Good things come in small lagoons

[Koz]

My father has been living in Sun City Hilton Head for 10+ years and there's a small lagoon out back of his property that I've never thought much about when it comes to fishing. But the other day when I was taking down his hurricane shutters I saw a decent sized fish jump. It was a light colored green, not the typical darker green of a largemouth bass and definitely not a panfish. So today my son and I brought our poles over when we visited. Here's that small lagoon:

 

 

Within a few minutes my 11 year old caught what looked to be a white bass while fishing with a beetle spin. Half an hour later he went inside declaring himself the "Fishing Champion". I stayed and fished. I had a bump on a topwater frog but put it back in my tackle box because an annoying little juvenile gator kept following it around. I tried a worm and a jig but had no luck. So then I tossed a beetle spin and although I did not catch anything I caught a glimpse of s decent sized fish trying to hit it as I pulled it in to shore. I switched to a big spinnerbait and something hit it and wrapped the spinner around the line but didn't hit the hook. Next was a black and blue chatterbait and within a few casts I had a solid strike and landed a 4.5 pound largemouth. That completely surprised me in this tiny lagoon. I thought I'd catch some dinks and maybe a 1.5 pounder. But it gets even better.

 

I'm about to wrap it up for the day but I decide to throw my Whopper Plopper 110 (Bone) hoping to get in a few casts before that annoying little gator came around again. On my second cast something big blew up on it just a few yards from my feet. Two casts later and a HUGE blow up on the Whopper Plopper.  I could see it was a big one and he had some fight in him, but not enough fight to get away.

 

 

I was hoping for 7+ pounds and a new PB, but it weighed in at 5.75. Still a nice fish for such a small lagoon. I can't believe that my father has lived here for a decade and neither he nor I had fished that lagoon before. It just goes to show you, leave no stone unturned.

 

Oh yeah - my son now knows who is the real fishing champ for today!

[Catt]

That's a Hawg right there!  ?

[senile1]

Wow!  That is a nice fish for such a small body of water.  Unless there is some type of deep hole in that thing, in the winter it would freeze top to bottom where I live.  

[Darren.]

Fantastic catch! I woulda guessed over 6#, but still a great catch!

 

Lesson of the day: Never turn away from a small body of water  

[Koz]

31 minutes ago, Darren. said:

Fantastic catch! I woulda guessed over 6#, but still a great catch!

 

I should probably double check the calibration on my scale. I bought a cheap Reel Sonar digital scale and never verified its accuracy.

[A-Jay]

That's a Stout Bass ~ 

Nice write up too.

Thanks for sharing

Congrats

A-Jay

[Paul Roberts]

Great story. Thanks for the great read. WTG Champ! And your son should take the lesson. You want to be Champ, you gotta put in your dues.