Cletus T.
Senior Member
Well…..the boy and I headed out to Charlie Elliott today to try our hand at a little bass fishing. My son was on spring break this past week and I had taken Friday off from work and we were suppose to go fishing on that day but ole Mother Nature had different plans. I tell you one thing about ole Mother Nature….she sure can’t seem to make her mind up here lately. Anyway…….we left Buford around 8 o’clock and we picked us up some Chick-fil-a biscuits, a four count of minis and we were gone! We arrived at Charlie Elliott a little after 9 a.m. and we headed straight for Hillside Pond. It sit’s right on top of a hill overlooking Lake Margery. You have to park and walk across a small field to get to the trail that leads up to Hillside, and that field was full of water. It was swampy but we made our way up the hill to the pond but the only problem was, there was hardly any water in Hillside, which was surprising because the Mansfield area has been getting pounded by rain/snow/sleet and every other kind of precipitation known to man. We fished what little bit of water it had in it but it didn’t take us long to figure out we needed to move on. So we headed back down the trail and it was there where we received our first positive sign of the young day. Hunter Jack was carrying his fishing pole at a certain angle and the sun was just beaming off of it. It looked like he was carrying a Jedi Knight light saber. We considered it a sign and we knew that the force would be with us on this day!
We headed over to Fox next because we had some insider top gun knowledge passed down to us and we went looking for a particular spot for a particular bass……a bass that weighed 9 pounds to be exact, but we didn’t find her. What we did find was a wind that almost picked up my 6-year old boy and placed him high in the pines. Man…..that wind was whipping. On our way over to Fox Hunter Jack was asking me if I thought there were any Deer at Charlie Elliott and I responded with a “You betcha” and I promise no more than 10 seconds later two deer came running across the road right in front of us. Hunter’s eyes were huge and he made the comment “They must have heard their names” because we were just talking about the deer and then HELLO there they were. It was pretty neat! We fished this one stretch of bank on Fox and pretty soon we were back on the dirt road looking for the next pond.
After Fox we cruised our way back out to Greenhouse lake because I had heard that there was some pretty good fishing in this pond and plus it was kid friendly, meaning kids could cast pretty easy and not put their bait in a tree or better yet…..your face! It was here that the skunk got knocked off our back and it was knocked off by none other than Mr. Hunter Jack himself. The boy had grown weary of the white fluke so we were going to introduce him to the wonderful world of the Rooster Tail. It’s really a shame that I haven’t introduced the boy to a rooster tail before now, but better late than never right! So we tie one of those little jokers on and it’s a tiny little thing and the weight of it verses the weight of his fluke are quiet different. Hunter rears back to sling it out there and as he cast it he puts all he has into it. The rooster tail smacks the water with a vengeance but it’s only about two feet away from the bank. So Hunter Jack reels it in and somewhere between the 14 and 16 inches of workable water a teeny wheeny baby bass hammers the rooster tail. Hunter Jack sets the hook and brought the fish out of the water and onto the bank in one classic swoop! He was just a laughing and having a ball. It was a teeny bass but Hunter was as proud of that one as he was of the 2 and 3 pounders he has caught before. Hunter had a hard time remembering the name of the rooster tail and he kept calling it everything from a rat tail to a coon tail to a cotton tail. He lipped it and we snapped a few pictures and then he carefully placed it back into the water. It was funny, he was kinder and gentler with that one fish than he was with any other bass he has caught……..maybe because it was so tiny. We fished a little longer but no other bites came and it was time to meet some folks.
You see……we were going to meet a couple guys that I have got to know on this wonderful website that we call “Woody’s”. I have got to know a few people on here by mainly email or the occasional phone call or two, but I always like to meet people face to face if possible and we were getting to do just that this time. We meet Jasper out there and his two well mannered sons. He has been going out to Charlie Elliott with his boys and a group of men for about 8 or 9 years now. They use the week of their kid’s spring break and have a wonderful time in the woods. They fish…they camp….they hunt….they tell stories and they eat good food. And they do all this with their kid’s right there, which I think is the best of all. It was a pleasure to meet you as well as the other folks you introduced me too and thank you for letting Hunter Jack play with the rug rats there. He talked about playing football with all those kids all the way home. And to the young man that my son pegged in the back with the football, I’m Sorry…..Hunter Jack gets a little fired up sometimes and you just don’t know which direction the ball is coming out! We had a great time meeting you Jasper and we’ll have to get up real soon and wet a hook together.
