Stump Pond In Autumn: Epic Canoe Flip
Me and Matt decided to make a trip out to stump for some fall bassin'. I was wary because of the wind so I wanted to launch from the less dangerous eastern side of the pond. We had to find a path through the woods to steer clear of the construction area.
Once we were in, Matt promptly hooks up on a nice lil pounder. Then the wind blew us into the pads where I caught my first fish of the day, about 1lb 5 oz. We then paddled our way to the other side of the pond which was more sheltered. I switched over to a jig and Matt switched to a floating rap. Although we saw a lot of action going on there, we werent able to get anything in the boat except one small bass I caught.
Next spot we tried was a patch of stumps in front of the small nearby island where I boated a nice 1 1/2 pounder on the bitsy flippin jig. Our next course of action was to move into the treacherous stump field beyond the island. This is when our trip went afoul.
We tried a spot just beyond the island for a bit with no results. We agreed to park at the island so I could take a leak before we ventured further into the abyss. That's when we got stuck on a stump (not the first time this has happened here). We were stuck pretty bad and in the process of trying to get unstuck we ended up teetering too far sideways, causing both of us to be ejected from the boat! DOH!
Luckily, since the canoe didnt flip over completely, we were able to salvage nearly all of our stuff. Although, Matt did lose a few spoons. We walked the canoe which was full of water and floating tackle to the island where we dried off and organized our stuff. Luckily the digital camera was sealed in a ziplock bag in my pocket and ended up staying completely dry! We had two beers left so we decided to pound them to medicate the recent horrible trauma of flipping.
Once we were back on the water it was glass and the sun was starting to go down. I was feeling better and wanted to stick it out and catch some more fish because it was looking like PRIMETIME. Matt agreed reluctantly so we pressed on.
I casted a watermelon senko perfectly in between two stumps and FISH ON. A beautiful two and a half pounder. Then Matt started honing in on em'. A 2 and a few ones for him. I got another pounder and a dink and, feeling like troopers, we called it a night.
We did get soaked, but I was proud that we A: managed to salvage virtually all of our gear and B: stuck it out to put some more fish in the boat!