My parents are in the process of selling their home in Alpharetta and when they do finally hand over the keys to the new owners there will definitely be a mix of emotions for the family. Alpharetta was home to me for nearly half my life and home for them for nearly 30 years, so for them not to have a residence there will be a pretty strange thing. The bright side of their departure from suburban Atlanta is that they have a new home on Lake Rosemound, here in Louisiana, just an hour north of Baton Rouge, so we’ll have the chance to see and be with them a lot more often as they split time between St. Francisville and the cabin in Suches and we are excited about that.
They’ve had the house at Lake Rosemound for almost a year now and we’ve made a few trips up that way, but never for more than a day or two. It’s rare to find an entire weekend free it seems, but we were able to do just that this past weekend. We loaded the car up Friday morning and headed north on Hwy 61 after work only to be greeted by a nice thunderstorm upon arrival.
Amanda took advantage of us being stuck inside to whip up a fantastic shrimp creole for dinner, which I can attest paired really nicely with a Ghost.
The next morning I was able to take out the new Kilroy DT we bought for Rosemound and see how she performs as a solo boat. With dreams of big bass in my head I tied on a black buzzbait and began working it around the docks and other structure. It seemed like a good morning for topwater as it was a little cloudy and not even the faintest ripple on the water from the wind. I found out early on that the bluegill were going to be fairly aggressive today.
After a while I wasn’t feeling the love on the black buzzbait so I switched colors and downsized and went with an oldie but a goodie, still a buzzbait, the Wolka double buzzer. Terry Wolka, who use to frequent the Riverbassin forum, made custom lures and sent them out for guys to try. I’ve managed to hold on to mine after all these years and have caught a number of fish on it. It’s still in pretty good shape and is a testament to the quality craftsmanship that went into this lure.
I’m not going to say that it was like a light switched on, but things certainly were better after the lure change. I think it also helped that I moved into a shallower, grassier part of the lake, especially given my lure choice.
The clouds gave way to a bluebird sky and I probably shouldn’t have still been throwing topwater, but I’m pretty stubborn when it comes to lures and I just wanted to catch them on top so I stuck with it and am happy I did. I really didn’t leave myself much of an option though as my gear was pretty minimalist on the day. If I wasn’t going to catch them on top, I wasn’t catching them at all.
For about an hour the fishing was great, which was what I needed, because this was just short pre-lunch fishing trip anyway.
That last one was the biggest on the day. I’ve got no clue on the size as I didn’t pack a scale or a board. It was great to finally dedicate some time to bass fishing the lake and I was pretty happy to have some relative success. I know there are much bigger bass in the lake and I look forward to the challenge of trying to fool one.
We spent the rest of the day with a lakeside lunch at Satterfield’s in New Roads and then a Lake Rosemound beach trip with the kiddos. The eggplant nelson appetizer at Satterfield’s is pretty damn good and this is coming from someone who’s not that big into eggplant. I would recommend stopping there to eat if you’re ever in the area.
The next morning I took Marin for a paddle in the DT. It was super easy to shift the seat trays from a solo position to a configuration where I could have her facing me, which was perfect for a toddler, but probably not something I’d do with someone who could actually help paddle.
The DT paddled very well, even with a kid leaning out of the boat putting her hand in the water the whole time. As with the 12′ Kilroy the DT holds the distinction of being one of the few kayaks out there that is both fast and stable. I’m thrilled to have this boat at Rosemound and can see it getting a lot of use as my kids grow up.
At Marin’s request we hit the beach again before we headed on back down to Baton Rouge. We really enjoyed our weekend up at Rosemound. I look forward to spending more time up that way, learning the lake, and of course spending time with the family.
Although I didn’t catch any fish, I did see a few deer, a beaver, and several nutria. I had no idea they were on freshwater lakes too, but Caney was ate up with ’em.
Mountains to Marsh 