First bass of 2020 finally...and broke off something HUGE

[plawren53202]

Ironic, I was just on here moaning and groaning yesterday morning that I still hadn't caught a bass in 2020.  So yesterday afternoon I decided to drive to a lake that's about an hour away where I usually have pretty good luck.  (Bank fisherman, no boat--for reference purposes, eastern Missouri.)  

 

Sure enough, diligence was rewarded.  Caught one about a pound and a half.  I know that's no monster but soooo good to get the major skunk off my back.  Four or five other bites in the course of a couple of hours so not great, but again, bye bye skunk.  They seemed to be in what I would call pre-spawn staging areas.  E.g., the one I caught was about 8 feet deep on the last main lake point before going back up in a creek (shallower areas for spawning).  Other bites were similar.  All the action was on Strike King Rage Swimmer, "electric shad" color (which is blue and green and looks more like a bluegill to me), on a VMC Ike Approved swimbait head.

 

But the real kicker was the one I didn't catch.  At one point shortly before sundown, I was fishing on the dam (this is an approximately 100 acre lake).  Still fishing that same Rage Swimmer.  About 15 feet out from the bank, I hook into something, first think I'm hung up until it starts moving.  Pulled up and it immediately put a huge bend in my med/heavy Lew's rod.  I got him up to the surface, about three feet from the bank, where he rolled over and splashed.  He was upside down, so all I could see was big white belly, but I could see his full length.  It had to have been at least 32-34 inches long.  By far would have been the biggest fish I've ever caught.  When he rolled over, he snapped my 12 lb. fluorocarbon like it was nothing.

 

I'm 99 percent certain it was a big catfish.  No idea on how to guess approximate weight.  But considering the largest fish I've ever caught to date was an 8-9 lb. bass and a 9 lb. walleye, I'm certain it would have been well over either of those.  Not exactly what I was expecting for the day yesterday, but a prime example of why if you're in doubt, get up off the couch and get out.

[Bluebasser86]

Big flatheads love to lay in those rocks on lake dams and surprise anglers targeting other species. The first one I caught over 20lbs was on a jig in February many years ago fishing for bass from the bank of a small lake dam. The rolling and big white belly is almost certainly a sign it was a catfish.