Hazy morning fog and stained low visibility water met me at 6am. I was out for a few hours and nothing was biting. I worked a Magnum Rage, a dark chatter but nothing. I rigged up a wacky and scored a dink of a smallie. I stopped by another local lake and met a fishing acquaintance who had just landed a monster on first cast and was heading out on the kayak. I spent a fruitless 45 minutes striking out.
Spent the afternoon busy with chores and a choice cigar. Decided to clean the tackle pack and started feeling antsy. I couldn't shake the notion that me and that lake had unfinished business. 4:30 and there I was back at the same spot I fished this am. I start working a creature bait getting increasingly annoyed at a gaggle of High School girls running amuck. One decides to jump into the water off the dock right where I am fishing. Illegal and outrageously obnoxious.
Not a great start.
I fish for a couple hours, see my angler buddy again who tells me the lunker from the morning was it for him. We talk while he loads his kayak onto his truck and say our goodbyes and good luck. I had at this point gone to a T-Rig worm but still nothing. I decide to leave but want to hit the back pond inlet just in case...
Two little girls are quietly laughing on the bench near the bank. They ask if I'm going to catch a fish, and I reply that I'm going to try...
I generally start off casting while steadying myself on two rocks that peak out of the muddy soil. The paddies are lush and tall but plenty of open space to place a lure. My first cast is pinpoint accurate. I slowly reel in navigating the vegetation while keeping an eye on the line for lateral movement. Once the lure is clear of the water I decide to cover some water and cast about 6 feet to the left of my first cast.
I don't get through 4 revolutions when I feel that soft... so soft.... tug. My eyes zero in on the line looking for movement. Is that a fish? Am I just tugging vegetation? I want to to soft snap the rod but don't want to jump the gun here... I let the line go slack... just a bit... then a small tug and the line starts to move left... I hard set and BANG!
Fish on!!!
I carelessly let my rod go slack after the set allowing the fish to jump. I see him, shining, glistening as the failing sun lights up his scales and the water droplets spraying in all directions. HE IS BIG. The two small girls jump up on the bench squealing with excitement. I have an audience...
I start to reel in furiously. It was a long cast and there are too many places for him to run and wrap me up. My rod is full on bent, I lower it to keep him down. He fights hard taking me to the layover and bush to my left.
I need to get closer to the water to pull him out. I step forward stretching out as my feet sink into ankle high mud. He renews efforts pitching hard to my right trying desperately to push into the reeds and high plants more akin to a U Boat on a mission than a Bass looking to hide.
I adjust the drag on the fly and know that I can't reel in any farther. Instead I reach out, stretching just a little bit more.... I manhandle the rod to pull him back in and drag him into the shallowest water, half on the mud so that I can grab him. Big... he was big, and heavy. His teeth tore up my thumb like fresh coarse sandpaper. Both hunter and hunted look at each other, exhausted. I smile and thank him for the battle just before gently placing him back into his world grateful for the gift and reward nature shared with me today...
7lb 2oz... People ask me what I get out of fishing... How does one explain??
Eric J
