Horning In on My Spot

[Koz]

It was a beautiful day in the low 70's today so I decided to take a break from work and go fish for an hour or so. I was fishing in Sun City Hilton Head again, this time in Lake Somerset instead of jumping from lagoon to lagoon. They've tagged dozens of 8-12 pounders there, but there are only a few spots to fish because of homes surrounding much of the basin and the fact that they don't allow any watercraft on the lake.

 

Visibility was low in the lake so I started off with a chartreuse and white spinner bait and within 10 minutes landed one just under 5 pounds. At that point I noticed a big guy about 200 feet down the bank from me. I take a few more casts and land another one just over 4 pounds. As I'm weighing and releasing the fish the big guy I saw earlier went right over to the spot I was fishing. Man, was I ticked. But I didn't say anything even though I wanted to scream at him. I just stood there for a few more minutes but he didn't leave. Instead, I packed my gear, got in my car, and drove to another place to fish.

 

I really hate when crap like this happens. But I didn't want to confront him and get into a wrestling match. It's just not worth it. Anyway, here's the photo of the big guy that ruined my day:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[A-Jay]

2 minutes ago, Koz said:

It was a beautiful day in the low 70's today so I decided to take a break from work and go fish for an hour or so. I was fishing in Sun City Hilton Head again, this time in Lake Somerset instead of jumping from lagoon to lagoon. They've tagged dozens of 8-12 pounders there, but there are only a few spots to fish because of homes surrounding much of the basin and the fact that they don't allow any watercraft on the lake.

 

Visibility was low in the lake so I started off with a chartreuse and white spinner bait and within 10 minutes landed one just under 5 pounds. At that point I noticed a big guy about 200 feet down the bank from me. I take a few more casts and land another one just over 4 pounds. As I'm weighing and releasing the fish the big guy I saw earlier went right over to the spot I was fishing. Man, was I ticked. But I didn't say anything even though I wanted to scream at him. I just stood there for a few more minutes but he didn't leave. Instead, I packed my gear, got in my car, and drove to another place to fish.

 

I really hate when crap like this happens. But I didn't want to confront him and get into a wrestling match. It's just not worth it. Anyway, here's the photo of the big guy that ruined my day:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perfect ~

He was probably thinking the same thing . . 

A-Jay

[Derek1]

Yup he wins. 

[OCdockskipper]

You should have Happy Gilmore'd him...

[Koz]

I actually tossed a couple of pine cones at him first to try and scare him away but that just ticked him off and he hunkered down on the bank and that's when I took off to the other side of the lake. 30 minutes later he showed up in that area but stayed well off shore.

 

All of our lagoons around here are 7-9 feet deep but this lake gets to 26 feet deep out in the center where you can't reach with a cast. It also starts to get shallower (10-15 feet) beyond casting distance, then slopes to 2-3 feet deep at the edge of the basin. The biggest fish must be coming to the shallows late at night or just staying in the deeper water because no one has reported landing the 10+ pounders they tagged. The biggest I have heard being caught was 8-9 pounds.

 

There's also a long pier that leads to a large gazebo over the water but I have never caught anything under that pier. Perhaps the heavy foot traffic keeps the bass away. And the only fish I caught on that side of the lake were 2-3 pounds. It wasn't until I fished the back side where I've been landing 4-5 pounders.

 

I'm hoping that back side is the spawn area, but the water is so murky I can't see anything. I think I'll bring my iBobber and try and record depths at various locations. I know my PB is out there waiting. I just need to find where whe's hanging out.

[TOXIC]

I learned a valuable lesson when I lived in Florida.  You do not mess with Mr. Longjaws!!  I teased one with a buzz bait and got him to chase it to the boat.  I was not prepared for what happened next.....he came right in the splashwell and almost on the back deck (and I almost jumped off the front deck).  Lesson learned.