Here in extreme southeast Oklahoma we have been in drought conditions for all the summer and into the fall. The drought broke when Rita dumped some rain in our area. Alot of ponds dried up to mud holes including one of my favorites. The landowner asked me today over lunch if I would come fish his two ponds to determine what, if any, kind of fish were left. My wife didn't buy the story but she let me go any way.

Things started out very very slow. The pond was still a good five foot low. There was a midge hatch going on so I fished awhile with a #16 soft hackle and a thread midge dropper. I only picked up one dink of a bream.

I switched to a popper and picked up a couple of nice sized bream then they wanted to see what else was on the menu. I switched to a czech nymph I had stuck in my box and the action picked up for awhile, including a 2lb bass.

Then I switched to a bully spider. I've never had great luck with this pattern. Let me tell ya that changed this evening as I went on to catch loads of bream and crappie. The bully I was fishing was rust brown with rust brown legs. I believe this must have been taken as a crawfish imitation.

So I'm happy to say I think this pond will jump back nicely provided we get a little more rain. The only thing absent were the really big bass and the large size bream. I still need to check that other pond but hopefully the drought is behide us.

ps: the trout fishing is still excellent.

Mike B

[This message has been edited by idabelangler (edited 07 October 2005).]