Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Episode 2 – Watchaug Bites

By Robert Yarnall

Read the rest of the Whiskey Tango Foxtrot series:
Episode 1 – Getting Ready To Fish
Episode 2 – Watchaug Bites
Episode 3 – Avoiding Car Sickness
Episode 4 – Bait & Switch (Not!)
Episode 5 – Still Baiting, Still Switching…
Episode 6 – Mother Gooser & Friends
Episode 7 – Under the Radar with L-T
Episode 8 – Steering Committee Syndrome Unleashed, The Prelude
Episode 9 – Steering Committee Syndrome Unleashed, The Kiss
Episode 10 – Snagged on the Epilog Epic-Log

Watchaug Pond, a local kettle pond measuring a tad under 600 acres with depths ranging to nearly forty feet, is located pretty much within the confines of Burlingame Park. It is well known to freshwater bass fishing enthusiasts from all over New England, and a mandatory stop on the schedule of the Rhode Island B.A.S.S. Federation.

At least twice each year, typically once in early spring and once in early fall, at precisely 7:00 AM on a Saturday or Sunday morning, a small armada of professionally equipped custom bass-huntin’ boats crank up their no-nonsense outboard engines, presumably arousing anyone in Sachem Passage who still has a pulse, regardless of their REM state of sleep.

Just fer fishin'

These bass masters peel off, Lemans-style, from the shallows abutting the boat launch area, racing in all directions over the water to claim their respective territorial fishing perimeters. First come, first served. Let the fishing begin.

These tournaments are competitive events. The participants take their fishing seriously. Fishing tackle, loosely defined here as rod & reel combinations, different types of line, and a dizzying array of natural and artificial baits, are chosen for specific fishing venues and weather conditions.

Serious fisherfolk of all persuasions learn to “read the waters.” Depending on water temperature and wind direction, professional anglers deploy their pet strategies, and will switch baits, rods and reels as necessary to hook their elusive cousins lurking beneath the surface.

Bass boats at the ready

Some fish “spook” easily if a bait doesn’t look quite right. Professional anglers are sneaky. They try to fool their targets, the fish. They load their reels with one of the new fluorocarbon lines. Fluorocarbon line casts further, sinks faster and is nearly invisible compared to traditional fishing lines. The fish don’t see it coming and they get hooked. At least that’s the plan.

Most people are probably unaware that competitive bass fishing tournaments typically adhere to “catch and release” practices. Competition fishing boats are equipped with “live wells”, holding tanks of oxygenated water where captured fish reside until they are weighed & measured.

At the end of the day, any aquatic residents of Watchaug Pond who have “taken the bait” are released back into their neighborhood, free at last, until some sneaky angler fools them again.

Weigh & measure

On Watchaug bass tourney days, at a pre-designated time, some killjoy under the official registration tent sounds the end-of-fishing air horn. The hotshots have finished before that time. Their fish have been measured, weighed, and released. As any remaining boats return, their fish are similarly measured and weighed, then also released back to the pond to help sustain the fishery.

Custom boats are loaded onto custom trailers latched onto custom trucks or SUV’s. Up the ramp they go, hang a left onto Sanctuary Road, and out to Prosser Trail where each rig passes within a couple of thousand feet of the site of the proposed Whalerock  Twin Tax Credit Generating Cash Cow & Turbine Box Store.

Ok, enough for now. More on baits and switching things up to catch bigger fish next week. Or sometime soon. Remember, no deadlines, just guidelines.

Better make those fluorocarbon guidelines. You know, invisible ones…

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over.