Everything That Swims: Jurassic Pond

    I am sure some of you have heard of "Jurassic Lake" in Argentina, where anglers chase giant wild rainbows with fly rods one would use when fishing for something like steelhead or salmon... I have my own little Jurassic Lake right here in central Virginia, and guess what, it's public! My discovery of this fishery was when I was fishing the rose river in front of the lodge at Graves Mountain. The stream had been stocked 4 days prior, so I expected to see some fisherman, but not as many as the day of or day after stocking. When we got to the stream, I was incredibly shocked to see hordes of blue uniforms everywhere. Today was the day that boy scouts were going to camp out at graves...
     The stream was loaded with fish but they were all spooked from the frenzy of wading, rock chucking, and splunking of giant lures and globs of powerbait the size of a walnut. Don't take this the wrong way, I think the whole boy scout program is great, but a trout is not a fish you can just go out and catch with no experience. Anyways, I managed to catch 3 rainbows on a trout magnet, and was immediately joined by 6 or 7 other anglers within elbows distance. So I decided that to day was a bust and I was going to go fish the catch and release pond for bass and bluegills.
     When I arrived at the pond, I was upset to see the bank lined with those same uniforms, but was shocked to see one scout heading out with a giant fish that apparently died during the the time it took for the scout leader to come with the measuring tape... I was very upset because they killed nearly every fish they caught, letting it lie on the grass for up to 5 minutes so that their fish could be measured for their contest.
    Anyways, my brother and I proceeded to catch a bunch of hard fighting rainbows, maybe a dozen or so, all topping 16 inches, the biggest two taped out at 19". Don't worry we measured ours in the water with our own tape measure. I figured that Mr. Graves did this for the scouts and ordered some from the hatchery he gets his catch 'n pay fish from, and didn't think much of it.
     I have proceeded to have sucessful trips to that pond including how I caught a bunch when I was at trout camp this summer. Devin Angleberger from devinsfishingreports.com was at this camp too, and he had an encounter with the infamous trout eating largemouth that resides in the pond, unfortunately Devin had brought a knife to a gunfight using his 3 weight and the fish came unbuttoned quickly.
     Well today I was going to fish the freshly stocked robinson but unfortunately the rainbows were being very weird and kept fighting ad acting like they wanted to spawn... We only got one small 13" 'bow to bite.
We headed to the rose by the lodge and I caught 2 holdovers from last season and then we headed to what I now call Jurassic Pond. When I arrived I noticed two monsters in the center of the lake. I couldn't reach them with a trout magnet but I put on a 1/32oz castmaster spoon and let her rip, I hooked a beast on the first cast and brought the 3-4lb, 20" rainbow to the net, unfortunately the treble hook found its way ito the gills so he had to come home with us. Ewing slammed a big female rainbow on a 1/8oz castmaster, she was probably 3lbs and 18 or 19" long. We saw the big bass but he wasn't interested in teeny tiny trout lures so he just followed us around the edge hoping we would hook a little one he could take off my line, it has happened before haha. I also caught a 15 or 16" male, and we had lots of fish follow the baits in but no takes. And there are at least 2 male 'bows that would easily top the one I caught.

So, if you are in the area, check out Jurassic Pond, just remember, artificials only, handle with care, and please release all fish unless they die, like mine. There is no use in leaving a half dead trout in the pond, take it home and make a good meal out of it, don't let it go to waste. Fly fishing is also an option but there is little room to cast so plan on using a LOT of roll casts. That is why I prefer ultralight spinning gear with 4lb test at the pond. Thanks for reading!