I finally caught it!

[deepfryerdan]

We moved into this neighborhood right at 2 months ago from Tennessee. I've only ever fished in TN and the pond that's behind our house now is stocked with bass, catfish, and carp. Since day two of living here I've been fishing the pond and haven't caught a thing save for a couple blue gill. Well, last night, I finally caught one.

It was right at 2lb 13 oz.

 

[purple.alien.giraffe]

Nice. Congrats! That looks like a beautiful pond and a very pretty neighborhood to live in.

 

[Andy M.]

Nice neighborhood and nice fish!

 

[pacanis]

I want a pond with fish in it...
Nice Largemouth.

 

[chopper]

What a beautiful place! If I lived there, I might enjoy fishing. Looks like that one was hiding from you-glad you caught him. I bet he looked good on the plate too! I am so jealous of the green grass around the pond. We are just now getting green in eastern Colorado, and I mowed for the first time last Saturday. Things were so dry until lately. I grew up in Michigan where the fish like that hang out. My dad is a big fisherman, and would love to get one like you did out of the lake he lives on. Oh well-the smaller ones he catches are good eating too! Congrats on the fish!!

 

[Kayelle]

Nice fish Dan!!
I'm curious about that pond. It's man made right? Is swimming allowed ? This city girl is looking at it as a magnet for kids in the middle of a neighborhood, and a drowning hazard.

 

[ChefJune]

so, how did you prepare him?

 

[chopper]

Nice fish Dan!!
I'm curious about that pond. It's man made right? Is swimming allowed ? This city girl is looking at it as a magnet for kids in the middle of a neighborhood, and a drowning hazard.

I grew up in Michigan with lakes and ponds everywhere. Children were taught not to go near water without permission, and adults watched their children.
My Dad lives on a lake now, and adults watch the children so that they don't get too close when they are little, and give the rules(and swimming lessons ) when they are older. It just isn't a problem when you have water around all of the time.

 

[Dawgluver]

What a pretty place! And what fun, to fish in your own backyard!

 

[Kayelle]

I grew up in Michigan with lakes and ponds everywhere. Children were taught not to go near water without permission, and adults watched their children.
My Dad lives on a lake now, and adults watch the children so that they don't get too close when they are little, and give the rules(and swimming lessons ) when they are older. It just isn't a problem when you have water around all of the time.

You're right chopper, millions of kids live around water and adults "should" be in charge of watching them. We also know there are water tragedy's every day involving children.
I was just thinking out loud with this particular picture. We don't have any lakes nearby but we do have the ocean, and a huge number of home swimming pools that are required by law to be fenced. Admittedly my personal history makes me a little anal on the subject.
It's certainly beautiful.

 

[buckytom]

nice one, dan! what did you use? topwaters are good this time of year. you get good reaction strikes.

so, how did you prepare him?

oof, i hope you tossed him back. largemouths are gross. and i've tried grilling, frying, and sauteeing them. yuk!

but they're really fun to catch.

 

[chopper]

And...it is awful when those things do happen. Don't get me wrong, I was just thinking that the beautiful pond is probably somewhere more used to having water around, and was making an attempt at easing your mind.

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

We moved into this neighborhood right at 2 months ago from Tennessee. I've only ever fished in TN and the pond that's behind our house now is stocked with bass, catfish, and carp. Since day two of living here I've been fishing the pond and haven't caught a thing save for a couple blue gill. Well, last night, I finally caught one.

It was right at 2lb 13 oz.

My idear of heaven

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

nice one, dan! what did you use? topwaters are good this time of year. you get good reaction strikes.





oof, i hope you tossed him back. largemouths are gross. and i've tried grilling, frying, and sauteeing them. yuk!

but they're really fun to catch.

Tom and Dan the man, have you ever caught and eaten Zander?

 

[lifesaver]

Nice catch Dan!

 

[deepfryerdan]

I didn't eat him. It's a retention pond that the community keeps up on but there's still too many contaminants in the water that would scare me away from eating fish from it. I'm a catch-and-release kind of guy any way.

The pond is a no swimming pond. It gets to about 17 feet in the center. The rumor going around is that a former resident was a professional angler and he stocked the pond himself. During the nesting season you can see all the big ones come near the shore.. the biggest that's been snagged is a 4 lb 7 oz large mouth - I'll get him one day.

As for the grass being green, the top picture was taken in the spring. The bottom picture is the recent one and you can see how the grass is all burnt up. We just had rain yesterday for about 5 minutes.. not enough to do any work.

@buckytom - jitterbug. Best lure I've ever been given.

 

[buckytom]

dan, jitterbugs are great this time of year. they call it bubblin'up the bass. the little buggers strike out of irritation at it being so hot, out of territoriality, or just a knee jerk reaction. nothing is more fun than working a big, noisy, splashy lure and having a lunker roll over on it, then tail walk when you set the hook.

good luck catching the big one.