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So, you think you have a "secret spot" where you catch all those lunkers, and no one else knows about it? Think again!
Until this morning, I thought the same thing. There's medium sized pond near me that I like to fish. It's completely undeveloped. No homes or camps or anything on the lake. The spot I fish you have to drive in a long dirt road, then hike in to this spot where I fish at the tail-out of a small tributary that flows in. It's pretty secluded. In the spring, pre-spawn bass stack up in the current and feed on perch. I was catching some nice bass there a couple days ago from shore, and I lost a real nice lure that I decided I needed to get back. So, this morning I took a couple hours off and hiked in with my wetsuit, mask, snorkel and fins, and went for a swim.
I found my lure (not pictured). And a tackle-box worth of other ones (see below), none of which are mine. They all look practically new with little or no rust! Guess my secret spot isn't so secret after all.
I should also mention that all this stuff came from an area of lake bottom no more than 4 full-sized pick-ups parked next to each other two-by-two.
If this is just what I found in a little out-of-the-way spot like this (and all recently lost, it seems), what is in the bottom of our lakes, ponds, rivers and streams everywhere else !?!?
Scary!
I know that someone will suggest (as they did on the other board) that maybe someone just tipped over a tackle box by accident and lost all their lures. I'm pretty sure that's not the case for these reasons:
1. As I was laying the baits out for the picture, I had to cut 2-inches to-2 feet of line off every line tie. (It was obvious that each individual lure had been tied on and cast).
2. The baits weren't just "laying" on the bottom. There are lots of trees and stumps on the bottom at this location, and I pulled most of the lures off just a couple stumps and root wads - the hooks were buried. The rest I plucked from under sharp rocks, and I only knew there was a lure there because I could see the line fluttering in the current ... (they couldn't have been in these positions if they just sank from a spilled tackle box)
3. All the soft plastics pictured were not found as pictured .... they were rigged on the assortment of hooks shown, meaning they had been fished ...
), but mostly it's because I don't want to add to the garbage I know is piling up down there!