I ended up finding a little pond to fish at, inside my grandparents retirement complex. I had a difficult time finding a rod to use, but after a bit of searching my moms sisters husbands parents bought a 3 ft kid combo for their grandchild a few years ago. I borrowed it from them, and cleaned the incredibly old reel, and it was spinning relatively nicely after a good clean. There was one weight, a swivel, and a small hook on the rod, so I made it work, and rigged it for a drop shot technique, as I was assuming to catch bass.
I arrived at my grandparents place, and started digging for worms, but I had not luck. I ended up finding some old bacon fat, which I thought would be sufficient as bait. I made my way over to the pond, with high expectations, and ended up finding a tiny little green puddle. I thought I might as well give it a go, because I had made such an effort to collect the gear. So with a little effort I was able to cast a piece of old bacon fat out about 30 ft using a 3 ft rod. I was working a little rock ledge, when wham got a strong hit, but the fish ended up spitting the barbless hook. 5 minutes later I was working the same ledge, and I got a slower take, but still a powerful one. I set the hook immediately, and started reeling, but as you can imagine I did not have much leverage with the tiny ice fishing rod. I was at the mercy of the fish, and after 3 nice jumps, and a few very nice runs, pulling a nice amount of line. I managed to land the fish. It was about 12 inches long, and probably close to a pound. After further online reaserch I am almost 100% sure that it is a banded tilapia. After the excitement of the nice catch and release of the fish, I made another cast in hopes of hooking a largemouth bass, or something a little larger. That cast did not go so well, and I ended up loosing my only hook in the tree. I had to call it a day after only 20 minutes. It was a great day, finally caught a fish in a foreign country, and hopefully relived my urge to fish until I get back on the 29th.
Kunni