Did you get out over the weekend, or one afternoon, and do any fishing?

I slipped over to Gardy’s Mill Pond last Wednesday to get a view of how everything looks as of right now. I am still waiting to hear an update from DWR on the dam repair.

There is some water still in there, but it is out away from the shoreline and still not open for fishing. It just makes me feel so sad to see it like this. So many fun days fishing there.

Friday, I got a late start but made my way over to Wilna to do some big bass hunting. The hunting was good, but I just couldn’t get a big bass in the boat. I hit up one of the pockets and had a big bass blow up and eat my frog, but it made a huge jump, shaking her head back and forth, and threw my bait as I watched it flying back to me. What a beautiful bass, but it hurt my pride. I continued to move and caught a nice small bass before I got to another area I thought might hold a big bass.

I made a cast up in the shallows with a wacky-rigged worm and felt the line twitch. I pulled back on the rod to set the hook, and oh, it felt good.

It pulled hard, bending my rod and stripping off some line. And then it made a huge jump, and my heart sank again. Another big bass, the biggest of the day, was gone.

I fixed my worm and made another cast almost to the same spot. Suddenly, my line jumped and started to swim off. Once again, I set the hook, but just like the last bass, a huge jump and it was gone. Two beautiful bass from the same spot, gone in an instant.

It hurt, and I just stopped for a couple of minutes to regroup and clear my head. I grabbed a drink of my coffee and took a deep breath. You can’t let it get to you. I did everything right; they just came off the hook.

I kept fishing, catching a lot of smaller bass as I covered more water. I lost count of how many 12–14 inch bass I caught, and I was having fun indeed. I slipped into another area, and once again I threw the wacky-rigged worm right around some brush. The line jumped, and again I leaned into the hook. But as my luck had been going today, another huge bass jumped, and I was left wondering just what I was doing wrong. I kept fishing and managed a couple of nice bass after this, my biggest being about 3 pounds, still on the wacky-rigged worm. Still, I was out enjoying the beauty of nature around me.

Saturday morning, I slipped back over to Wilna to try and redeem myself. It was a beautiful morning with a little chill in the air. I hit a couple of spots with no bites and decided to go back to where I had missed the first bass Friday.

I slowed down and threw a white Missile Baits Chunky D, Texas-rigged, into the pads where I thought the bass could be. Nothing on the first cast, but I knew one could be there. I made a second cast and slowly, very slowly, started to work it back to me.

I hopped it over a root and let it sit when the line jumped. I set the hook hard, and she pulled hard. And then the sudden jump, head shaking. But this time I had gotten the hook to hold, and I had a great fight. She got close to the boat and, as I grabbed the net, made a run under the boat. The fight was intense up until I slipped her into the net.

It was slow, painfully slow, as I kept moving around. I switched over to a big glide bait over the flats, hoping I might find one swimming around waiting to go up to spawn. And like a freight train, it slammed my bait, almost knocking the rod out of my hands.

I pulled back, and the line screamed as I fought her. I felt the weight, and then I saw her in the water, and suddenly, she was gone. The rush from the hit was amazing. I kept fishing, making my way around the pond, moving back toward the front.

I hit up another pocket and pitched my Chunky D into the edge of some lily pads. I felt the weight and pull on the line but set the hook on air. I fixed my bait and, once again, made the same pitch. I worked it a little when the line suddenly jumped, and I set the hook. She made two big leaps, but the hook held fast as I worked her to the boat.

What a beautiful bass, and once in the net, I let out a whoop! That gave me two bass for the day, both big, but not one small bass at all.

I kept searching, but the bite was just so slow. I had a few very small fish peck on my bait, but they were too small to eat it. It felt good but just didn’t make me happy. At 12:30, I finally hooked into another nice bass on the Chunky D that was hiding up in the shallows around the wood and lily pads. She weighed in at about 3 pounds and ended up being my last bass of the day. What a difference a day makes. Not one small bass, but I did find three very nice bass.

Fishing the Spawn

The spawn is here! The bass are moving up on bed finally, but not all at once. So, we have some big females hanging off the spawning areas, just waiting for the signal to move up, and we have a few up on the bed with the smaller males.

It is a fun but frustrating time to be fishing. A topwater bait is a great choice to cover a lot of water and to frustrate any bass up on bed. A frog is still my choice for the lily pads, but if you have open water, a walking bait, a plopper, or popper are great fish-catching baits.

Cover the shallows with a variety of baits. A wacky-rigged worm is always fun, but so is a Texas-rigged creature bait or a jig. And a square-billed crankbait is great for covering water while bumping off objects.

A spinnerbait or a bladed jig are also other great ways to cover water. A bait a lot of people may overlook is a swim jig. It covers a lot of water and can be fished in the lily pads if they aren’t too thick.

Use braided line to help cut the pads, and work the area of the first drop with the spinnerbait, a suspending jerkbait, or even a lipless crankbait.

Safety in Mind

As the temperatures soar this week into the weekend, don’t let it fool you into a false sense of security. The water temperatures are in the 60s, which is still too cold. Hypothermia is still a threat.

Wear your life jackets, especially when the big motor is engaged, and have the kill switch attached to your life jacket so it stops the motor if you are thrown around or out of the boat. And wear it all the time if you are in a canoe or a kayak.

Accidents happen in a hurry, and you don’t have the extra time you always think you will. The water is fun, but it can be deadly. Think safety first, have fun, and live to fish another day!

Farmer’s Market

If you are at the Farmer’s Market in Tappahannock this Saturday, stop by the Friends booth for the Earth Day event and say hello. We can talk fishing and about the refuge locations.

And, of course, we are always looking for volunteers who just want to help, be it a small job or more. Volunteer to help when you can. Hope to see you there.

If you get to go fishing one afternoon/evening or this coming weekend, take some pictures of your catch or the kids having fun. I want to see them and share it here for everyone to see just how beautiful the Northern Neck is for fishing. Send your pictures, fishing reports, questions or comments, to FishingNNK@gmail.com. This column is about you and for you and fishing in the Northern Neck. Remember, “Do yourself a favor, take a kid fishing.” Make a memory to last a lifetime.