So yeah this was a weird fishing day... started out well enough. I did some T-rigging with a craw around the bottom and found some areas where bass were holding, though I didn't manage to hook any. I happened to bring some nice live crawfish with me, and I tried a few times to toss them out, hoping maybe for a catfish or two. Got lot's of bumps, but I ended up losing a few on the cast, and lost the rest while trying to hookset. No doubt these were bass, not catfish. Too cautious for catfish. So they got a free crawfish meal. I was about to head out cause I was getting hungry, so I started to reel in my hook that lost the craw, when it snagged on something along the bank. I gave it a little pop and with it came a nice surprise- a whopper plopper! I think it's a 90 size. Anyway, this changed things for me a bit. I decided because I had seen some bass hitting the topwater to tie it on and see what happens with a few casts. I used a small snap swivel since I wasn't familiar with how it rode through the water and didn't want to twist up my line. "Let's see if this silly thing lives up to the hype I've heard about it, blah, blah" I was really skeptical it would do anything since I've never had anything hit a topwater lure, ever.
So a few times I tossed it start out towards where I had seen a larger bass hit the topwater, varying the retrieve a little bit with each cast. The action reminded me a bit of a buzzbait. Nada. So I changed gears and focused on this grassline to my left where I had some bumps earlier from the T-rigged craw. I pitched it right along the edge and started reeling it in, stop and go. I reached the edge where I was about to bring it up to me so it didn't get stuck in the muck there, and BOOM! Big splash and I had a bass nail it. I did what I've heard to do with treble hooks, reel in, sweep it sideways about waist high. Got him! I brought him back over to my bench to grab my pliers, and took a quick picture of him, seen below. Then I noticed blood pouring out of one it's gills. "Oh ****!". Double-trebled right through two different gill rakers. I took him back down to the water and got the hooks out as quick as I could. I didn't mess around, I just flattened both barbs and pulled them out, sacrificed the hook. But I couldn't get the fish to stop bleeding and it was listing on it's side. After a few minutes I got the bleeding under control, but the fish was still listing on it's side. I tried for 5 more minutes to revive it- I splashed water in it's gills, pulled it back and forth, shook its tail- you name it, I tried it. Note that the bank was partially flooded and I was standing in snake infested waters in my flip flops during this attempted revival. I felt something bite my toe, so I jumped out of the water real quick, but one of my flip flops stayed put in the muck. I pulled it out to discover the front strap had popped clean out and it was busted. So now I had no shoes. What bit me was a little crawfish pinching me, but it surprised me none the less. Probably one of the ones I lost coming back to get me in revenge.
But I was more concerned about the fish. Finally figured out it was a goner, to my dismay. I had no choice but to sever the brainstem with a knife and claim it. It was about 2" under the legal limit for this pond, but this is one of those cases where I either claimed it, or it was fish food anyway cause it wasn't gonna live. It's about 12" and maybe right at 2 pounds. Little fatty. Took it home and fileted it out, not a bunch, but it will be some decent sized fried fish chunks. I feel really bad though. That's the last thing I wanted to have happen on my first topwater catch. It's rather deterred me from trying topwater again, especially the whopper plopper. Figures I find the cursed one tangled in the weeds! At least I ended my skunk funk I've been under lately?
So at the end of the fishing trip: first topwater catch on a possessed found whopper plopper with death trebles, no wearable shoes, and a bass I didn't intend to keep. I'm lucky I found a bag in my car big enough for the still somewhat-bleeding bass! I think I'm good on bass fishing for a while, this was a strange day!
Note, even though this side was bleeding a bit, the other side was an absolute horror show at this point when I turned it back around.
