I love golf course ponds. I love them even more when they are closed for play. I love them EVEN MORE when it’s FALL FEED time!

While I’m still straightening out a fresh leader Austen get’s things started off…

Quick start, seems promising

Hungry cat

Patrick was next to connect… and put his brand new  TCR to work on a nice bass. Not a bad way to get the new rod funk off.

Bendo

Hungry, Healthy, and Heavy, nice combo

Don’t think we saw anything under 2.5# the whole evening

Seemed picture worthy

Nothing wrong with pausing between bruisers to take in a nice Oklahoma sunset.

Gotta love fall evenings

Sure it getting dark fast these days. I DREAD the time change. DREAD.

Night cap

To make the Monday situation even better this week, we had a nice steady soaking rain throughout the day. I didn’t think I would get to fish yesterday, but I got the phone call from my fiance (still getting used to saying that, had to throw it in) that we all dream of during the commute home… “Ward, I’m going to go see a movie with my girlfriends and then out to dinner.” Booooooooom. Game time.

By the time I got out to the pond, things were starting to clear up. I had been worried I’d be handicapped with poor visibility, but it was no longer an issue… It was one of those days when you rush through rigging up and practically light jog it down to the water.

Didn’t see any sign of the local carp in the first couple spots. I’m convinced they’ve figured out where I can get to ‘em and have moved on to new haunts. But hey, no worries, it’s Monday and I can track ‘em down without fear of a Titleist knocking me out (or the security guards throwing a fit).

First one to hand was a small bass, not a bad way to start things off.

Haven't seen the big'uns since Spring

As I was releasing that guy, I heard a familiar sound to my right… Sounded an awful lot like a carp feeding on the grass on the bank. Sure enough, there were two of ‘em, side by side, sucking away at the bank. Snuck above them and hooked up with the larger of the two…

Awkward lighting...

I kept moving around the pond and ran into one cruising around. Made a few casts, but couldn’t distract/interest it in anything I had to offer. Kept moving and came up to a little feeder creek draining out some water from the pond above… looked very promising.

Endless Fish Hole

There were a handful of large dark fish piling up right below the “waterfall”… couldn’t quite make out what they were, but they definitely looked too dark to be carp. My first cast raced off for the middle of the pond before I knew it even hit the water. The consistent rolls were a give away… catfish, and a nice one.

Wasn't a fan of the photo op

The time it took me to land each fish would give the spot enough time to rest that the cats would come right back. An occasional juvenile would get into the mix, but for the most part it was nice fish after nice fish for probably an hour.

Pretty smile?

It was enough to wear out a forearm… and build up an appetite. But it’s hard, make that impossible,  to be too tired/hungry to pass up a shallow tailer on the walk back to the car.

Wavin' bye

Moral of the story:

1. Do some networking (friends/family/coworkers/groundscrew/etc)  and get access to private golf course ponds. You’ll have at least one day a week of unlimited access to some sick water.

2. Fish post summer rains hard. Yet to have a post rain day where inlets weren’t stacked with nice cats.

Tight Lines,

Ward

I think the carp in my “go-to” golf course pond (a frequent pit stop on the way home from work) are wising up to me. I’ve been seeing them in far smaller #’s and they’ve been extra spooky. I decided to make a point to chase after bass out there for a while to give the carp a break and loosen ‘em up a bit. I haven’t caught any bass out there worth bragging about since early spring, but I had an interesting one this week:

How does something like this even happen?

Really, how does this happen? Seems like an awefully strange way to foul hook a bass. I did a little surgery and pressed down the barb as best I could.  Wonder what his chances are…

The wind has made a fly fisherman’s life difficult lately and the poor bass witht he hook through the belly was definitely the most noteable fish to come out of the golf course pond the past few days, but I thought this one was a cool shot. Reese has been having fun trying to figure out her new camera…

Nice shot, pretty fish

I met up with my old roommate to check out the new house he just bought on friday… after scoping the place out we decided to run out to Bridge Creek to check out a farm/neighborhood pond. Rumors of active 6lb+ bass were enough to convince us to take the drive.

No 6lber’s, but definitely some fun fishing and a great chance to catch up.

Josh bringing in the first fish of the day...

He was hooked up before I had even set the paddle down to make a cast, nice way to start things off for sure.

Nice timing...

They were all extra dark, very pretty and healthy fish in this pond.

So dark...

Judging by my case of “bass thumb,” I’d definitely call it a good few days. Not sure what’s in store for me fishing-wise  this week. Hopefully a trip or two to the OK river to bring my first gar to hand!

The measure of a good week....