We left the campgrounds and headed to Lower Raleigh but once we got down there we ran into two problems. First problem was that there was a little bit of a crowd. It wasn’t too bad but there were a good number of people on the banks. Second problem was once we got all the way down there and found us a good spot to start casting, nature came a calling……not on me but on ole Hunter Jack. So we turned around and made our way back out……the boy had to go! We take care of that and then head right across the road to Stump Lake and as we were walking down the path it just felt right. I couldn’t even see the water yet but it felt good and I had a feeling that we might catch a fish or two. We get closer to the water and the first thing I notice is the wind isn’t too bad down here and that’s a major plus for me. There was one Dad down there with his little girl and boy and other than a long necked Blue Heron that was it baby. It was a beautiful pond that had some stumps and timber in it and some grass growing. It is one of those lakes that just look bassy! We get to fishing and it doesn’t take me long to start seeing beds and this is where it gets interesting and to some maybe even a little sickening. You see……I LOVE to bed fish…I do…I really really do. Now I realize that there is a group of anglers out there that do not like to bed fish and they think it is unsportsmanlike like to do so, and that you’re not truly a fisherman if you fish that way and so on and so on. I respect your opinion but please don’t bash me for doing so. I release all bass right back in the water and watch them swim back over to their bed. I get a real excitement out of watching a bass suck in your bait. I’m sorry……I’m “that” guy!
So I see a few small buck bass guarding some fanned out spots but really nothing with any size and then I spot one that looks to be a little bigger than the other ones and the bed is fanned out a little more too so I start throwing my white fluke to it and right off the bat it picks it up but just by the tail which is the typical action by male bass during this time of year. I cast again and this time the bass swims off with the fluke and I turn the fish but I pull the bait right out of his mouth. So next time I throw it in there I rear back with some power lifting force and I break my line. Actually….I pull my knot loose which is pretty sorry because I got no one to blame but myself. I tied that knot. Hunter Jack is getting excited with all this and he wants to put my glasses on because they are polarized and as you know you can see much better in the water with those puppies on. So now I have to re-tie and I pick up a standard hook but ole Hunter Jack thinks I should use a red hook and I think about it for a second and you know what…..he’s right. I should use a red hook. I tie it on….thread a new white fluke over the hook…..cast it out…..WHAM-O…..fish on and that’s all she wrote. We snap a few pictures and I let Hunter Jack throw the ole buck bass back in (which BTW….I always let Hunter Jack throw the fish back in and I try to snap a picture of it and take a look at this photo…it’s the best release back in the water photo by far) I watch the pound and a half /two pound bass swim right back over to the bed and put those shoulder pads on once again. We walk around the pond and do some exploring on the other side where Hunter Jack spots this little ole lizard that we watch for a little while. I don’t see how he saw it, you know some kids just have an eye for things like that, and my Hunter Jack does. We fish a little longer and then head to the truck. We were calling it a day.
We went by the Visitor’s Center on the way out to see a friend that worked there and also show Hunter the Charlie Elliott Museum. It was fun, and Alicia (I know I miss-spelled your name again….I’m sorry) thank you for taking a picture of me and my son. You are one sweet lady! So for the day, Hunter Jack caught 1-bass and his daddy caught 1-bass but as I always say…..Memories were made and that my friends is what it’s always about. Hunter Jack and I closed our day with what we close every fishing trip with….radio turned up……..voices turned up……and the ROCK turned out! Good times……good times!
We headed over to Fox next because we had some insider top gun knowledge passed down to us and we went looking for a particular spot for a particular bass……a bass that weighed 9 pounds to be exact, but we didn’t find her. What we did find was a wind that almost picked up my 6-year old boy and placed him high in the pines. Man…..that wind was whipping. On our way over to Fox Hunter Jack was asking me if I thought there were any Deer at Charlie Elliott and I responded with a “You betcha” and I promise no more than 10 seconds later two deer came running across the road right in front of us. Hunter’s eyes were huge and he made the comment “They must have heard their names” because we were just talking about the deer and then HELLO there they were. It was pretty neat! We fished this one stretch of bank on Fox and pretty soon we were back on the dirt road looking for the next pond.
After Fox we cruised our way back out to Greenhouse lake because I had heard that there was some pretty good fishing in this pond and plus it was kid friendly, meaning kids could cast pretty easy and not put their bait in a tree or better yet…..your face! It was here that the skunk got knocked off our back and it was knocked off by none other than Mr. Hunter Jack himself. The boy had grown weary of the white fluke so we were going to introduce him to the wonderful world of the Rooster Tail. It’s really a shame that I haven’t introduced the boy to a rooster tail before now, but better late than never right! So we tie one of those little jokers on and it’s a tiny little thing and the weight of it verses the weight of his fluke are quiet different. Hunter rears back to sling it out there and as he cast it he puts all he has into it. The rooster tail smacks the water with a vengeance but it’s only about two feet away from the bank. So Hunter Jack reels it in and somewhere between the 14 and 16 inches of workable water a teeny wheeny baby bass hammers the rooster tail. Hunter Jack sets the hook and brought the fish out of the water and onto the bank in one classic swoop! He was just a laughing and having a ball. It was a teeny bass but Hunter was as proud of that one as he was of the 2 and 3 pounders he has caught before. Hunter had a hard time remembering the name of the rooster tail and he kept calling it everything from a rat tail to a coon tail to a cotton tail. He lipped it and we snapped a few pictures and then he carefully placed it back into the water. It was funny, he was kinder and gentler with that one fish than he was with any other bass he has caught……..maybe because it was so tiny. We fished a little longer but no other bites came and it was time to meet some folks.
