Houghton's Pond 9/24/2013
Spent 3 hrs at Houghton's Pond, starting at about 9:30am. Hadn't fished here since my teens, but as of late summer I've been trying to get back into fishing on a semi-regular basis (2 yr old and 7 month old at home don't allow for much fishing time). I've never pulled anything very big out of here, but I've always found it enjoyable because of the many points of access from the shore. There's a trail that circles the entire pond, and there are many paths off it leading down to pockets in the treeline with water access.
I started on the western side, had a couple small hits but didn't land anything. I had to work my way all the way around the southern end, up the eastern edge, and around to some pads just east of the beach before I caught anything. This spot yielded 2 small largemouth, taken on 5" senkos Texas-rigged (no weight). This northeast corner of the pond has a number of pad beds. The pads end at the eastern corner of the sandy beach. This far corner of the beach has a steep drop-off. Coupled with nearby pads, it looks like a promising location. In general, Houghton's is a pretty deep body of water, so I've always thought Texas-rigged plastics were a nice fit here, cast them out from points and around drop-offs, then bump them along the bottom. So at this drop-off I switched over to try a Zoom Brush Hog for the first time. I had it T-rigged with a 3/8 oz tungsten and 3/0 Gam EWG. First cast ever with the Brush Hog yielded a decent pickerel. Loved the action of the B Hog in general. I bought them for one particular location where I fish, that has areas of submerged brush and rocks. I figured it's a perfect spot to target smallmouth by bumping Brush Hogs and Baby Brush Hogs along the rocky bottom. We'll see how they work there. After working the eastern edge of the beach, I fished the northereast portion of the pond, then around the western edge back to where I started. Caught one more largemouth on the west side, again on the T-rigged Brush Hog.
Overall it wasn't an amazing day by any means, but an enjoyable 4 fish take. Not bad for using 2 baits I haven't used much, or used at all in the case of the Brush Hogs.