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After an afternoon of domestic choirs it was
time to get in some family pond fishing.
Joshua went to the Outer Banks, Michael went
to Ocean City, Mark was cutting neighbors
fields for good money, and Jeb was
reluctantly willing to go fishing. We
asked Mom, and to our surprise, said yes
too!
I
had one container of 12-worms in the outside
refrigerator, and off we went to a private
pond of a friend, in Howard County.
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With so many mediocre days on the water,
it was great to have a fishing bonanza.
We all caught several, quality fish.
Michelle and Jeb used live worms on
bobbers. The hooks were inferior,
Eagle Claw, thin wire, tiny junk hooks,
but they definitely caught fish.
With 4-pound test, Michelle finessed
this nice bass back to shore for the
photo-op. |
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While walking along the shoreline with
my camera in hand I flushed two baby
redwing blackbirds. They had
feathers and could fly, but they did not
have developed tails and flight was
strained and awkward. Just then
Mom bombed my head in rebellion, and I
was able to get off this photo as I
hightailed it away from the cattail
enclosed nest. |
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Cinquefoil and fleabane were in flower
along the dam face, blue iris was on the
wane and fragrant water lily were just
coming into bloom. |
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Michelle and I caught a fish at the
exact same time. Her's was a
bronco bluegill. |
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Great color pattern, almost looks like a
tropical fish! |
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I used YUM Dinger Worms (green pumpkin
and neon flaked) and YUM Doozee Tubes
(green pumpkin) on pre-weighted
Gamakatsu Jobee Finesse Hooks. I
think I could have caught fish all day.
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The bite was on, and I believe that just
about any lure presentation would have
worked today. |
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I watched the entire event . . . Jeb
caught this male largemouth bass by
sight fishing. The bass was
guarding a bed and there was a cloud
(school) of tiny fry bass over the bed
and the male guarding them. Jeb
cast past the bed and inched the worm
into the center of the nest. The
strike was immediate, better than
textbook! |
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Michelle caught three bass over
three-pounds, all on 4-pound test and
tiny, excuse the pun, crappie hooks. |
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Dang, I think we caught at least six
larger, largemouth bass and an endless
stream of bluegill, but then, with only
an hour on the water, the clouds quickly
got dark and we heard thunder nearby. |
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On our way out to the truck, and along a
forested trail, I noticed a 14-inch
diameter American chestnut. The
chestnut blight (at face height) appears
to blow out the bark of the tree and has
100% lethality to our native chestnut.
If the tree can flower and fruit, it is
then considered a Maryland endangered
species. This tree was just
beginning to show its flowering catkins
and will likely produce subsequent nuts.
We can still find sapling suckers
growing from the former giants that died
off by the 1930's, but rarely a tree
sized specimen . . . and then the sky
opened up and it poured as we just made
it back to the truck. |
Exclusive 
