A Day In The Forest
Packed up the car at about 10 ish and headed off to the water. I had never been to Babcock pond but i figured it was worth a go, and would be another lake to check off my list. I pulled up to the put in point about 11 and there was an old man who lived down the street putting in at the same time. He helped me carry the yak down to the water and we had a great chat about the wind and the great bass in the pond. Off i went. The first thing to notice is how shallow the pond is. It may not be the bottom but there were less than 10" of clear water to the weeds and its only APRIL! I moved up the lake and was using a 4" bluegill keitech easy shiner, getting a few nibbles, but no takes in the lower areas of the pond. I paddled back to the main lake looking for some deeper water. I tossed the shiner and snatched up a huge gill. Not what i expected but first fish of the day i'll take it. Paddled around a while longer and got tired of the wind. I hot tailed it to the bay on the far end of the lake on the right. Found a nice little bit of brush to crash the yak up onto for the wind and started casting, 5 small bass later i was in business. I repositioned and got two small pickerel in the same spot. I moved across the bay, and cast almost to shore. I thought i had hooked into the mother load. Cranked, and cranked, and the boat was moving to the catch. Well i'll do whatever it takes. It started to move slowly to the right, and finaly i saw my catch. I managed to hook into a giant snapping turtle. The keiteh's seem to be the way to go. I shifted to the opposite bay on the left and got a bit off a few times, and gave up on the swim baits. It was getting expensive so i switched to the baby brush hawg. That was a good choice, and i got my largest of the day. Only 14" but bigger than the rest. The left bay produced a few more small pics and bass, and i headed back. I was trying to fish on the way back to the ramp but the wind was so strong i had a bow wake from being pushed so fast.