Some Light Tackle Direct-Drive Fishing

[Paul Roberts]

Finally got some fishing in as the ice has broken on the pond. I've been pleased, and surprised, that my light tackle direct-drives have been able to throw weights as light as 1/8oz, to about 30-35ft. But, I've found 3/16oz to be a better suited minimum for fishing. ElazTech grubs ("Ned Rig", after Ned Kehde) are heavy, so paired with a 1/16oz head they hit 3/16oz. And being buoyant, they can be fished at a slow crawl. A clip-on overhead spinner adds a little weight too, and slows horizontal retrieve a bit more as well. The result has been my first DD-caught catches of the year.

This particular reel is a customized, VHT wrinkle painted, Langley Lurecast. Handle knobs get a wrap of hockey tape to reduce slippage.


These ice-out fish have remained deep and beyond effective reach from shore, but following an unseasonable 60F late February day, I managed three small bass, to 12-1/2", that came within effective range of the shoreline. Not that the reel can’t cast far enough to potentially reach deeper fish, but detecting takes that far out, and deep, is tough.

The rig used was a Coxe 95C, 6-1/2ft CTS glass blanked "faux vintage" glass rod I built, 14lb Fireline, 6lb fluorocarbon top-shot, and 3/16oz (total) "Ned Rig" grub.


Our (new to us) pond is in need of attention, having a stunting problem, having been unmanaged for decades. But there are always a few individuals that manage to break the barrier. One, I saw 3 times during last year’s spawn, looked to go 19, possibly 20inches. Well, yesterday, I caught her from my float tube! The day started with a coating of skim ice that mostly melted off by midday. She took a Ned Rig jig-n-grub 7ft down off the shoreline shelf I’d caught the others.

Oh! This is one of the big ones!"


So, here she is, all 20" of her.


I'm sure I'll see her again sometime in the future.

[kyreels]

Nice winter bass! I am not familiar with the Ned Rig, have to look into that.

[Paul Roberts]

Hi, Matt. Lots out there on the Ned Rig. It’s become a light tackle staple.

[Mike N]

That bass looks great, but northern ponds and stunted fish are always a battle. Do you harvest the biggest bass or restock the the forage minnows, tadpoles and crayfish? Do you add an aerator? Or, do you add more cover for the fry and forage minnows? It’s really a trial and error proposition in my experience managing three small bass ponds.

[Paul Roberts]

Yes, playing God is tough, even for a small pond. Stunting here appears caused by competition with the population of sunfish. There is too much cover. I video monitored several bass beds last year and each failed, the stunted males (9-10”) overwhelmed by sunfish in just a couple of days time.

I’ve been removing some water lilies and fallen brush in places and will be cropping down the sunfish. Also been removing leaves and reducing the muck in places. The pond is surrounded by mature forest. The lilies ring the pond.

There are 8 grass carp in this 1.65ac pond which likely helps some with softer vegetation, although the carp are pretty old now and less efficient. There is a fair amount of dense coontail, that grass carp don’t seem to like.

We’ve discussed adding fatheads but this turns out to be an expensive band-aid. If they could develop a sustaining population, then it might be worthwhile.

This is where we’re at with it at this pond. Our other pond appears to have a similar stunting situation but at 11ac may be beyond our capabilities. I have thought of adding pike to this water bc some of my best large bass ponds had pike. But that may be a bit too much of a gamble.

[Ron Mc]

Great report and great-looking combo Paul.
I had a report from a couple of weeks ago, and if you don't mind, I'll just add it to your thread.
Of course I was fishing my bench freespool synchro reels and short kayak rods.
6' graphite MH frogger (top), 5' glass MM and 5-1/2' glass ML (bottom)


In the TX hill country, it's tough to find water - we're in the 3rd year of drought, but the real problem is big-city sprawl encroaching hill country watersheds. (In the last census, 20% of US population growth was in the TX hill country)
To get away from the latter, Josh, Will and I drove 140 mi to explore a headwater fork - new water for me, and my buddy Josh had only fished this far away 3 times in the last decade.
We're still the only place that can flash flood and still be in trought.
Since I came from the east, we drove separately, and met at the first crossing. After the previous two days flooding, we found near-chocolate water. We fished the deep water here for 2 hours, all the gear worked great, but the fish weren't cooperating, compounded by N wind.

Decided to take our exploration farther upriver, hoping to find less-turbid water - less chert in the run-off.
We loaded boats, drove 5 miles up a dirt road. crossed the river 5 times -- two of those on the wet flagstone - and found a wide spot in the flagstone where we could see the structure.
The sun was also breaking, wind flip-flopping NE, E, SE and back, and the fish turned on for us.

This time it paid off.
My first cast, right after Josh said, "first fish gets a dollar"

Josh snapped this photo of me.

I was fishing the pink/brown 4-g inline keel spinner on the ML
(keels single-hook-up, and bottom-bounces on the flagstone - it's kinda like cheating).


Everyone caught fish here, we paddled as far as we could, and got out to explore farther.

A native cichlid here made Josh's day - these guys strobe-light half-black and half-white when hooked.

With the long drive home, we were out of time and had to blast back at 1:30.
Josh didn't invite me until 7pm the night before, so I only had time to load - no time for provisions.
Good thing Josh brought IPAs and jalapeno-cheese sausage to share.
Great group and great time.
A maiden voyage for my new truck. Got to use the 4WD, and the 10-sp transmission was a jewel climbing the divides on the interstate in cruise control.

We're hoping recent rains will open up some of our favorite western rivers, suffering the blight of San Antonio sprawl and "hill country acreage homesites."
But we'll keep this place in our back pocket, and return when we can find our usual clear water.

adding a ps - looks like you have a really healthy bass population in your pond.
Around here, stunting in "tanks" (ponds) is a population of 2-3" green sunfish, with nothing larger to prey on them.

[Paul Roberts]

Fun post, Ron. No worries on tagging on. Yeah, coffee-n-cream water is tough. Make it cold and it can be the toughest. My only success there has been directly inside cover. Or in eddy’s right to shore.Glad you found some fish to finish out the trip.

I think we anglers have all had to suffer sprawling development. Sounds excessive where you are. Sad.

Our ponds here have too many skinny little bass. Some are maturing at 10” in length. But if they can get over the hump there’s plenty of food for larger bass.

[Ron Mc]

Thanks Paul, things are hectic, with 7 field trips to the river over the past two weeks for Trout in the Classroom schools to release their trout fry in the Guadalupe tailwater. That includes HS aquatic science teachers and their families on Saturdays, and class field trips on weekdays (36 schools this year). This wraps up on Wednesday, and we have a coast trip planned for the weekend.

The Guadalupe tailwater, btw, has flow from the reservoir for a couple of reasons: the coldwater fishery is a Stakeholder in the water authority, which we won in court in the '90s; and court injunction to protect minimum flows for whooping cranes in Aransas NWR at the river mouth.