Got my Yum Dinger back...

[BigAngus752]

Monday I went to a nearby lake for half the day.  It was slick calm and the best technique on that lake under those conditions is skipping a jig or plastic way up under the huge, overhanging bushes on banks that drop fast.  So, I t-rigged a Watermelon Seed Yum Dinger on a 3/0 worm hook with a @Siebert Outdoors tungsten weight and away I went.  It was working well, but as you can imagine there's a lot of hanging up.  I was not re-tying my hook or leader as often as I should and eventually I paid for it.  I set the hook on a bass that was way back into a bush and broke off.  I felt terrible, as I always do, about leaving a bass with my hook hanging out of it's mouth. 

 

Today I left work and went to the same lake.  This time the wind was blowing hard in the perfect direction...right at those overhanging trees and bushes.  I know that many times in those conditions I can run a crankbait in front of the bushes in about 7 feet of water and the bass will dart out of the bushes and hit it.  That was working today.  I boated a 1 1/2 pound bass and saw, in addition to my lipless stuck in it's face, that it had line running out of it's mouth.  I straightened the line and it was attached to something completely inside the bass's gut and I couldn't see any part of what it was.  I knew yanking it out would kill it so I left it alone.  I was holding the bass by it's lip and working hard to get the last hook out of it's mouth when the bass started thrashing and barfed just as I got my lipless free.  Out came my Watermelon Seed Yum Dinger and 3/0 hook.  Disappointed I lost the tungsten weight.  LOL. I feel much better knowing it's not stuck in that bass anymore.

 

[gunsinger]

That is a cool story.  I've caught bass with hooks still in their mouth but never one that I put there.

[Blue Raider Bob]

That is an amazing story! Glad you were able to retrieve the Dinger and save the bass. It's always a special thing to catch one that is hampered by a plastic. It's happened to me twice. Both times, saw the worm while unhooking fish, gently tug, and outcomes the worm. Neither time did the worm have a hook. Must have bit off the worm and missed the hooks. It's amazing your hook didn't gut hook the bass.