carpanglerdude
08-29-2010, 11:33 PM
Just got back to California last week and I had to hit the water.
Explored a new spot, but it failed. Went back to my favorite haunt in the IE, and was surprised with loads of dinks.
http://i36.tinypic.com/2z6cnrp.jpg
http://i37.tinypic.com/t6wft1.jpg
http://i33.tinypic.com/15878ut.jpg
Got 6 of these guys in 1 hour. Biggest was probably 1lb. One had a nasty sore under it's jaw:
http://i37.tinypic.com/nfhgjm.jpg
Got a bigger fish out from underneath some nasty surface cover.
http://i33.tinypic.com/2lw4nth.jpg
Was working a plastic across the top of it, twitching it, slowly, then the fish sucked it right in, toilet bowl style. Lost a few other nice ones in the same area.
So, caught 7, lost 3 in a little over an hour? Not bad, right? I still wasn't finished yet. I had tied on a big, 5 inch jointed swimbait-style lure (http://fishingnetwork.net/forum4/showthread.php?40033-Just-got-a-load-of-hardbaits-for-1-each...%28review-inside%29) I purchased online. It was super cheap, a little over $1, but I had done some tweaking on it to make it swim right. Really hadn't fished it much. With the customization, it swims right under the suface, great 's' pattern. The sun had just set and I walked to one last spot before I called it a day. This place had a 3ft dropoff to the water, lots of thick overhanging brush on the side. I casted out into the center, annoyed by how huge a splash the lure made (thinking "yeah, that won't catch anything") and started retrieving it. 10 feet from the shore, the water absolutely erupts and I'm hooked into the biggest bass of my life. I had foolishly rigged the lure up on my backup rod, a little 4ft collapsible travel pole with 6lb test, and now I'm freakin' out. The fish doesn't go airborne, he stays deep, racing from one side to the other, diving into any cover he can get to. Drag is being pulled like crazy. I work him close to the shore, and ziiing, he's off again. This goes on for nearly 5 minutes, my adrenalin is sky-high. He get's tangled up in some bushes near the shore, and I can't seem to get him loose...oh wait, he's off again. I have to hold onto the overhanging branches to lower myself down to the water, lip him, then back up again.
http://i35.tinypic.com/nbf8mu.jpg
Long story, but he was 22 inches, 16 inch girth. That's over 7lbs, on the online fish weight calculators (http://www.bassresource.com/bassfishing/fishcalculator.html). Crazy big fish, my previous PB's were only in the 5 range.
http://i38.tinypic.com/2qwlv2v.jpg
Super hard to take a quality photo of him, but that's what I got. Released him, I hope he survives, unhooking was a #$%^, trebles were in deep. Thanks for reading, one week later and I'm still stoked over that fish.
Explored a new spot, but it failed. Went back to my favorite haunt in the IE, and was surprised with loads of dinks.
http://i36.tinypic.com/2z6cnrp.jpg
http://i37.tinypic.com/t6wft1.jpg
http://i33.tinypic.com/15878ut.jpg
Got 6 of these guys in 1 hour. Biggest was probably 1lb. One had a nasty sore under it's jaw:
http://i37.tinypic.com/nfhgjm.jpg
Got a bigger fish out from underneath some nasty surface cover.
http://i33.tinypic.com/2lw4nth.jpg
Was working a plastic across the top of it, twitching it, slowly, then the fish sucked it right in, toilet bowl style. Lost a few other nice ones in the same area.
So, caught 7, lost 3 in a little over an hour? Not bad, right? I still wasn't finished yet. I had tied on a big, 5 inch jointed swimbait-style lure (http://fishingnetwork.net/forum4/showthread.php?40033-Just-got-a-load-of-hardbaits-for-1-each...%28review-inside%29) I purchased online. It was super cheap, a little over $1, but I had done some tweaking on it to make it swim right. Really hadn't fished it much. With the customization, it swims right under the suface, great 's' pattern. The sun had just set and I walked to one last spot before I called it a day. This place had a 3ft dropoff to the water, lots of thick overhanging brush on the side. I casted out into the center, annoyed by how huge a splash the lure made (thinking "yeah, that won't catch anything") and started retrieving it. 10 feet from the shore, the water absolutely erupts and I'm hooked into the biggest bass of my life. I had foolishly rigged the lure up on my backup rod, a little 4ft collapsible travel pole with 6lb test, and now I'm freakin' out. The fish doesn't go airborne, he stays deep, racing from one side to the other, diving into any cover he can get to. Drag is being pulled like crazy. I work him close to the shore, and ziiing, he's off again. This goes on for nearly 5 minutes, my adrenalin is sky-high. He get's tangled up in some bushes near the shore, and I can't seem to get him loose...oh wait, he's off again. I have to hold onto the overhanging branches to lower myself down to the water, lip him, then back up again.
http://i35.tinypic.com/nbf8mu.jpg
Long story, but he was 22 inches, 16 inch girth. That's over 7lbs, on the online fish weight calculators (http://www.bassresource.com/bassfishing/fishcalculator.html). Crazy big fish, my previous PB's were only in the 5 range.
http://i38.tinypic.com/2qwlv2v.jpg
Super hard to take a quality photo of him, but that's what I got. Released him, I hope he survives, unhooking was a #$%^, trebles were in deep. Thanks for reading, one week later and I'm still stoked over that fish.