You see……we were going to meet a couple guys that I have got to know on this wonderful website that we call “Woody’s”. I have got to know a few people on here by mainly email or the occasional phone call or two, but I always like to meet people face to face if possible and we were getting to do just that this time. We meet Jasper out there and his two well mannered sons. He has been going out to Charlie Elliott with his boys and a group of men for about 8 or 9 years now. They use the week of their kid’s spring break and have a wonderful time in the woods. They fish…they camp….they hunt….they tell stories and they eat good food. And they do all this with their kid’s right there, which I think is the best of all. It was a pleasure to meet you as well as the other folks you introduced me too and thank you for letting Hunter Jack play with the rug rats there. He talked about playing football with all those kids all the way home. And to the young man that my son pegged in the back with the football, I’m Sorry…..Hunter Jack gets a little fired up sometimes and you just don’t know which direction the ball is coming out! We had a great time meeting you Jasper and we’ll have to get up real soon and wet a hook together.
We left the campgrounds and headed to Lower Raleigh but once we got down there we ran into two problems. First problem was that there was a little bit of a crowd. It wasn’t too bad but there were a good number of people on the banks. Second problem was once we got all the way down there and found us a good spot to start casting, nature came a calling……not on me but on ole Hunter Jack. So we turned around and made our way back out……the boy had to go! We take care of that and then head right across the road to Stump Lake and as we were walking down the path it just felt right. I couldn’t even see the water yet but it felt good and I had a feeling that we might catch a fish or two. We get closer to the water and the first thing I notice is the wind isn’t too bad down here and that’s a major plus for me. There was one Dad down there with his little girl and boy and other than a long necked Blue Heron that was it baby. It was a beautiful pond that had some stumps and timber in it and some grass growing. It is one of those lakes that just look bassy! We get to fishing and it doesn’t take me long to start seeing beds and this is where it gets interesting and to some maybe even a little sickening. You see……I LOVE to bed fish…I do…I really really do. Now I realize that there is a group of anglers out there that do not like to bed fish and they think it is unsportsmanlike like to do so, and that you’re not truly a fisherman if you fish that way and so on and so on. I respect your opinion but please don’t bash me for doing so. I release all bass right back in the water and watch them swim back over to their bed. I get a real excitement out of watching a bass suck in your bait. I’m sorry……I’m “that” guy!
So I see a few small buck bass guarding some fanned out spots but really nothing with any size and then I spot one that looks to be a little bigger than the other ones and the bed is fanned out a little more too so I start throwing my white fluke to it and right off the bat it picks it up but just by the tail which is the typical action by male bass during this time of year. I cast again and this time the bass swims off with the fluke and I turn the fish but I pull the bait right out of his mouth. So next time I throw it in there I rear back with some power lifting force and I break my line. Actually….I pull my knot loose which is pretty sorry because I got no one to blame but myself. I tied that knot. Hunter Jack is getting excited with all this and he wants to put my glasses on because they are polarized and as you know you can see much better in the water with those puppies on. So now I have to re-tie and I pick up a standard hook but ole Hunter Jack thinks I should use a red hook and I think about it for a second and you know what…..he’s right. I should use a red hook. I tie it on….thread a new white fluke over the hook…..cast it out…..WHAM-O…..fish on and that’s all she wrote. We snap a few pictures and I let Hunter Jack throw the ole buck bass back in (which BTW….I always let Hunter Jack throw the fish back in and I try to snap a picture of it and take a look at this photo…it’s the best release back in the water photo by far) I watch the pound and a half /two pound bass swim right back over to the bed and put those shoulder pads on once again. We walk around the pond and do some exploring on the other side where Hunter Jack spots this little ole lizard that we watch for a little while. I don’t see how he saw it, you know some kids just have an eye for things like that, and my Hunter Jack does. We fish a little longer and then head to the truck. We were calling it a day.
We went by the Visitor’s Center on the way out to see a friend that worked there and also show Hunter the Charlie Elliott Museum. It was fun, and Alicia (I know I miss-spelled your name again….I’m sorry) thank you for taking a picture of me and my son. You are one sweet lady! So for the day, Hunter Jack caught 1-bass and his daddy caught 1-bass but as I always say…..Memories were made and that my friends is what it’s always about. Hunter Jack and I closed our day with what we close every fishing trip with….radio turned up……..voices turned up……and the ROCK turned out! Good times……good times!
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