I've been busting out overtime to get money together for my impending trip, so I haven't had much time for fishing or anything. Yesterday was my first day off with anything less than a 60% chance of rain, so I decided to load the kayak up and go fishing.
I got to Plum Orchard at about 10:00 and made my way to the very upper boat launch. The morning fog had pretty well lifted and the sun was shining. I was afraid I was too late to get any good fishing done...I never seem to do well from 11:00-15:00 anywhere I go. I unloaded the kayak and set it up for the day.
Before launching, I made a few casts off the dock with a little Rapala countdown, which resulted in two small bass. I figured that was promising enough and launched, making my way further into the upper part of the lake. On the way, I watched some catfish ambush what I'm guessing were small fish at the shoreline, or maybe spawning...HUGE catfish. I didn't want to tangle with them out of a kayak, so I kept moving. I managed a few more smaller bass on the way to furthest reaches of the lake, and then happened upon this school of bluegill and decided to get my light action rod out and play with them a little.
After catching a few bluegill, I moved on and started to get into the lily pads. This area is barely fished just due to accessibility. The kayak glides right over though. It all runs about 1-5ft deep and is thick with lily pads...what you see below is just as you come into the area, but all you can see in the pic is the pads that have surfaced already...there are plenty more that have some growing to do below the surface.
As I got further into the lily pads, fishing picked up. I switched to a Powerbait worm on a carolina rig. I believe pumkinseed was the color I was using...it's decently close to the color of the salamanders I was seeing in the area. I just started casting them into the larger openings and pulling out bass. Below are two of the better ones I caught.
After being in the lily pads for a couple hours trying to pull bass back out of the lily pads, my Zebco 33 gave way. I stripped it out trying to pull a bass out after it dove into a bunch of lily pads, so it cut my day short. I didn't feel like trying to do the same with my lightweight rod. Total, 13 Bass and 4 Bluegill landed with I don't know how many missed strikes and bass that I spooked paddling across the lily pads. Most people complain that the bass are hard to catch in Plum Orchard, but I guess you just gotta know how to get to them.
And another picture of the truck and kayak loaded up ready to head home.
Now, I guess I need to find a new reel. I could take the opportunity to try and switch over to spinning or baitcasting reels again, but I hate dealing with them. It seems like I spend more time stripping bird nests out of my reels than I do fishing.
I got to Plum Orchard at about 10:00 and made my way to the very upper boat launch. The morning fog had pretty well lifted and the sun was shining. I was afraid I was too late to get any good fishing done...I never seem to do well from 11:00-15:00 anywhere I go. I unloaded the kayak and set it up for the day.
Before launching, I made a few casts off the dock with a little Rapala countdown, which resulted in two small bass. I figured that was promising enough and launched, making my way further into the upper part of the lake. On the way, I watched some catfish ambush what I'm guessing were small fish at the shoreline, or maybe spawning...HUGE catfish. I didn't want to tangle with them out of a kayak, so I kept moving. I managed a few more smaller bass on the way to furthest reaches of the lake, and then happened upon this school of bluegill and decided to get my light action rod out and play with them a little.
After catching a few bluegill, I moved on and started to get into the lily pads. This area is barely fished just due to accessibility. The kayak glides right over though. It all runs about 1-5ft deep and is thick with lily pads...what you see below is just as you come into the area, but all you can see in the pic is the pads that have surfaced already...there are plenty more that have some growing to do below the surface.
As I got further into the lily pads, fishing picked up. I switched to a Powerbait worm on a carolina rig. I believe pumkinseed was the color I was using...it's decently close to the color of the salamanders I was seeing in the area. I just started casting them into the larger openings and pulling out bass. Below are two of the better ones I caught.
After being in the lily pads for a couple hours trying to pull bass back out of the lily pads, my Zebco 33 gave way. I stripped it out trying to pull a bass out after it dove into a bunch of lily pads, so it cut my day short. I didn't feel like trying to do the same with my lightweight rod. Total, 13 Bass and 4 Bluegill landed with I don't know how many missed strikes and bass that I spooked paddling across the lily pads. Most people complain that the bass are hard to catch in Plum Orchard, but I guess you just gotta know how to get to them.
And another picture of the truck and kayak loaded up ready to head home.
Now, I guess I need to find a new reel. I could take the opportunity to try and switch over to spinning or baitcasting reels again, but I hate dealing with them. It seems like I spend more time stripping bird nests out of my reels than I do fishing.