After packing up the car with fishing gear for my two kids and wife, we headed out for a day of fishing at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, NC. Scattered thunderstorms were forecasted with rainy periods throughout the day but we decided to go despite the conditions.
We arrived at Tanglewood around 9:30 am, purchased our fishing passes and headed toward Mallard Lake. Pulling into the parking lot we immediately noticed the water was down about 10 feet! I had no idea what to think of this since we had plenty of rainfall and even if it was a drought that wouldn't explain that kind of drop in water level. We took a brief walk along the water line and my wife said she did spot some fish breaking the water.
Five minutes later, we were back in the car pondering this strange enigma when a park official pulled up next to us and began to feed the ducks. Although feeding ducks is fascinating to children, my wife had to ask "what happened to the lake?" The man feeding the ducks said the dam had broke and it was fixed but it was going to have to fill up by rainwater alone. She then asked if there were still fish in the lake to which the man responded "oh yeah." Apparently there were still a good number of bass gathering the deeper areas of the lake. Ok, so that solved that.
We both decided to stay and fish, so we packed up the gear and headed toward the dock area. I got my son Jacob set up with his spiderman zebco fishing outfit and cast out toward the doc. Within a few seconds, a bluegill was on the line. I handed the rod to him and let him reel it in.
Well, Jacob caught his first bluegill which was a great experience, I think more for us than him. As you can see by the photo above, he is very suspect of this strange creature with spiny fins.
Well not to be outdone by my son, I started fishing for the bass which were supposed to be in this lake. I started out with my "go to plastic worm." I shall keep this secret as it is all I have in my tricks arsenal. I fished the lower dock area and sure enough I had a couple strikes but nothing solid. I rebaited and threw out and within seconds I caught a nice sized largemouth.
Well the fishing continued and I landed 7 largemouth total. My wife got skunked which I thought was crazy. I don't think I have ever seen her not catch a fish. My daughter didn't catch any fish but she landed a couple really stupid turtles. Note in the photo above I am standing where the water used to be!
Anyway, give Mallard lake a try if you want to land some bass. They may not be huge bass but I had a lot of fun.
