snego

Went back today with an ultralight rod and spin fly and caught a nice size pickerel, so maybe that was it.

Can rule out pike in that lake, I think--only a few lakes are stocked with pike in CT. Pickerel a possibility. Dang, I'm just gonna have to go back and catch the thing.

That did cross my mind but I doubt it. I felt a strong pull, over and over. And I've fished plenty of weedy spots with the same setup without ever encountering something like this. Turtle, hmmm. Maybe a snapper? Could be. Didn't see any cuts, but once it pulled the worm out of its O-ring somehow. I've hooked a big snapper before and never want to do it again. Almost lost a finger.

This is bugging me. I was driving out in the country the other day and discovered a small lake/pond that I didn't know about. Didn't have the kayak but had all my rods in the car, so I stopped to see if I could catch anything from the dam. Tossed in a 5-inch Senko wacky-rigged on a Gamakatsu wide gap weedless finesse hook, braid with fluoro leader, 6'7" MH spinning rod. Over the course of 45 minutes or so, the same thing happened several times in about the same spot. SOMETHING grabbed the worm--not on the drop, but on the way in--pulling it repeatedly and HARD, like rod-bending hard, i.e., this was not a sunfish tapping on the bait but a large, strong fish. I could not get a hook set, which seems weird if it was a bass, especially with multiple bites, since they usually inhale the thing. After five or six STRONG tugs I would pull the worm up covered with about a half pounds' worth of weeds, so the fish was trying to pull it down into cover. Weed guard not tripped. Was this a bass or ... what?