Fish Chris Posted March 15, 2007 Posted March 15, 2007 Buddies, I don't even know what to say ?!?! I mean I could sit here and go into details all night long..... but I got up at 3 am yesterday morning, then a 200 mile round trip, along with 12 hours on the water..... then got up at 3:30 am this morning to do it all over again ! It's darn near midnight now, and I am a complete zombie....... But somehow, I don't think anyone is going to feel sorry for me :-) Okay, first fish (in the first 15 minutes on the water) was a 5.8 lb Smallie..... caught it sight fishing a Huddlebug..... and it was my new PB Smallie by .1 lb :-) Weighed it twice to be sure. Next fish was not sight fished. In fact, it was nowhere near a bed that I knew of, but rather, just meandering around on a long tapering point. Stuck it with a Huddlebug too. It was very fat, and just beautiful. Went 5.0 lbs :-) Needless to say, this was feeling like a pretty good trip by now :-) Next I found a couple beds about 10 feet apart. One of them had a "brown" colored, bass shaped fish on it, that I swear was long enough to be 12 lbs ! But it was really skiddish.... plus my boat kept swinging around and spooking it also. I really needed two anchors. But anyway, after working on the smaller one (mostly, but the big brown torpedo whenever it came in and I could see it) for close to 3 hours straight, I finally stick the "little one", and she went 5.2 lbs ! Yea' buddies ! 3 Smallies for 16 lbs ! :-) After that, the wind came up and blew me off of my spot, plus made it impossible to see the fish, so I left, figuring I would come back later if the wind stopped.... and it did. But when I came back, that big, long, dark brown one was gone :-( Instead, there was another fish (obviously a different one) that looked a full 4 inches shorter, but was noticeably fat, even in 12 feet of water. Right away, she acted interested. Threw the Huddlebug at her for a bit, then went to a Basstrix Bluegill (but in chartreuse color). I kept seeing her tilt down towards my lure, and flare up at it, and I honestly think she did some of those super quick, "in-and-out" types of bites. I set the hook twice on nothing but water. But now I had my trigger finger tuned :-) I started keeping the rod tip low, and was ready to swing on the tiniest tick ! Finally, one time she tilted down, I saw a flash of her gill plates, and I know I'm not a quarter mile racer, but I know that was swing was within 1/10 of a second :-) .....and ZZZZZZZ ! When I first stuck her, it was almost like it took her a second to figure it out. She kind of set in one place, and shook her head back and forth, then when she rolled.... Holy #@%$ did she look "fatter" yet ! After that, I swear I had her to the boat litterally 5 times, before she would rip off 20 or 25 feet again ! Yes, I know time gets all whacked out under these circumstances, but I swear to you guys, this fish had to have fought for 5 to 7 minutes straight, on my medium spinning gear with 30 lb braid, and 20 lb fluorocarbon leader ! She ended up being hooked really solidly, but you never know this when your fighting them. When I finally put the scoop on her, and lifted her from the net, she just looked unreal ! I knew she was going to go over 7 lbs..... but 8 ? I mean, how big should an 8 lb'er look ? I sure wouldn't know.... I just caught my PB this morning, and it was only 5.8 lbs ! So, of course I do the self photo thing...... then I hang her on the scale (my Berkeley digital) It bounces a bit, then settles on 8.5 lbs !!!!! Whooo Hoooo !!!! But then I'm thinking, this is within ounces of the lake record that kid just caught ! And only about 1 lb from the Ca. state record ! So ya' know what ? I had to break out my certified digital scale :-) It went straight to 8.50 and stayed solid. Geeez guys, if I'm dreaming all of this, please don't wake me :-) Just beside myself...... Fish Quote
Super User fourbizz Posted March 15, 2007 Super User Posted March 15, 2007 Absolutely FAN FREAKIN TASTIC Fish!!!! Congratulations man! Now that sir is a trophy to be proud of! Quote
mainebasser Posted March 15, 2007 Posted March 15, 2007 .....I don't even know what to say. That sounds like the most incredible day of fishing ever! Right On! That's one that you will be telling people about until you die. CONGRATULATIONS! I hope to be that fortunate someday. Quote
Super User KU_Bassmaster. Posted March 15, 2007 Super User Posted March 15, 2007 :o :o :o :o I think some of smallie guys might start crying when they see this. Unbelievable!!!!!!! What a day ...... actually make that two days. Congrats on the PBs 8-) Quote
