Barrett's Farm Pond, 4/17/19

We got up pulled the Jon boat over to Barrett's Farm Ponds this morning. The temp was nice and the water was like glass!! We got into a bunch of Black Crappie on the beetle spins out int he deep water. The Bluegill and Bass were all up in the flats, and were mostly hitting crickets and red wigglers rigged weightless with no bobbers. We picked up a few small bass on a fluke, but they were wanting live bait for the most part. It took about an hour to get a good read on them, but after that, it was on, and what a great day fishing it was! Here's a few pics and a little video of the water in pond #2...

This is a beautiful place!

This little guy looked like he came from an aquarium :-)

Zebco Bullet Casting Problem Repair

We have several of the Zebco Bullet reels. I LOVE these reels for zero backlash long distance casting and high retrieve speed. One of our Bullets would occasionally hang the line internally, immediately upon casting, and slam the lures down right in front of us (and sometimes break  monofilament line). After searching the web and finding several other people posting about this issue but no fix found, I decided to investigate the issue with my own reel. 

Every time this would happen, I'd remove the spool cover to look and see what the problem was. By the time I'd pull the cover, it would unhang and I could find no issue. Finally, on a recent fishing outing, I removed the cap and found the problem...the line was snagged around the mushroom head stud (looks almost like a tiny brad) that secures the bearing on the retracting line pickup arm. 

When the cast button was depressed and the pickup pins were retracted, it would leave the head of the stud exposed just enough to occasionally snag the line on cast...seen in the photo below...

I removed the spool cover (hold the handle to resist turning, and turn the spool cover counter clockwise), removed the bearing / stud assembly from the retracting pickup arm, pressed the stud to firmly seat it into the bearing with the head flush, and reinstalled it. We've cast a few hundred times since with not a single hangup. Problem solved! Below is a photo of one of my Zebco Bullets with Proline braid installed, and you can see the pin pressed all the way in against the bearing's inner race.

I hope this helps someone else with the same problem!

****NOTE**** Since the original posting of this message, I contacted Zebco and learned they have an updated / improved spool cover / spin head for this reel. I sent them the serial # of my reel, and they sent me a new cover. It looks as if the bearings are now retained with an improved fastener, and they look to retract a bit more when in the cast position. Thanks to Zebso for AWESOME customer service!

Airfield, 4/11/19

After playing at the Cow Pasture a bit (see the previous post), Debbie and I headed over to the Airfield for do a little fishing for bass. We caught a few before dark, and Debbie caught 3 more at nightfall and into full darkness. We were using 5" Yum Dingers rigged weedless and weightless. It still amazes me that we can catch bass while bottom fishing in full darkness! Here's a few pics...

Cow Pasture, 4/11/19

Debbie and I rode over to the private spot we call the Cow Pasture this evening, a little before dark. The results were similar to what we found previously at the Hidden pond...bass were no where to be found, and no one seems to be interested in sub-surface stuff at all. There was lots of top water activity from what looked like piles of small bluegill. I pulled out the fly rod and tried a small top water floating fly on them. Sure enough, some of the bigger bluegill were ready to go! Here's a few pics...

Hidden Pond, 4/10/19

Debbie and I rode out to the private spot we call the Hidden Pond today, a couple of hours before dark. We tried a number of things, and found the black crappier were hitting beetle spins, bass weren't interested in anything early on, and bluegill were only hitting top water insects on the fly rod. I suspect, since this pond is somewhat warmer than the surrounding ponds, the bass may be bedding. I'll have to try flukes and crayfish if we get back out there in the next few days, to see if that's what the bass are doing. Debbie is enjoying bass fishing after dark, and there's a pic of her with one of her night catches included. She caught him on a 5" soft plastic worm, working the bottom. Here's a few pics...

Airfield, 4/8/19

Debbie and I drove over to the private spot we call "the Airfield", just before dark, today. We both were throwing soft plastic 5" Yum Dingers (worm, sorta like a Senco...straight, blunt head, straight tail) in the Watermelon / Pearl color. They were rigged weightless and weedless, so we were working the bottom nice and slow. We caught 14 bass, 7 each. Was a good evening before dark! Here's a few pics...

Falls Lake, 4/6/19

Debbie and Felecia were busy with a Ladies' Event at the church (Faith Baptist in Youngsville) today. Mark and I helped with a bit of setup first things, then grabbed his boat and head back to Falls Lake. We loaded in at the hwy 50 ramp, and headed under the bridge and west towards Ledge Rock. We had rain this week the day before, the lake was muddy and the surface temp had dropped to abt 58 degrees. The fish in the flats had pulled back to the ledges at abt 7ft. We could see them, but we never figured out what they wanted. Mark hit a decent bass on a large spinner bait, and he got off about 1/2 way back to the boat. I had a couple of small taps, but nothing to really take it. We got skunked, but will be back to work on it again, soon! There were piles of ducks over near I-85, loads of them. Never seen that many on a lake at once. Here's a few pics of that...