As I mentioned yesterday, Bubby was taking Mom and I to one of his fishing holes. I swear that kid would fish in a drainage ditch if he thought it held fish. He has managed, in the month that we have been here, to find every puddle, pond, lake, creek, stream or river within biking distance of the apartments. The majority of them are within yards of the front door, and none so far that you can’t walk to them in twenty or so minutes.
We were kind of busy yesterday so we postponed our trip until today. I woke up his slumbering highness at the reasonable hour of 10:00 AM and reminded him that he promised to take us fishing. Fortunately he is easy to get up if it’s something he wants to do. While he got ready I went and gathered up a little bit of gear: fishing rods, the net, and water bottles. I left the tackle up to him, as he knew what the fish liked to eat.
Its funny how you don’t notice things if you’re occupied or aren’t looking for them. I must have passed this lake a hundred times and never realized it was there. I mean it might measure 400-500 yards in length and a hundred at its widest point, so you can see how easy it is to miss.
Many of the lakes and ponds are required in these planned communities. The lakes act as retention areas for the water that cascades off all the concrete and asphalt. The positive aspect of this is that it creates habitat for fish, wading birds, and gators. One of the problems though is that they become repositories for pesticides, fertilizers, and pollutants that drain into these areas with the run off. Well designed lakes and ponds have littoral shelves that acts as a nursery for beneficial bacterium, plants, invertebrates, and small animals that help to breakdown many of these toxic compounds.
Anyway, this lake butts up to the first hole of the last nine of the local golf course. My guess is that it is pretty toxic as far as water quality, but none the less there is plenty of life in and around it on first examination.
A cormorant was drying out on one bank, while a heron poked around in the shallows. There where plenty of fresh water clam shells on the shore that the raccoons had dug up and eaten. Maybe the water quality isn't all that bad if there are mollusks in sufficient quantities to feed the local coons.Bubby set Mom up with a silver bodied blue back RattleTrap, while he used his secret weapon bream pattern RattleTrap. I stuck with my personal favorite the Zara Spook. Bubby showed Mom where to throw, what retrieve rate to use, and other little known tricks of the trade, while I was relagated to staying "over there" where my cigar sized top water lure wouldn't disturb the fish.
Before I had made my third cast Bubby hollered, "Fish on!" He's been watching a lot of fishing shows now that we have cable and some black box that gives us something called "On Demand."I put my rod down to get a better look at what was going on.
This was the first of several bass that he pulled in while Mom and I flailed helplessly with our rigs. Well, we really just love going out with him. And after casting about a few times we usually put our gear down and just enjoy watching him and listening to his conversations.
All in all, another great day spent fishing. Bubby wants to learn about plastic worm fishing and flyfishing. I know very little about the former, and somewhat more about the latter. Two more talents that he will be happy to pick up!
On my part, I have to get my new garage organized and ready for work. Bubby needs that pirogue and I sure would like to get it finished by Christmas. It would make the perfect gift for him, as well as a very practicle watercraft for these ponds and lakes. I have to design some kind of wheel and bracket assembly for it, along with a bike hitch so he
can still pedal to all his fishing spots. That's another nice thing about this area, they have large bike paths and trails. I'll make sure I chronicle the construction process, it should be very interesting.Best Regards,
Albert A Rasch
The Hunt Continues...
