Conference wahoo::fishing

     Ed, to be honest, you're best shot at a place like this would be
    to start REAL EARLY and twitch a rapala along the edge of the weeds.
    If that isn't convenient, you could crawl an unweighted texas rigged
    worm over the weeds and pads, or, if the water surface isn't covered
    with slime, fish a buzz bait.
     I'd also recommend 4" worms and gitzits, but rather than pitchin'
    and hopin' you should go around the pond and look for drop offs
    which have any kind of structure - rocks, tree stumps, etc. and
    use these lures there. You might also want to fish a crankbait or
    spinnerbait parallel to the outside edge of the weeds. Don't overlook
    docks or drowned trees, if you can find 'em.
     With the kind of weather we've been having, small, dark lures fished
    quietly might be the key. If you can get 'em, the 4" black grape
    "Producto" worm or the salted "green weenie" have been pretty hot.
    Also, if you think fish may be in the shallows, don't overlook bright
    red worms - especially if the water is clear. I'll bet you get at
    least one pickerel on a chartreuse crankbait...
    
     GOOD LUCK!!
    
    --The Skoal Bandit

    If the tall grass-like weed is a stiff reed that comes out above the
    water then you can work crankbaits and spinnerbaits right thru them,
    but I'd start with something more subtle like a bottom bumper before 
    crashing thru there with a spinnerbait.
    
    If it's the grassy stuff that come up to the surface, bends and floats,
    then I'd stick with the bottom bumbers (plastic worms, grubs, jigs, etc).  
    
    Pads are always good, toss a worm right in `em.
    
    As any ABCer can tell you, I'm not an early morning fisherman  - I'm
    always the odd vote voting for later starts for tournies!  We have a
    7am start tomorrow and by the way, I'm planning on it being COLD.
    
    If you don't have a temp guage, stick your finger in the water, it may
    be colder than you think.  With the weather we've been having, and with
    the temps  dropping tonight (supposed to be in the 30s in NH), the
    water may be a little cool - it may help to fish a little deeper,
    smaller and slower than usual for this time of year... 
    
    maybe this little chill will turn on an early fall feeding frenzy.......
    
    donmac - who'd also use some bigger worms if there's supposedly BIG
    	     bass in there.......
    
    ps: if your member of BASS, they had a series of "pond primers" in a
    number of issues awhile back - covered just what your looking for...

Well, I fished that pond on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was really 
windy - too windy actually - but I tried anyway. I got a late start 
because I had to have an unscheduled exhaust system repair done on the 
car in the morning, but by 11:00 I was on my way, minus my planned 
fishing partner - my wife - who opted for the Meredith Fair instead. 
After wrestling the Crawdad off the roof by myself, I fought the wind 
with my 28lb thrust trolling motor to the far end of the pond where the
wind was minimal, dropped anchor, and tried rubber worms, floating
minnows, two kinds of rubber frogs, and rubber grubs. 

Well, if there are any bass in there, I can't be completely sure. The 
weeds were about 2-3 feet below the surface just about everywhere. What 
fish I could see appeared to emerge from the weeds only when they showed 
an interest in one of the lures. Something I thought was a bass took hold
of a rubber worm several times, but always by the tail. It was probably
just a large sunfish. If it was a bass it certainly wasn't a big one.
When I switched to grubs, the pickerel showed themselves. They especially
liked the smoke/green-flake 5" grub on a flourescent red (orange) jig
head. With this rig it seemed like I could catch all the pickerel I
wanted. Unfortunately, one loses interest in catching small pickerel very
quickly. Oddly enough, they showed no interest in chartreuse grubs. I did
get a couple of isolated hits on the yellow/green (mostly yellow)
non-floating Hawg Frog, and none on the floating, neutral colored Super
Frog. The only other thing I got a hit on was a gold Bomber Long A Minnow
John Easter Special. 

On Sunday I did it right. I got to the pond by 6:00 AM, and the rough 
wind of Saturday was gone, replaced by a drifting, almost-spooky mist
rising off the water. I had the place to myself until a couple in an Audi
with a red Old Towne canoe pulled up while I was watching some minnows
near a log and trying to wake up enough to get the Crawdad off the old
Volvo's roof. (I really should have picked up a coffee at Dunkin's on the
way) I hate to say it, but at first I looked at these people more as
intruders than fellow fishermen. That changed when the male member of the
pair offered to help me with my boat. I asked him if they'd fished there
much before and if he knew of any bass in there. He said there were some
small bass, but mostly "pickies". 

