Had to take advantage of a nice day

72 degrees the 8th of April. After a winter that was, for lack of a better word, Stubborn, the nice weather was welcome. Rachel even had some time this afternoon and she wished to join me! I like when Rachel gets out with me as I know she is swamped most days, and I enjoy her company. We joined a friend, Jon Jones, at a wildlife are with three barrow pits to try our luck at a few crappie or bass, or anything that would bite for that matter. It was great to get there and see all the ducks. Bluebills, mallards, a few butterballs, shovelers, canadas, common mergansers, and a few unidentified. We walked the shoreline as the structure of this place was rather bleak. We tried small, bright, etc and could not get a fish to hit. I finally tried something with a little flash as something mimic the injured shad we kept seeing. Four casts and finally.

First open water fish of the 2013 season!

When I fish, all I want is one. I don't care what size or species, just one. I could have walked away at this point. A few more casts and another. Rachel came over and joined me in my 'honey hole' and I lost a nicer bass just before I could grab it. I was on a hot streak. Jones was finally fed up and he joined us as well. As he was changing his gear I hit a big one. One minute I am cranking, the next, my line is taking a slow, steady, pull across the bank. This was no slouch of a fish. I fought this fish for at least 15 minutes. I dropped my bag off with Rachel, and made my way back and forth on the bank following where ever it went. Back and forth....It never surfaced. We ruled out bass, and there was not wicked run, just slow and steady, so pike was out. I figured catfish or carp. When I finally caught a glimpse of him, Jones and I freaked. Within a minute Jones grabbed my fish.

I was hoping for a legal legit catch, but I had snagged his dorsal fin with one of the treble hooks. I was still stoked to have pig of catfish in hand!

 Rachel and I washing him off for pics

Jones wanted a fat cat belly pic.

 

We tried for another hour or so with no more fish but it was a great afternoon nevertheless. 

On our walk out we discover a small flock of Ross's geese came in on us out of no where. So now we have snow geese amongst the rest of the increasing number of waterfowl on the pit. Great way to spend a few hours indeed. 

Stay Tuned