Pulled this out of my pond this morning...

[gusstrand]

There is a little ~2 acre pond in my neighborhood that I fish when I need a quick fix. It's two blocks from the house. It's an easy stop for 30 minutes before work, and great for instant fishing therapy. There are perch and bass in it, and a couple grass carp for maintenance. Most of the time, you catch the perch and sometimes a small bass...

I have some chartreuse buggers that I use almost exclusively around here because they are extremely successful - chartreuse marabou tail, black and chartreuse chenille, grizzly hackle... sometimes a bright green glass bead up front.

Today I decided to change things up, and went with a purple tail, brown and black chenille body, grizzly hackle and a red glass bead on about a size 10 hook. A small bugger, really. I also usually fish 4x frog hair tippet. Not too big or small... Most often on my 5wt rod.

So, thinking it was going to be fruitless because my chartreuse bugger is so consistent, and I get a tug in the deeper part of the pond. It's about a two acre pond, and and I usually fish the shallow side and a dropoff area. This morning I was on the back side, just enjoying the sunrise, casting in to the wind we get every morning in the spring, and trying not to hang my line in the trees behind me...

I cast out again, and holy moly, something big has the bugger and is headed to the center of the pond. I lead it away from a loop of submerged cable I saw, and it takes off... I thought I had hooked one of the grass carp that are in this pond, and then thought... well... I don't have much tippet strength... it's going to break me off, so I let it run. First time I've been in to backing in freshwater since I moved from the Rogue Valley.

A fun fight later, and I had a very respectable largemouth by the lip:



I'd say he was five or six pounds, and by far the largest fish I've caught in this little pond...

After he posed for a second by the rod and reel he was sent back to surprise someone else another day.

[soupmix]

Now that's a great start to the day!

[jeepster]

Awesome G!.

[Danny S]

WOW! Nice bass. I've caught some large ones in the Sabinal River (out near Sabinal, TX) before, but not that large. I bet that monster put one heckuva strain on the 4X. A real blast on a 5 wt.

[gusstrand]

He was a good workout. :) Reminded me of how it used to go hooking a chinook while steelhead fishing... The little bass like to jump and tailwalk, he wanted none of that juvenile behavior. I haven't caught a salmonid since I moved in 2004... just can't bring myself to pay to fish the stocked tailwater fishery here... it was good to hook in to a worthy opponent. :clap:

[wrknapp]

I don't know why, but I am still amazed at the versatility of small buggers in hooking a wide variety of fish in surprizing sizes. Good job.

Randy

[gusstrand]

I love buggers. So easy to tie, so doggone effective. Caught another one this morning, ~4lbs... :)

[Brooktrout]

nice fish. you're on a roll.

[MikeM]

Great bass Gus. What kind of retrieve on the little bugger?

MikeM

[gusstrand]

Hey Mike... I strip random short and jerky, sort of like me in person... two, three or four 3-4" quick jerks, pause, couple more, watch the swallow dip in the water, three quick jerks... you get the idea. Originally I suppose I was trying to sim an erratically injured bugger...