Pond Declined

  

Years ago, I wrote posts about the bass pond closest to home, about a hundred yards from where I sit now in our living room, and the number and size of bass caught was astonishing. Then we got hit by two consecutive hard winters about four years ago, the second resulting in a fish kill here. The pond is very shallow and the ice was very thick. One of the dead bass Matt found would have weighed about five pounds. Despite finding so many dead bass, we still caught some and nice size the spring and summer thereafter. I optimistically assumed the fishery would come back around in a few years. I wasn't sure if the bass would be as big--averaging two pounds--because 10 years ago the fish averaged about 11 inches, so I was aware the pond was going through phases before those hard winters came.

A few years have passed, leaving me puzzled rather than optimistic. Mike Maxwell says the same as Matt. The pond is dead. Back in April, I did catch a little nine-incher, but that's all I caught, and tonight, neither of us got a hit. We were fishing a buzzbait (Matt), and a spinnerbait, instead of plastics, having anticipated muddy water when in fact the clarity is normal. We didn't care to walk back and retie, and besides, Matt used to score as many 45 bass on a weekend using buzzbaits here exclusively.

The fishing was better after the kill. Why it's worsened, rather than improved, I have no idea. We keep a watchful eye on it. The fishing pressure, which never was heavy, has been even less since the kill.