Sometimes great memories of catching tons of fish -- and big ones at that -- come from the simplest trips on the smallest lakes.
Last week we spent an afternoon fishing with friends on one of those little lakes with no name -- like the ponds you drive by and usually think only have leeches and ducks. But sometimes those little lakes will fool you.
Nothing is funnier than just throwing an anchor and everyone casting every which direction with an assortment of lures. And pretty quickly you will see what the lake has to offer. For us, it was a night filled with bass hitting top water and jumping like they haven’t eaten in weeks. And then there was some nice pike that seemed to eat whatever you threw at them, and pike being pike they usually just shredded our line and swam away. But occasionally they would hit one of our lines with a leader and we would get them to the boat.
What we were really after were bluegills that fought like a largemouth. And the real reason? Well, they taste so good. A big panfish can be a blast on light tackle to boot. We managed to keep enough for a fish fry and truthfully by the time the sun set we had caught so many fish my hands hurt from taking them off. I guess that’s a great problem to have.
JAMIE DIETMAN, What’s Up Outdoors, may be reached at 218-820-7757.
