The creek itself in natural conditions would probably be rather small, but there are man made dams every so often to create swimming holes and play areas. The area I was at was perhaps 25 yds wide and 300 yds long. The center was anywhere from 6' to 10' deep. I was told there was a 30 ft hole in that section that held catfish but I didn't get a chance to check it out. Visibility was 5 to 6 ft unless you stirred up the mud. The water had a green color and was quite cool due to being spring fed.
On my vacation budget I can rent nice cabins or cabins in nice locations, but not both. This was a really nice location. We can just leave it at that. The free kayak was the cheapest walmart special, so I quickly ruled it out. The paddle boats? Well, after some playing around I figured I could fish out of those quite easily.
So I could easily see sun fish and bass swimming in the creek and I initially led off with some buzz baits with no luck. I tried some plastics again with no luck. Fearing the skunk, I reached deep into my tackle box and pulled out a plastic frog with weedless hook.
It took a few casts to get the technique, but quickly I learned to cast out into a bunch of lily pads and the twitch the rod to get the frog to hop from pad to pad, occasionally dropping into the water. I thought I was doing well when I tangled up and got snagged on a lily pad. But suddenly the "lily pad" started fighting back. Before long I landed a beautiful bass. CPR and repeat.
I caught 2 more nice bass in roughly 30 minutes before hooking a monster. By the time I landed that one, the rubber frog was gone. And with that, I was done.
A word about the frog. Although I've always been a salt water guy, back in the 80's some friends and I were fishing Coleto Lake. I was mowing yards for drinking money and spent a bit of my beer funds on fresh water gear. That frog was added to my collection around 1985. It spent many years in my dad's garage while I was away at school, then went with me on several out of town and out of state moves. While I've tried it here and there, I've never before caught with it. Until now. Finally, after 30+ years, it landed 4 nice bass before being ripped off the hook. Farewell, tiny frog. You've slumbered long but paid off in the end. Never shall I see your like again.
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