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My friend "Joey" decided that we needed to go on a camping/fishing trip so she booked us a cabin at Ike Kinswa State Park for the weekend. Knowing how tough it can be to catch fish on Mayfield Lake from the bank early in the spring we decided to take the short drive to Swofford Pond outside the town of Mossy Rock. As you can see from the pictures it turned out to be the right move. The stinger that she is holding is from Saturday and includes a big "trip" that went about 22 inches. It was the first fish of the day. Our baits hit the water at the same time and I hadn't even set my pole down in its holder when I look over and her rod is bent over double. That fish ended up costing me 10 bucks for the day to satisfy the on going bet we have ($5.00 first fish, $5.00 big fish). This was our third trip to this lake and the third time a fish in this size range has been the first fish of the day and they have all been on the end of her pole. The stringer that I'm holding is from 4 hours of fishing on Sunday and yes, she caught the first and the biggest on that day too. She's gonna make me go broke! Although we didn't catch any "big" ones on day 2, they were all in the 14-18 inch range and nice and chunky. I just got off the phone with her and she's already planning our next trip down there. Guess I'm gonna have to go to the bank and take out a loan or something.

arniejl

4/21/2010 6:30:00 AM

That's awesome, nice report. Hey, you see anyone bass fishing while you were there?

Armando Cortez

4/21/2010 7:22:00 AM

Hi Arniejl. Didn't see anyone bass fishing this time out but we were fishing from the bank so we didn't get up and down the lake. Last year we fished from my boat and watched a guy catch a couple of bass in the 3-4 lb. range from the bank on plastics. He did catch a bigger one that he took into town to have weighed as he thought it would tip the scales at 10 lbs. I fished bass tournaments for 15 years and to my "trained eye" it would have probably gone close to 7 lbs but he never came back so we didn't get a chance to ask him. I do know that there are some huge fish in that lake so a 10 lb bass is very possible on this lake.

arniejl

4/21/2010 7:52:00 AM

Thanks for the reply. I have never fished there but intend to. 7 pounds is a nice bass. I would like to catch one like that, lol.

bionic_one

4/21/2010 8:08:00 AM

Ha! Is that one still flipping around in the picture? If you cut their gills as soon as you catch them, and let them bleed out, they'll taste better. :-)

kcc

4/21/2010 8:21:00 AM

Nice fish, i got skunked the last time i was down there. May have to go on a road trip soon.

MotoBoat

4/21/2010 11:16:00 AM

Anyone aware if this Is the place where several thousand Steelhead smot were dumped into the pond by the WDFW several months ago? Maybe 2 or 3 months ago?
Nice size fish. Did not consider bleeding out the trout would improve there flavor ?

Armando Cortez

4/21/2010 6:43:00 PM

Hey bionic_one . . . yep it was still kicking and managed to slime me a couple of times in the process. I do the gill clip on any salmon I catch but never thought to do it on trout. Makes sense though. Thanks for the tip! Don't know about the Steelhead smolts but we did get checked by the game warden while we were there. I told Joey that since this was the first time she had ever been checked that she was no longer a fishing virgin to which she quickly replied "whatever!"

fishtremble

4/23/2010 10:19:00 PM

Nice fish! I have never had any luck there. Might have to go back and try it again.

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