No fishing hasn’t been slow. I’ve been busy with work and the move to Palmetto Florida. I’ll be saying good bye to the ponds soon and to be honest, I’m a little sad. They have been good to me.
My 2 biggest did come this time of the year, so I will start hitting it hard on my farewell tour.
There are 2 ponds near the new place. Won’t know how good they are until I fish them. Neither are natural ponds, at least there is no emergent vegetation.
One of the reasons I was excited to move to Florida was the prospect of pond fishing and not having to go far or need a boat. These ponds did not disappoint. I’d guess the Avery weight of my bass caught has to be conservatively around 3.75lbs. my average trip was around 2 hours and I’d guess my average caught would be around 1-2 fish per trip only. I was ok with that because it meant bigger average fish.
Pretty amazing how good the ecosystem was for a small body of water. Tons of clams in the water and remnants on the shore from birds. Catfish, plecos, tilapia, sunfish, crappies, shiners, tadpoles, turtles, birds, Seminole killing fish and shiners were all observed.
I learned that a good wind, rain, clouds, sunrise and sunsets presented optimal conditions for catching bass. I learned how to approach and fish the banks in the morning and evening with aggressive baits and to slow it down and fish in the middle during the day. I learned baitfish became plentiful pre and post spawn and in the mornings I could catch multiple bass, sometimes on every cast as the bass schooled and pinned the baitfish next to shore. All I had to do is look for shore birds picking off the baitfish when the bass had them pinned against the bank. I also learned to listen and watch for sashes against the bank, signalling a feeding bass. Usually a cast to that spot produced a bite right away.
Yep, I’m going to miss that pond and it’s sister ponds.
Whatever
On of the natural sister ponds. Caught plenty of bluegills and a couple bass here, but after the hurricane, they never came back to this spot. Much of the vegetation went away.
One of the few times a gator visited me. He’s in there. He heard the splashing from the coppernose I was pulling out left and right.
The other sister pond (natural) where my 3 biggest bass came from.
Sunrise
Another Sunrise
A Foggy Start
Matthew pushed the water over the banks. Irma was worse, however downed powerlines prevented me from getting picts.
Matthew Temporarily Connects the Ponds through an overflow canal.
Sunset on the sister pond.
My first Florida Strain Bass 11/11/2014
Redear/Shellcracker
First 5#+ bass. July 7th 2015
Release Me
Found out the bluegills liked small plugs
10″ When you catch these coppernose they change color. The copper forehead stands out
Another 5lb Bass July 9th, 2016
Hand Caught Bass Fry
Seminole Killi Fish, native to just central Florida
White Catfish
Found the Speckled Perch
I’ll never forget this poor guy. Summers in a pond are hard on these fish, but this one was caught in June.
Lifelister! Spotted Sunfish
Never observed shiners in the retention pond. Then one day I caught a couple dozen in a half hour and they were all this size. No I didn’t use one as bait. I figured they were more valuable in the pond as prey for “my” bass.
Caught February 3rd of this year. I think she was just over 5lbs. She was fat, in the shallows and ready to spawn.
The Livetarget rewarded me many times with big bass
Another Perch
Hand caught Warmouth
Muscovy Ducks Always Hanging Around
No Harm, No Fowl
Tadpoles
No Harm, No Fowl
is there no 
