The Morning Fred Had the Better Lure
Fred and I have fished together for years, mostly early mornings on the small ponds around Otis, Becket, and Lee, always hunting for water we haven't tried yet. Most mornings even out about the same between us. This one didn't.
Glass at First Light
We were kayak fishing Hayes Pond in Otis, one of those small Berkshire ponds that almost never sees a crowd. It was July 12, a couple of summers back, and even though it was the middle of summer, the morning air had a cool edge to it. Otis sits up in elevation, and that extra few hundred feet keeps the early mornings running cooler than you'd expect. We were off the water and headed home before the day got anywhere near its high temp.
By the time we put in, the pond was flat and smooth as glass, without a ripple on it. Conditions like that make for some of the best topwater fishing of the season, if you're willing to work it slow.
The Parrot Pattern Gets to Work
Around 8 am, Fred connected on a Rogue 425 painted in a pattern I call Parrot: dark green down the back, orange running the sides, and a yellow belly underneath. It's not trying to look like anything that actually swims in that pond. It's trying to get noticed, and on a morning with water that calm and clear, getting noticed is most of the battle.
The largemouth that hit it did not think twice. Cedar moves differently than plastic in the water, the kind of roll and wobble I've written about before with the Rogue 525, and a fish that's been watching shadows cross a glassy surface all morning reacts fast when something with that kind of action finally shows up.
I was working a lure of my own off the other side of the kayak that morning, and it never found the same rhythm. Same pond, same hour, same kind of water, and Fred's lure was simply the one the fish wanted that day.
Fred Found the Rhythm
That first largemouth was not the only one. Fred landed a few more off the same pattern before we called it, enough that it stopped looking like luck and started looking like the right lure in the right water at the right time. I managed a couple of my own, but it was Fred's morning, plain and simple, and he knew it.
Already Planning the Next One
Fred and I are already talking about where we're headed next. That's most of the fun of fishing with the same person for years: you start keeping a mental list of water you haven't tried yet, and trading theories about what might be holding fish there before you ever paddle out. If you're ever up around the Berkshires and want to put a line in with us, reach out. We're always happy to have another rod on the water.
Want to Be Next Month's Catch?
If you've landed something on a Lost Art lure, send me the photo and the story: where you were, what you were throwing, what the morning looked like. The messier the better.
Drop me a line at brad@lostartlures.com or tag us on Instagram and Facebook. The Rogue 425 that found this much success at Hayes Pond is available now at lostartlures.com.
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Go find yours.
- Brad