It might not make sense to someone who has never felt the tug of a bass on the end of their line. In fact, bass fishing on a farm pond during the hottest days of summer does nothing to help you beat the heat.
But it sure does help get your mind off it.
Fishing on a farm pond is a late-summer tradition that is steeped in simplicity and is unmatched when it comes to solitude, relaxation and scenery.
The simplicity aspect comes from floating on a 12-foot jonboat which allows you to weave in between pockets of lily pads and, with a little effort behind the oars, over submerged logs and stumps. The downside of that flat-bottomed boat is it has the characteristics of a frying pan under the hot summer sun.
Gear can be as simple as one rod, a small tackle box filled with rubber worms and weedless hooks and a lunch in the cooler.
The solitude comes from being the only person on the pond, accompanied by the occasional deer that comes down to the edge to drink, ducks floating along the weedy banks, a heron patrolling the shallow edges for lunch and a variety of dragonflies that sometimes like to land on the eyes of your rod. Turtles will also join you for the day, watching from a log or stump as they bask in the sun.
Aside from the accidental bang of an oar against the aluminum boat, the only ambient sounds are those provided by the ducks, frogs, songbirds and other wild creatures that call the pond home. There is no crass noise of busy highways, loud radios or ringing cell phones.
That’s solitude.
Relaxation on a farm pond strikes you as soon as you push off from shore and hop in the boat. It is heightened as you row across the glass-like pond surface knowing you have all day to spend in the small piece of paradise.
The scenery offered by farm ponds is always diverse. Some farm ponds, as the name hints, are surrounded by cow pastures, corn fields and old barns.
But a “farm pond” isn’t always located in the middle of farm country. There are several along the Bradford/Wyoming County border that are encompassed by green mountains, abandoned fields and swampy meadows. I fish in that solitude.
Although relaxation is a big part of farm pond fishing, so too is endurance. When I set out on the water, I am not coming off until the pitch black of night smothers the pond.
Blazing sun and scorching heat have a way of sapping your strength, and it can get tiring spending the entire day alternating between rowing and casting.
The fatigue usually strikes in the afternoon, but there are ways to deal with it to make sure you are fresh when the bass action picks up in the early evening.
The best approach is to put away the bass tackle, fasten a bobber to your line and cast nightcrawlers for panfish. Watching a bobber as you lazily float on the surface is a good way to take a break on a farm pond.
Another good rehabilitator for the afternoon fatigue is to row ashore, take a walk under the cool shade in the woods and eat lunch.
Giant hemlock trees border one of the ponds I fish, and it’s a great place to escape the sun and take a nap.
I suppose those who think hunters are crazy for standing out in the bitter cold must feel the same way about anglers who fish in the August heat.
They might be right. But I bet if they escaped their air-conditioned confines for a day and dipped an oar into a bass pond, they would see how sane we really are.
Previously published in the Times Leader, August 5, 2007.
