mr.fish
Well-known member
It seems like almost forever now I wanted to catch a pickeral, and today was the day I left that black cloud behind me. I have fished plenty of waters that hold these fish, but never hooked up with one.
I started out early in a local lake fishing nothing but topwaters. I knew my odds of numbers would be low, but I wanted that explosive action of some bigger fish. The first spot, I threw some rage frogs t-rigged, only to have 3 or 4 fish totally wake, and miss my bait. The sun got higher, and the topwater action died off. I jumped in the car, and was off to a smaller pond a mile or two up the road. By then the sky was bright, and it was hot. The pond was so covered in pads, and scum that it was impossible to get some good action out of a rage frog. I decided to switch it up a little and straped on a spro frog. Almost immediately, I hooked up on a real pig in some very thick pads. One of the best topwater explosive strikes I seen yet from a bass. I got one look at him on a jump, and then it was more or less trying to figure out what to do after he stopped me dead in very thick pads. I felt him tugging all the while I was deciding if I should jump in for a rescue or not. Well, after a fast decision, I decided to try and horse him out of there, and thats when my frog let loose, and that fish turned into a memory. Next fish wasn't doing that again, so before I even knew what I even hooked, I was ripping its lips off getting him on top of those weeds. And to my suprise it was my first slime dart ever. Walking around the pond I missed at least 5 or 6 agressive strikes on the frog. And once again, I hooked up with a much more worthier 23"+ pickeral. Another hour in, I finally got the hook into a better size largemouth. One more specie of fish I can cross of that list.
I started out early in a local lake fishing nothing but topwaters. I knew my odds of numbers would be low, but I wanted that explosive action of some bigger fish. The first spot, I threw some rage frogs t-rigged, only to have 3 or 4 fish totally wake, and miss my bait. The sun got higher, and the topwater action died off. I jumped in the car, and was off to a smaller pond a mile or two up the road. By then the sky was bright, and it was hot. The pond was so covered in pads, and scum that it was impossible to get some good action out of a rage frog. I decided to switch it up a little and straped on a spro frog. Almost immediately, I hooked up on a real pig in some very thick pads. One of the best topwater explosive strikes I seen yet from a bass. I got one look at him on a jump, and then it was more or less trying to figure out what to do after he stopped me dead in very thick pads. I felt him tugging all the while I was deciding if I should jump in for a rescue or not. Well, after a fast decision, I decided to try and horse him out of there, and thats when my frog let loose, and that fish turned into a memory. Next fish wasn't doing that again, so before I even knew what I even hooked, I was ripping its lips off getting him on top of those weeds. And to my suprise it was my first slime dart ever. Walking around the pond I missed at least 5 or 6 agressive strikes on the frog. And once again, I hooked up with a much more worthier 23"+ pickeral. Another hour in, I finally got the hook into a better size largemouth. One more specie of fish I can cross of that list.
