OK, time to vent.
Monday night a buddy and I go out in the canoe to this little spot on the lake we have dialed in that we pretty much always have to ourselves with the exception of one other guy in a kayak because it's too shallow in most spots to get a boat into. Almost immediately something smokes me on a weedless spoon. After a brief but vigorous battle I boat the coolest looking Bowfin I have ever seen, the bottom half of the fish was iridescent green (through later research I learned this was his "plumage" for the spawn). I really wanted a picture, but it was a Bowfin, which is like the crazy meth-head of fish and as such he was not pleased about his current situation and was bleeding and crapping all over the boat so back he went ASAP. Knowing now that he was so beautifully demarcated due to the fact that he was "in the mood" I am actually quite happy that he didn't go for the bodily fluid hat trick. After that not much was going on the bigger baits but we were hammering the Bluegills with poppers and spiders on the fly rod. Approaching sunset I started throwing a Hula Popper, a bait I haven't used in years and just brought with on whim. After a bit there was a huge boil, and a tug of the line. The instant I hit him I knew it was a good fish, the very next instant I knew he should be taking line and wasn't. I had just enough time to say "OH SH" as I pointed the rod at him and reached for the drag and then "POP". I dropped an F-bomb which I'm sure echoed up the great Mississippi valley all the way to Winona. A few seconds later my plug floated up to the surface, and I had a new life lesson. Check your gear EVERY TIME you go out. The reel I was using has a finicky drag, and I know this, and had adjusted it last time out but that wasn't good enough. Since I never got a look at him, I tried to just write him off as a big a Bowfin, but then the guy in the Kayak had to tell me he lost and 8lber in the same spot earlier in the week...
Last night I go out to a spot I've been wanting to check out on shore. After the previous evenings debacle I swapped out spools for one with heavier line, and made sure the drag was kosher. Fishing was slow to say the least, and to add insult to injury my favorite Abu bait caster took a dump on me. Approaching dark I started throwing the Hula I had almost lost the night before. I looked away from the water for a second and all of a sudden felt tension. I snapped my head back to where my bait should have been but it had been replaced by a considerable boil, the rod tip started to go so I hit him and "SNAP", and this time the bait didn't come floating back up. I was too dumbfound to even blurt out profanities and hung my head in shame to see that the line had gone just above the bail, and there was some considerable abrasion on what was left of it. How the line was this bad this far back I have no clue, other than maybe it just happened to get under the spool at just the wrong time. Then when I got home I had to throw my clothes straight in the wash due to the fact I was crawling with ticks.
This evening I decide to grab some minnows and head to the dam to see if I can get into some Crappies. Got a Sheepshead and some dink Perch, and this adorable little fella who's eyes were bigger than his stomach.
After that I decided to brave the ticks and head back out to the spot from the previous evening. The clouds had dissipated and it was too bright out for topwaters so I started out throwing a Johnson Silver Minnow. After a bit I see a boil behind where my line is entering the water, I'm a cool cat, no buck fever here so I wait till I feel him and hit him. Feels like a good fish and he bulldogs while I try and turn him. All of a sudden he goes vertical, all the way out of the water, and spits the hook. He wasn't huge but maybe a 2&1/2lb Largemouth and while I was a bit miffed I didn't really care because he gave me a great show, It was basically like a live action version of the B.A.S.S. logo. Besides, I'm out there more for the experience of it than the fish, and you don't see that every day. A few more casts later and on the retrieve things go mushy, kinda like I'm pulling through weeds so I just keep reeling, and then the weeds give me a headshake. I rear back and can tell this is a good fish, and a couple seconds later he comes unbuttoned. Now I'm kind of bummed, but at least I know they are on the chow so I keep going. Maybe 20 minutes later I'm working as parallel to the shoreline rocks as I can when all of a sudden a wake which rivals that of some small boats appears behind my bait, the only thing I can compare it to is a follow from a Musky even though that is HIGHLY unlikely here. Even though I'm all alone I just blurt out "OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT", but remain cool, steady retrieve... The line jumps, then goes sideways and I hit him. It felt like I set the hook into a rock, an enormous boil, and then slack line... this one comes unbuttoned too. I have no clue what it was because I only got a fleeting glimpse but it was dark green on top, which leads me to believe either it was a Largemouth in the state record ballpark, or a Ski a long way from home. Needless to say I am now devastated. I check the hook and it's sharp, so I guess it's just watermelon for luck. Switched to the Hula once the sun hit the horizon and after a while with nothing to show I was about to pack it in when I turned to leave I noticed the moon had just come up, and its full or damn close. So I have a full moon rise, and sunset within minutes of each other. I can't leave now this is when legends are made. A few casts later another enormous boil erupts, but this fish is obviously as bad a fisherman as I because he misses the bait by almost a foot. About 5 casts after that God decides to **** me over one last time when my line and the skirt on the Hula join forces to tie some ridiculous knot around both hooks. At this point all I can do is laugh and go home to de-tick myself.
To say I'm dejected would be an understatement. The thought of spending the rest of the summer working on my golf swing has crossed my mind more than once. But at the same time I am optimistic as I have moved more truly big fish so far this season then I can remember over all the years on this lake, and at least one of those fish I can say with certainty would have crushed my 6lb 6oz PB Largemouth if that's what it was. But like I said, it's all about the experience, so I'll probably be out there again tomorrow night trying to finally convert on some of these big fish.