Super User KU_Bassmaster. Posted March 15, 2007 Super User Posted March 15, 2007 ;D ;D Just thought I would share this...... After reading your post and seeing each pic in order with the story, I saw the first 3 pics and I was thinking to myself "Man those are some big smallies". Then I got to the last one, jaw dropped and made my first reply. After my reply I scrolled back through the post and thought to myself, "Man, those first 3 sure don't look that big anymore" ;D Quote
Master_Hunter_1977 Posted March 15, 2007 Posted March 15, 2007 all I have to say is unbelievable. That is just wacked. I can't imagine what cloud I would be on. All I know is it would be quite abit above 7. That is just great. I'm hitting the water this weekend prefishing for a tourny and this just pumps me up. Thanks for the post. Scott Tight lines. Quote
SteveFinMD Posted March 15, 2007 Posted March 15, 2007 Excellent. Great photos, great fish, great story. Thank you. I am certainly motivated to get on the water now if I wasn't before. Quote
eastkybass Posted March 15, 2007 Posted March 15, 2007 Hey congrats on a couple of great days and thanks for the pics. Quote
mikel7 Posted March 15, 2007 Posted March 15, 2007 IT AIN'T FAIR. CALIFOTNIA OTTA TO BE OFF LIMITS. Quote
Super User roadwarrior Posted March 15, 2007 Super User Posted March 15, 2007 Story, fish, pics... Absolutely stunning! Quote
cjensen Posted March 15, 2007 Posted March 15, 2007 Thats gotta be one of the best days fishing anyone's ever had! Quote
Low_Budget_Hooker Posted March 15, 2007 Posted March 15, 2007 The size of the fish, the methods used,...no surprise for me considering who we are talking about here. The thing that really blew my mind was the clarity of the pics. Beautiful patterns on those fish and photographed to illustrate it. PS. The guy in that tent on your lawn this morning is RW. Hook him up and send him off to Fork when you're done please. Quote
basspro48 Posted March 15, 2007 Posted March 15, 2007 :oThat is amazing :o Awesome job with sticking some monster brown bass!!!!!!! Quote
Super User burleytog Posted March 15, 2007 Super User Posted March 15, 2007 :o :o :o :o I think some of smallie guys might start crying when they see this. Unbelievable!!!!!!! What a day ...... actually make that two days. Congrats on the PBs 8-) Yeah, I've shed a couple of tears and let a few curse words fly. Chris is inspiring me to hit the one highland smallie lake I have locally. Just 300 acres and barely fished. Quote
Valascus Posted March 15, 2007 Posted March 15, 2007 Wow....all of those are MONSTER brown fish!! The pattern and color on the second one is absolutely gorgeous. Bet thay fought like Goliath!! Great job! Boy...I am way jealous. Quote
VABasser Posted March 15, 2007 Posted March 15, 2007 Wow that is sick. Unbelievable and amazing fish. :o Quote
justfishin Posted March 15, 2007 Posted March 15, 2007 First of all---whhooooooooooo-hoooooooooooo,sveeeeeet !!!!!---- I really enjoyed your story of these amazing couple of days. Congrats. I would have liked to have had you hooked up to the EKG during your trips,lol. What great smallies. Thanks for sharing your wonderful experience. By the way, my tent will be on your lawn right beside RW's. I would love to get on that lake. Quote
Super User senile1 Posted March 15, 2007 Super User Posted March 15, 2007 Incredible!! That last one is completely unreal, Fish Chris. You're the man. D$#@, I wonder how big the skittish one was?????!! Quote
Super User Dan: Posted March 15, 2007 Super User Posted March 15, 2007 Those are some beauties alright. And again, excellent photos Quote
Super User SPEEDBEAD. Posted March 15, 2007 Super User Posted March 15, 2007 Amazingly enough, I dont think anyone is questioning whether or not that kid's smallmouth from a couple days ago was photoshopped. Chris, those things are ridiculous. Great Job. Wayne Quote
squid Posted March 15, 2007 Posted March 15, 2007 WHY CAN'T I HAVE HALF A DAY LIKE THAT? TRITONMAN......DO YOU SEE THE SIZE OF THOSE....I AM HOPING TO SEE YOU CATCH SOME FISH THIS YEAR....LOL....TIRED OF DOING ALL OF THE WORK OF TWO...LOL. BACK ON TOPIC...AWESOME FISH!!!!!! Quote
BucketmouthAngler13 Posted March 15, 2007 Posted March 15, 2007 Only fish chris could all that and not totaly flip out and fall out of the boat. Amazing fish! Keep it up! Quote
Fish Chris Posted March 15, 2007 Author Posted March 15, 2007 Needless to say, this was certainly a memory that I will never forget :-) I'm still kind of in disbelief. This morning when I woke up, I was almost afraid to get up and look for the photos on my dresser..... (in case I was just dreaming :-) ....but I was relieved to see they were still there ! :-) But I sure needed 12 hours of sleep last night, but instead I only got 4 1/2..... which makes for only 13 hours for the last 3 nights total. Today is going to be the longest day of work EVER ! And I bet you guys don't even feel sorry for me, do you ? ;-) Thanks again, Great fishing to all of you guys, Peace, Fish Quote
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