tallydude Posted April 21, 2007 Posted April 21, 2007 You ever see a spot and just know a fish is there? Me too. But on to that in a second. I decided to leave my office a little early yesterday (around 3:00) and spend a little time to myslef on the water. My girlfriend was attending a tax law event in San Santonio and was getting back late that night so I knew it might be the last time I had to myself before she got in. Anyway, i decided to head to the canal behind H.L. Johnson Elementary School on Crestwood St. in Royal Palm Beach, which is only a block from my house (more on that in a sec). I started throwing a 3/8 pearl colored Rat'L Trap and was rewarded with a tug on the line from the following fish. Unfortunately, she decided to get wrapped up in some underwater brush about 5 feet away from the shore. Well, I grew up in Louisiana and consider myself an idiot due to my not having any fear of alligators. Naturally, I waded right in. After I unwrapped her, I did my best Avid-like pose and got this picture: About ten minutes later, I hooked into a 10 inch bass that managed to get all six treble hooks in its mouth. I didn't take a picture because I was more concerned with getting her back in the water than taking a picture of my ten thousandth dink. On to our magical fishing hole. I had noticed three fallen trees sitting in roughly a triangle area in about 4 feet of water. I was obviously salivating to fish in the hole. I cast all around the area for about 50 casts until I finally agitated a fish enough to hit my Rat'L Trap. She extremely well and I noticed she had some size to her. I fought her to the bank and right as she was in range to be lipped, she jumped up and threw the hook. > I went through my exhaustive vocabulary of curse words in English and Spanish and was angry because I had been missing a lot of hook sets lately. This is of course when the alligator showed up. By my estimation, she was about 8-9 feet long and was sitting in the water about 100 feet from me. I wanted to get a picture for you guys, but she really doesn't show up well against the water in the pic. Anyway, being more cautious, I headed back down the bank and decided to fish with a texas rigged plastic lizard, mostly because niksfishinmom is always talking about how great soft plastics are. I HATE SOFT PLASTICS. But I decided to work the banks anyway. After about an hour of nothing happening, I doubled back to where I missed the good fish before. Fortunately, the wind kicked up and was a SIGN FROM GOD to use my spinnerbait. I pitched a white spinnerbait with dual Colorado and willowleaf blades back into the area and WHAM! Hookup! I first thought she was a catfish because she wasn't moving around a whole lot and was fighting down in the water column, tuggingmore than running. And then she got MAD . I almost dropped the rod when she came airborne. Truly an aerial battle, this fish could've tried out for Cirque Du Soleil. Was she fun to catch! She peeled off about 20 yards of my Vanish 17lb. flourocarbon before I could tame her. Now I have a new problem. I want a picture. Sure she wasn't one of FishChris' babies, but she put up a great fight worthy of remembering. So I call my roommate, who is a block away. "PLEASE", I beg, "Get your butt over here and take this picture". He says no, because he is eating. Take it yourself. I tell him I don't want to, because the pic will look bad and I want a decent one. I'm pleading at this point. Well long story short, I end up taking these pictures myself after I threw my phone down and broke it in disgust. She went 4lbs, 4oz. I was pretty happy, but I wanted to get her back in the water. So I released her and no more than 10 seconds afterward a guy comes walking out of the woods. Incredible timing. Oh well. Here is the girl: Anyway, I fish a while longer and catch two more dinks and this fat little girl as well: It was a great time to spend to myself and enjoy fishing. Not a bad day at all. Quote
Bass Mekanik Posted April 21, 2007 Posted April 21, 2007 Sweet catch. I hate not having someone to take pics of a great catch like that. I don't know how many times I release a fish and have a passerby come out of the woodwork. Quote
Guest avid Posted April 21, 2007 Posted April 21, 2007 Well done Jason, I know you want big bass, but don't you think using chains instead of mono is overdoing it? Quote
tallydude Posted April 21, 2007 Author Posted April 21, 2007 I had to get medieval on her a$$. ;D Quote
Deb Posted April 22, 2007 Posted April 22, 2007 Hey Jas, if you're not careful, Mom will have to drive down to FL and show you how to catch fish with soft plastics. Might be a good time to bring you a truckload of that driftwood furniture you've been trying to get me to build. Only catch to this is, I want to go catch peacock bass!! I'll show you how to do it. Cause, that's what good moms do............Challenge on..........I'll even take your picture IF you catch any.......... Quote
tallydude Posted April 22, 2007 Author Posted April 22, 2007 Hey Jas, if you're not careful, Mom will have to drive down to FL and show you how to catch fish with soft plastics. Might be a good time to bring you a truckload of that driftwood furniture you've been trying to get me to build. Only catch to this is, I want to go catch peacock bass!! I'll show you how to do it. Cause, that's what good moms do............Challenge on..........I'll even take your picture IF you catch any.......... Challenge accepted! Soft plastics are for sissies! I'm taking you to school and then EVERYONE on this site will recognize my superiority over you! MUAHAHAHA! Quote
Guest avid Posted April 22, 2007 Posted April 22, 2007 Is there something you two want to share with the group? Quote
Deb Posted April 23, 2007 Posted April 23, 2007 Nah, it's just a special bond between a fishing mom and son. Strange, it's been many years since we've gotten to fish together. Not that we don't want to but things just haven't worked out. Last time I was there, it was for his surgery. The last few times he's been home, it's been for funerals. We'll get it worked out one of these days. I think deep down he's proud I'm his mom. I've been fishing tournaments for 11 or 12 yrs. Nothing big but I've done ok. He's glad to be out of Ky and I'm proud to be in it! Avid, you're in his area, right? It's gonna take me a couple of months to build the furniture he's wanting. Depending how much time I spend on the lake. But I'll try to bring it down for him when I get it finished. Do you have a peacock spot you'd share? For yrs I've wanted to catch one. OK, as many as possible but one is more than I've caught so far. Quote
Syfer420 Posted April 23, 2007 Posted April 23, 2007 Sorry i missed you that day, glad to know you had an awsome day though. Nice pig of a largie Quote
G_Money_FL Posted April 24, 2007 Posted April 24, 2007 Nice fish ! My parents live in R.P.B. I grew up fishing those canals before Crestwood was Crestwood. ;D Quote
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