Anyhow, I set off to try the spots that I missed the day before, and it 
turned out to be pretty much a replay of Saturday. I caught a few scrawny 
pickerel on the jig and grub rig, then began experimenting with a gold Johnson 
Silver Minnow (weedless) with a trailer made from the tail half of an 8" 
motor oil Jelly Worm. About 2 minutes after I started working that combo, 
the largest pickerel of the two days grabbed hold of the worm trailer and 
wouldn't let go. He literally ripped it right off the hook and I never 
saw him again after that. Might have run 18-20". 

An unexpected treat was discovering an otter diving for his breakfast out 
in the middle of the pond. He even stopped to munch his catch for a 
minute before he saw me and took off. Earlier I had seen a flock of at 
least fifty birds banking and swooping in unison chasing after a single hawk.
Quite a show!

I may bring my son there someday to see the wildlife, but unless somebody 
can convince me that there's fish in there worth catching, I think I'll 
take my crawdad elsewhere.

Next week we do Lake Waukewan...

Ed

    Ed, were you fishing Otter Lake in Greenfield State Park ? If you
    were, I may have some surprises for you...
    
    --The Skoal Bandit
    
    

    From his description I thought that it sounded like Otter Lake too.
    I was there Sunday afternoon and now have a score to settle with a
    certain fish!
    
                                               Tom

    I should have mentioned at the beginning that it was the pond adjacent
    to Laconia airport, otherwise known as Lily Pond. It's at the end
    of (I believe) Rt 111 in Laconia, easy to see from the highway.
    
    I'm wondering if maybe the lack of features in the pond, the heavy
    weed growth and shallow bowl shape of the pond may mean that the
    bass - if there are any - are deeper and away from the shore. Anybody
    have any ideas on that? I did see some minnows that looked like
    they were baby bass, so there may be some in there somewhere.
    
    What's this about Otter Lake/Pond..?
    
    Ed
    

     Ole "Lavender Jack" and I like to fish Otter occasionaly, and have
    released several nice bass - 1 over 4lbs and 1 over 6lbs. Not a
    ton of variety in depth, but lots of different structure. 4" worms,
    spinnerbaits, crankbaits, buzzbaits and jerkbaits all work. Some
    pickerel and smallmouths, but mostly largemouths.
     Tom, tell me more about the fish you lost...
    
    --The Skoal Bandit

    Bandit,
    
       I didnt want to tell another 'one that got away' story, but I
    worked the whole pond Sunday, mostly with a Redfin (love that top
    water action). Had some success with small fish but then put the 
    bait out beyond a half sunk piling and hooked into what I truly 
    beleive was the largest bass I've ever had a shot at.  I thought 
    he was mine, he was tired, came to the surface, rolled, turned 
    towards me and the plug just popped right of his mouth.  
    
    It was NOT BAD LUCK, purely my fault. I set the DULL hook ( I hadnt 
    bothered to sharpen recently) like a WIMP!  Jeeze was I talking at 
    myself after that !!
    
    All and all though, I do like that lake...it has some great fish in it,
    I'll hone my hooks, eat my wheaties, and fish there anyday.  Who knows,
    maybe I'll even get another chance.
    
                                                Tom

    Whereabouts is this place? How large is it? Depth, weeds, etc?
    I'd be interested in comparing it to Lily Pond. (What a wimpy name,
    eh?) Maybe I'll give ol' Lily another chance if they sound similar.
    
    Ed

    Ed 
       this pond you fished in is it the one at the end of the runway?
    if you come off rt.11 turn left and then take the first left?
       If this is the pond then the only thing we have ever caught in
    there is pickeral and a pile of them, me and another guy must of
    caught 50-75 one sat. morning last year, and b.t.w. I never heard
    of anyone catching bass in there.
    
                                                          Lee.
    

    Yup, that's it. Pickerel everywhere...
    
    Ed
    

    I made about my 3rd or 4th return trip to Otter Pond last Saturday .
    Even on a little pond the wind was making little whitecaps. We got
    3 smallmouth, 18", 14.5" and just under 12".  The sweet part was that
    the 18" fish came right off the same structure I lost one at in my "
    one that got away" a few replys back.  So, I gotta believe it was
    that same fish (musta contracted alittle in the cold water :>) )
    so the scores even.  That fish took a gold bomber, and my partner
    took the other 2 on purple worms.
    
    My partner just moved up here from Alabama...Likes the fishing so far
    but the cold and wind saturday "liked to have froze me solid".
    
                                                  Tom