Personal Worst

[Koz]

My son and I had an interesting day lagoon hopping today. Our first stop was at a large lagoon on an undeveloped tract. It's one of those Google maps finds that we've never fished before. The woody vegetation was ridiculously thick all around and there were no openings. Although the weather is cooler, we still have alligators to contend with so we never wedge ourselves through the thicket to the shoreline. It would be too easy to become trapped especially if you caught a fish and a gator decided they wanted your catch.

 

I finally found one are where I could cast over a lower thicket of woody vegetation and under some other trees. It probably a 2' x 4' opening 4 feet above the surface of the water. But I had to try. I tossed a weedless Senko and on the 3rd cast caught a nice 2 pounder. But the fish hung in the woody vegetation and it was a pain to get him out of there, so after releasing it we headed to a more familiar set of lagoons. It turns out that tract is bank owned and has been for quite some time. I may head back there with a machete. Google Earth shows that lagoon has had dense vegetation around it since at least 2004. This could be THE ideal low pressure fishing spot. Maybe there's something bigger than a 2 pounder in there...

 

Anyway, on to my Personal Worst. We moved on to some familiar lagoons and the one we fished has two decent sized pools connected by a shallow channel about 150 yards long and 40 yards wide. In the spring there are a ton of bass beds in this channel. I fished one of the deeper pools with no luck and then figured the bass probably use the shallower channel as a feeding area. I slow fished a Rapala Shadow Rap Shad, felt a tick, set the hook, and landed a nice 3.5 pounder.

 

A few casts later I feel a bump, set the hook, and - nothing. But the lure feels weird as I'm reeling it in. I figured it was just some weeds. The water is pretty clear and as the lure gets closer I can see it's spiraling like the line snagged on a treble. But it doesn't feel like that. So I pause my retrieve and there's a tiny, tiny splash at the lure. So I reel it all the way in and there's a tiny bass snagged on one of the treble hooks! And yes, the lure is bigger than the fish.

 

I figure that he nipped at the lure and when I set the hook it pulled the treble through him. I managed to get him off the treble without crushing him and when he was back in the water he oriented himself for a few seconds and then took off. Hopefully he survives. Besides being an interesting catch, it appears that in this lagoon there was a second spawn this year. This lagoon also connects via the stormwater system to three other lagoons and those three connect to even more lagoons. The ecosystem is kind of like a decent sized lake connected by channels or stream beds, in this case large stormwater pipes.

 

I've only caught 2-3 pounders in there, but I had one that was at least 6 or 7 that broke off earlier in the year. And as I said, we spotted numerous beds in the spring. With almost 300 lagoons to fish in this community (and we fish a lot of them) I may need to pay more attention to this one. This might be the hub lagoon for bass in this ecosystem of connected lagoons.

 

Anyway, here's a picture of my son holding my Personal Worst:

 

 

[JustJames]

Do you think which one is smaller?

[Oregon Native]

When I'm fun fishing all bites are good....even yellow and white bass!!

[Koz]

10 hours ago, JustJames said:

Do you think which one is smaller?

 

The girth on yours compare to mine makes your look like a lunker ?

[Log Catcher]

Many years ago I kept hearing about how good lizards were. I finally bought some 6" lizards and went fishing. I caught two that day. Both very near the same size. I didn't measure the first one. I measured the second one. It was 6.5 inches on a 6" lizard.

[The Bassman]

One aggressive bluegill!

[Way north bass guy]

I think we’ve all had something similar happen over the years. I’ve caught lots of wee fellas on lures as large or larger than them, I think a lot of the time it’s an aggressive, possibly territorial strike instead of a feeding strike. 

[Darren.]

ANY fish is better than a skunk  

[Dirtyeggroll]

[Gundog]

22 hours ago, Koz said:

 

It'd take it. Gonna be a long time till I see a bass on the end of a hook soo......

[Derek1]

20 minutes ago, Dirtyeggroll said:

You win. 

[CrankFate]

Sometimes you find the bait, but not the fish.......

[FishDewd]

I don't have a picture of it, but I once snagged a teeny baby catfish on a crankbait treble while bass fishing. Got him right below the dorsal under the bone. Would have been perfect as live bait.

[OCdockskipper]

On 11/26/2018 at 5:12 PM, Derek1 said:

You win. 

I missed this thread the first time thru, so my entry may be disqualified for being late:

 

 

[dodgeguy]

Lol. I've caught a bunch like that over the years 

[MickD]

What is fun is to take a good pic of the fisherman and his "lunker."  I have one of a friend, taken about 10 years ago, that he still treasures.  Sitting in the boat seat, cigar in mouth, looking over the shoulder, big smile, with a 5 inch perch displayed.

[Deleted account]

LOL. I caught one on a Pop-R about 1/2 the size of the Pop-R, and a maybe 1/4" minnow on a treble through the eyes.