We get to San Anton' in the morning and decided to do some topwater fishing before the boat ramp opens. We saw A LOT of shad in the water, which is a sign of a lot of rain this year and last. Lots of brush being flooded means a lot of shad fry survive, which means that the lake was THICK with shad. The guys fished the marina for about 30 minutes to realize that they had NO rental boats in sight. We decided to keep fishing here, and wait for the marina people to arrive. In the meantime, I move towards the launch ramp throwing my topwater lure to no avail, when I suddenly hear what sounds like my fat friend doing belly flops into the water. I run towards the boat ramp where the splashes are coming from and the day begins quite early for me as I will soon tell.
When largies or smallies push shad up to the surface, they create small splashes and swirls. When striped bass boil on shad, it looks like a washing machine....a washing machine that has been dropped from a plane.
Of course, being the smart guy that I am, I grab my 6 pound gear (Calcutta 50, all star zell rowland topwater special) and my good ole' Sammy 65...in Aurora Black. I make a cast parallel to the boat dock that is on the launch ramp and i get nothing. I still see swirls and baitfish fleeing so i KNOW there is fish there. I make a second cast, twitch twitch
*BOOM*
I set the hook and I know i'm in trouble, as the the line zings underwater, and starts moving so fast out to open water, it is 'cutting' the water and creating it's own wake.
When you've been fishing for a while, you know when you've hooked into something big. From the 38# white seabass I caught in the channel islands on 8#, to the countless other saltwater fish I've hooked on light line (48# halibut from Santa Rosa on 12# Izorline anybody?) you can tell when a fish is big. From head shakes, to huge tail sweeps, this fish began running for open water, taking line from my Calcutta with no resistance even tho I had the drag set tight, as I hate slippage during topwater hook sets. Since I had 6#, I knew I had to finesse this fish. I look down on my reel and I have about 50 yards of line left, as 100 yards are out in the water. The line is still being taken. I yell out to my buddies who are no where in sight.
The time is now. I have to make one of two decisions.
1. Tighten the drag, and risk the fish popping me off (most likely) or straghtening out the hooks on the Sammy (less likely)
or
2. Letting the fish continue running and have the fish spool me.
I start thumbing the reel, putting pressure on the line that is going out, and I let the rod do the work of absorbing the enormous head thumps this fish is giving. The parabolic action of the Zell Rowland acted as the best shock absorber for this fish.
He stops running as fast as he started, and I can feel the head shakes. Suddenly, the fish takes me into some type of cover underwater, a tree most likely. I can feel the rubbing of the line against something and I knew at that instant, I was going to lose it to cover. I start slowly 1/2 pumping the fish back, and begin taking the line that the fish has decided to use as his own. The fish finally makes its way back towards me and I see a glimpse of it. And of course, my legs get weak.
A big striped bass...i see my TINY Sammy hanging from the roof of it's mouth, and both sets of trebles firmly embedded. The fish makes a few more runs, not as bad as the original run he had made in the beginning, probably topping out at 20 or 30 yards.
20 minutes has elapsed and it feels like 2. I finally get the fish next to the dock and i cannot lip him and lift him up. I drag the beast up on the concrete launch ramp and i literally sit down on the edge of the water with the fish on it's side in shallow water. He made the big mistake of running across a largemouth bass fisherman.
Originally Posted by DarkShadow
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