That Old Familiar Feeling

I took a little time today to head out to a new bank spot that a friend of mine has been telling me about. I have known about it for a while through all my years of cycling, but discovering Pungo from the fishing perspective opens up a whole new world. Anyway, I went down to Blue Pete's Restaurant on Muddy Creek Road. The water was extremely high due to all of the rain and South wind we have had recently. There was water all over the roads everywhere in Pungo. Luckily it had receded enough to pass.

Once I got to the bridge I saw that there was another person fishing on the opposite side from Blue Pete's. He said he had some luck fishing with live minnows for Crappie. I went to the other side so that I would not crowd him.

First lure I threw was a shallow running crank bait. No luck. Then I tried a double willow leaf bladed  spinner bait. That got me a bump, but nothing too aggressive. I thought it was Crappie so I changed to a 1/8th ounce spinner bait with a single willow leaf blade. That produced the same bump with little commitment.

Then, on a whim, I tossed the Mylar Minnow I received back in the winter from a friend of mine. I did not have high expectations on it being productive since it is the post spawn. But, to my surprise, when it got to the spot where I got the bump something nailed it! After a short fight this little guy was the culprit:

Sweet! No skunk this trip!

After a little while of throwing the tackle box I tied on a Zoom Speed Craw on a 1/4 ounce Slider Head. I dropped it down next to the retaining wall and it immediately was picked up. It started swimming off with it before it hit the bottom. I did a half-hearted hook set and lost the biggest female (I think) Largemouth Bass I have caught in a while. I know she was big because she threw the hook on the surface. To say I was bummed is an understatement!

So I tossed it right back in the same spot and caught this little guy:

I felt sort of bad because I set the hook pretty hard on this one. But he was just fine and was released with plenty of spunk.

The only other action I had was when I was picking the same Zoom Speed Craw up on the opposite side of the bridge. I felt the bump, but when I went to set the hook whatever it was had already spit the lure out. I knew something was there because the craw was all bunched up on the bend of the hook.

After that I swapped over to the other side of the road. I took the Mylar Minnow, the same Speed Craw Texas rigged with a 1/4 ounce bullet weight, and a Zoom swim bait in black and silver rigged on a belly weighted 4/0 hook with a 1/8 ounce weight. That one got the only other bump of the day, but it was short lived because my new friend Melvin had live minnows. The Largemouth Bass that bumped my swim bait took his live minnow and Melvin was able to land that nice fish. No photos of it, though, as he put it right in the cooler for dinner along with his other two Crappie and a nice White Perch. I know he and his wife were eating good tonight.

I saw a lot of action on his side of the road, but I think it was all from Longnose Gar. They were up in the reeds splashing around a making a big commotion. Those things are fun to hook into, but they are really difficult to get the hook out.

A good couple of hours spent for sure. Hopefully I can get the family out this weekend for some much needed reboot time with Mother Nature.