of course we traveled lite with backpacks well stocked and water easily reached, fishing poles broken down securely fixed to our backpacks.

We arrive at the water around 8:30 in the morning, unload our gear and begin fishing.

                                    DNR Picture- Marion Bottoms Conservation Area
The crappie are biting hard & fast so filling our stringers presents no problem.There are 5 or 6 super spots to fish here and every time we fish these waters massive crappie are strung up.

The holes ( 2 of them ) are connected by a trench that's only 3 ft wide by 2-3 ft deep, by the time we reach the second hole our catch is pretty heavy.

At this hole there is a beaver dam on the far side, that's where we head . I'm standing beside the beaver dam, catching crappie every 4 or 5 casts while David hooks something HUGE.

His lite crappie tackle won't allow him to " horse " this fish so he plays it for 15 minutes or so, he's hooked a spoonbill, from what I can see it's 50 lbs or so. Finally his hook pulls loose, wore the man out, it did, meanwhile I've landed a few more nice crappie.

We start back with full stringers, as we struggle along I get the idea of using a long " beaver pole " to drape our heavy stringers over, which we prop on our shoulders to carry our huge catch.

When we get to where we're going to fillet our fish we count them,
26-crappie, from 12" to 16"
1 ea.13 lb flathead catfish
5 ea. lg mouth bass 3-5lbs
1 ea.3lb white bass
1 walleye at 17".

We fillet our fish, bag them in gallon ziplock bags, repack our backpacks and bike back to the truck.

WOW what a fishing trip, we're whupped by the time we reach the truck, but both of us have big smiles on our faces  regardless.

Now if you have been following along, I had said that "scour holes" were awesome fishing.

Now you know why, not many fish were thrown back on that Throwback Thursday.
                                              
Thanks for following & Happy Fishing
                                                                          Jon

Ponds - What I mean

Hello All,
      
Today I want to start by telling what I mean by "Ponds".
It's a pretty generic term really, so let's clear the waters, so to speak.

This includes, small to large farm ponds, lakes, to lets say 50 acres, all pits such as, clay pits, coal mine pits, rock quarry pits, for a few examples.

Pits are my personal favorites, due to their depth and ability to hold an abundance of  large & diverse fish, most are also harder to access so that fishing pressure usually isn't a factor in catching larger fish.

In addition along large rivers you will find 'scour holes' from flood years that are really interesting because of the size & diversity of the fish there.

Many a trip to these 'scour holes' or  'blue holes' as some folks call them, have netted me 18" Crappie, large Flathead Catfish, and even Spoonbill in the 50 lb range. I know, sounds unbelievable, but still it's true.

I've personally fished these river 'scour holes' for over 20 years now, having many incredible 'catching' trips.

In fact one of my most memorable fishing trips was...(see "Throwback Thursday")

That story is for another time, sorry about that I almost got sidetracked with that Awesome Memory.

River 'scour holes' to me are in a class all by themselves, not ponds, not pits, or lakes either, just some great fishing nonetheless.

One more thing before I wrap this up, any body of water that is less than about 5 ft deep usually isn't worth wetting a line in, yes there are some exceptions, such as spring fed waters, but in dry years fish quickly die without depth to the water.

Thanks for checking out my fun little project here at the "Pond Fishing Club" I have some really cool stuff coming for you all in the near future, Please help me get better by leaving a comment, if you would be so kind.

I promise I'll respond to you as soon as possible, have a Great Day & Happy Fishing.
                                                                       Jon