(I'll just skip to my favorite part
)
2 stories from this past weekend
Saturday we trolled for hybrid bass for about 3 hours and all we got was on my side of the boat. A small catfish (first ever on a crankbait) and a small LMB. Then at about 8 or so we moved over to pitch plastic worms into the reeds. The reeds are in about 2 ft of water and stick out about 7 to 8 feet. There's LOTS of hydrilla (millweed) and lake grass around the reeds too. We had been at our standard starting spot for about 5 minuts when my roommate missed what he said was a BIG strike. As I passed where he had missed it I pitched right to the same spot. Pulled the rod up once and when I was at the top, WHAM!! was a hard hookset because my rode was up at the 1:00 position (and it was only 5.5') but somehow I managed to get into position and set the hook. Man that fish pulled like no other I've had on this year. Had the drag set high because of the reeds and he managed to pull about 2 feet of line out!
I was on the back of the boat (not my boat ) and he was about 15' to my 2:00 when he splashed the surface. I start yelling "get the net!!!!" when the fish cut back in towards the boat. This put a LOT of slack in the line, which is a bad thing when bass fishing because the hook can fall out, and I saw him make a break for under the boat. That is another bad thing because the boat itself can/will break the line if the fish gets under all the way. I quickly realed up the slack and pulled with all my strength to get him from under the boat. By this time the poor thing was tired and I had no problem lipping him.
19"to 19.5" (didn't pinch the tail shut because I knew he was in the slot and would go back in) I'd bet he was 2.5 to 3 lbs. I got lucky because I hooked him through the bone just above his mouth and the hook would NOT come out. I had to get the plyers out and pinch the barb shut to get it out of his mouth. If not for that I would have lost him when he jumped or when I let all that slack in the line.
The next day we went to Academy. I had bent my 7' worming rod at the AH con. I left my pole in my car over night (had a guided trip booked that saturday morning) and I left it in there bent. Well it stayed bent! So I got me a new one and some new line and other odds and ends. Fishing is expensive!!!!! I took the reel off the 5.5' rod and put it on the new one. I left all the drag and brake settings the same on the reel.
We started at the same spot at the same time on Sunday evening had on Saturday evening. My roomy caught one in the same spot that I caught the 19.5" bass on saturday but it was only about 17" to 18" which is still a nice fish. We worked our way about 200 yds into this big cove by the dam on this lake. Same reeds but a little less hydrilla and more grass than where we started. I pitched into this opening and pulled the rod up once and felt that wonderful "tap...tap...tap..." when the fish takes the worm into his mouth. I set the rod tip down to the water, reeled in the slack and WHAP set the hook. REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE is what my reel said. This thing took out about 7 or 8 feet of drag trying to make it back to the reeds, which it did. This thing had so MUCH more pull than the fish on Saturday I couldn't believe it. I set the drag up higher to get him out of the reeds and pulled the fish and about 20 lbs of reeds out and too the boat. Thing was that we couldn't see the fish, only the reeds hehe. This time my roommate saw the whole thing and had the net ready by the time I got the tangled mess to the boat. We netted it and he started pitching into the same spot LOL while I cleaned up my mess and measured my 20.5" LMB
God help me but I do love fishing
