3/20 - 3/21 Hillsdale Lake / Farm Pond " The Many Virtues of Spring"

Spring is here and at this point I have mixed emotions as to whether I like it or not. I know it brings with it a few perks such as the warmer weather , great bug hatches and in some cases better fishing, but as I sit here taking a breather from raking the front yard in preparation for some lawn renovation I'm not all that crazy about Spring. I've noticed a lot more people out on my last couple ventures into the great outdoors as well , of course I havn't been out as much as I was in the winter because of all that damn yard work Spring brings with it. I guess it's a trade-off of both good and bad when it comes to the changing of the seasons.
I got off work Sunday night at 10:00pm and needed to wind down a little before having any chance at sleep so I stopped off at the house and grabbed my seven weight along with a box of flies and the dog and I were off to Hillsdale Lake to check out the dam for any walleye action.

I heard that the state had already put their nets along the face of the dam so I figured the timing had to be pretty close. I got to the lake at 11:30 and couldn't believe my eyes...there were 13 vehicles still parked on the Northeast side! I didn't want to fight any crowds so I drove across the dam and parked on the opposite side , where there wasn't another car , probably due to the inconvenience of a longer walk. I fished for about two hours and covered a couple hundred yards of riprap using several different flies with no success. I heard a few fish rolling farther off the dam but I never saw any fish up shallow. I spoke with one spin-fisherman who said he hadn't done any good either so it just wasn't the right night I suppose. It's not far off , could be tomorrow or next week but they'll be there before long.

A beautiful night with a great big moon to light the sky , only thing better would have been a fish..or even a bite!!
The next day after working around the house all morning I was still thinking about getting skunked last night at the lake and had this unwavering urge to do something about getting that mental picture out of my head. Hell , I'd been working too hard anyway it was time for a lunch break.

I grabbed an apple for me and a handful of dog biscuits for Joe and we hit the road for a little farm pond I know of that has a few bass and crappie in it. Only a 10 minute drive from the house and I'm standing on the edge of the water in a pair of flip-flops soaking up those 80 degree rays coming down.

This is the part of Spring I have to admit I kind of like. The pond wasn't "going" yet so to say , I caught about half a dozen small bass on a deceiver but it was still too early for much action.


I don't know, I'm still torn on this whole Spring thing....it's gonna take a few more trips like this to outweigh the list of chores that came along with my spring package.