Getting Back to My Roots

Some of my fondest childhood memories are bass-fishing trips I made to local Oswego, Kansas, farm ponds with my dad and brother. And as I was making my way around a pond today, I had a lot of flashbacks to those earlier days. It almost was like Pop and my brother still were there with me.

I have to be honest--I can't claim credit for the idea of finding a pond to fish today. It was the culmination of being tired of sitting home, listening to the northeast winds blow and receiving an email from a friend the other day, telling me about a trip he had made to a pond. Suddenly, I remembered that I know someone in the area who has a pond on his property, so I called him this morning and got permission to fish there a couple hours this afternoon.

And, as luck would have it, while I was making my way around the pond this afternoon, another friend happened by and stopped to invite me to fish his pond down the road a ways. So now, I have a couple ponds I can fish anytime I want, with only two provisions attached: (1) that I release everything I catch, and (2) that I don't tell any of my friends where I'm fishing. As the star of Hunter, an old TV detective show, used to say, "Works for me."

It wasn't more than 15 minutes after I parked my van and got out a rod this afternoon that a bass snatched my spinnerbait and scratched the itch I've had for days now. He easily would have gone about a pound and three-quarters. I just had unhooked and released him when the owner showed up to talk a spell. Our conversation just was winding down, when a big 'un leaped clear of the water on the far side. I quickly took my leave and headed that way to see if I could get the attention of that fish. As it turned out, I didn't have anything in my box that would fool him, but you can be certain I'll be back for another go in the not-too-distant future.

The owner told me he caught one back in early spring that weighed more than 9 lbs., and he assured me there are others pretty close to the same weight still swimming in the pond. I look forward to finding at least one of those, as well as some of the nice resident fish in the other man's pond down the road.

Best of all, I can travel light, there aren't likely to be a lot of other anglers in my way, and I won't have a boat with a scum line to clean up at day's end. I hardly can wait to see what this coming fall holds in store for me.