Tanglewood Park Fishing

     If you are looking for a place to get in a few casts while not driving too far from Winston-Salem, look no further than Tanglewood Park.  It's a great place for a quick fishing getaway with minimum amount of tackle. There are two fishing ponds located within the park, and I recently fished Mallard Lake near the golf course one Saturday afternoon with my daughter.

     Upon arriving at the lake, the first question you face is where to fish since it is a relatively large lake in length.  I did a quick scan of the area looking for structure that would most likely hold fish.  Much of the shoreline was featureless which typically means that fish will not be there.  I try to eliminate water as fast as possible by avoiding those areas with no structure such as a log in the water or even a overhanging tree casting a shadow on the water.  I focused on the end of lake with a small island in the middle and some wood cover along the shore.  The picture below shows the roughly 30 yard stretch of water we fished.  What is not readily visible is the cover underneath the water next to the shore.

      I took a very basic tackle with me knowing that we would be targeting bream and possibly some small bass.  As shown below, I relied on Berkley Gulp! (http://www.berkley-fishing.com/)  for the bream and a small Road Runner (http://www.ttiblakemore.com/home/) with a chartreuse body for the bass. 

     When we started fishing, I was targeting any visible structure with the the Gulp! under a cork and fished on a telescoping pole.  Instead of having to buy crickets or worms, the Gulp! provides a nice alternative with good results.  My daughter was rewarded with multiple strikes from small bream one of which is shown in the picture below.

        The fish were small but anything pulling on the end of the line is great in my book.  While the bream kept her occupied, I was using an ultralight outfit with the Road Runner to target bass.  Instead of casting straight in front of me, I chose to cast parallel to the shore.  By doing this, you can cover more water and catch any bass that might be using the shadow lines from the trees on the water as an ambush point.  Also, the bream were biting much closer to the shore than I expected.  Since they are a natural prey for bass, the bass might be in this same section of water looking for a meal.  After a few casts, I was rewarded with a nice bass that gave a good fight on light tackle



      In the end, it was a nice trip without having to drive very far.  If you are looking to get a few casts in, check out Tanglewood Park, and I think you will be pleasantly surprised.