Willow Slough

Hiya Folk's!

I fished Willow Slough for the first time!  

It was nicer than I had expected. :-)

The weather was beautiful, very warm and breezy.

My friend, Terry, and I hunted unsuccessfully for bluegills.  We thought spot's like this looked promising:

Or maybe over here:

After awhile, I threw in the towel on the bluegill hunt and started fishing for bass.  Somehow, a poor bass managed to gulp down the lure so far, that in doing so, it pierced his tonsils.  The lure was removed and the fish swam away just fine. I didn't charge for the partial tonsillectomy. :)

The place was busy with birds and fish, just how it should be.

Terry and I took turns catching fish; it was awesome. 

Either I had a bass, or he did, and in the few quick seconds in between, we enjoyed the scenery.

The bass seemed to bite on every plastic lure I offered em.  They even enjoyed a Ribbit Frog; it was my first time catching em on that.  The Watermelon Worm and  Black Sluggo were two of the most productive lures I used.

Of the 13 fish I boated, they were all hooked very well.  Sometimes, Terry helped me get the hook out because it was in so well.

The pic below doesn't show it, but this fish had a reed stuck through the piercing of his lip.  I removed it for him.  He's going to have to come up with another way to express himself. ;-)

Catching bass was sooo much fun!!!  The crazy fish would follow the lure and strike at it just a few feet from the boat!  Every single time that happened it surprised me!

Terry spotted a down tree in the water; he caught three bass from that spot!

These bass were all decent size too!  We boated a total of 23 large mouth bass-- my best bass day EVER!!!!! 

Willow Slough fascinated me to no end.

I was perplexed that it was challenging to find bluegills, but bass were so plentiful.

Sometimes, I wouldn't feel or see the bass strike.  I was like-- oh man, I think I got some weeds again!  Amazingly, while reeling in what I thought was a cluster of weeds, the fish sooner or later would go nuts and jump out of the water.  That always clued me in that I was reeling in more than weeds. :-)

Fishing totally takes me to the ZONE!  The ZONE is a place in my mind, a state of concentrating, that fosters creative thought and promotes relaxation.

Yeah, that's what the ZONE is for me!

The damselflies really liked Terry's hat.  Seconds before the shot was taken, 6 of em were hitching a ride on top of his hat.

I think the bass wanted to pose with the sunset:

:-)  A big THANKS to Terry for taking me to this place! :-)

Oh, what a gorgeous sunset!!!