Bass habitat on the Econ.
The bridge on Snow Hill Road that crosses the Econ lies 1.5 miles from my front door. So when I have no-work weeks like this one was, that closeness to home is a wonderful thing. A fishing trip that offers about five minutes of travel time is not to be sneered at.
On Monday a conversation with son Alex revealed two things. One was that he had never caught a bass in the Econ. The other was that the five weight fly rod I gave him for Christmas was still cherry.
A couple hours later we launched the Old Town. Dad was doing the guiding duties.
I think the bass fishing was better a month ago than it is now; however, Alex, who was tossing a popper, had his first bass in about ten minutes, a modest fish of ten or twelve inches in length. But it was a bass from the Econ, and the rod was no longer cherry. Mission accomplished.
He got a half dozen bass and some suicidal sunfish. He hooked a nice bass in the three pound range. It wrapped him around some timber and ended the battle. Alex lost the magic popper in the process. We were home in time for supper.
Are they really this hungry??
Tuesday it was all blowy. I went kayaking, on the Econ. Got a dozen or so modest bass on both gurglers and streamers and the usual suicidal sunfish. I cannot believe how aggressive they can be.
Largemouth bass. Electric Sushi. Any questions?
The “sexyfly” works too.
Wednesday and Thursday was fun with boats. The oil immersion hub on the trailer of the Mitzi had gotten some water in it. It needed to be disassembled, cleaned, reassembled, and re-filled with oil. While my face was in the wheels it could not be ignored that the studs and lugs were horribly rusty. How horribly rusty, you ask? Rusty enough that I snapped off one of the studs trying to get the lug nut off. As you can imagine there were a few bad words flying around.
As long as I was doing dirty boat stuff I decided to finish the cleaning job on the Bang-O-Craft that I started a few weeks back. I found pitting in the hull. Pitting that went right through the hull. Damn!
Some sanding and acetone cleaned up the sites. I mixed up some JB Weld and applied it to the spots in question, then let it cure overnight.
Friday morning I finished putting the Mitzi trailer back together, then took the Bang-O-Craft to the car wash for its second pressure washing. This one got most of the yuck out. On the way home I stopped at friend Karl’s house and picked up an 8 hp Mercury he had and mounted it on the transom. Went home to get the other requisites, then drove to CS Lee Park and launched the Bang-O-Craft in the St. Johns River.
That boat and I both had a shiver of thrill when it hit the water and floated off the trailer. Freaking AWESOME.
I ran it up the Econ a ways (where else?). It was not especially fast with that little motor on there. But it was lots faster then paddling.
I got a redbelly on the three-weight, then another. Then I picked up the five-weight. Nothing happened on the gurgler so I switched to a streamer. There’s one! I switched to a crayfish pattern, got another, larger bass. Then a gar ate it. I didn’t want to touch it and tried to derrick it into the boat. That gar is now swimming around the Econ with my crayfish fly. Guess I should tie a couple more.
Gar will certainly hit your lures and flies.
Sadly, I forgot my camera and have no photos of the first Bang-O-Craft voyage in seven years. But here’s one from the archives…
These little guys are now 23 and 25.
Make no mistake, the Bang-O-Craft still needs some work. But it’s going to be my St. Johns River fishing boat, and it will do a fantastic job of it.
And that is this week’s Econlockhatchee River fishing report.
Life is great and I love my work!
Life is short. Go Fishing!
John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com
All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2014. All rights are reserved.
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