Another fishing trip is now in the books and this one went well. We went out to fish for trout and of course I took a couple of bass rigs with me so that I could test some new lures but we’ll get to that later. For now let’s just concentrate on the outing at hand.
We decided that since my youngest son wanted to take one his friends who hadn’t been fishing in a long time, it would be easier for him to get reacquainted with fishing by targeting trout. It worked out great since they both had Friday off and the local lake had just been stocked the day before and since he had no idea how to use baitcasting gear, using light spinning gear for panfish just seemed to be the ticket.
We arrived at the lake about 8:30 in the morning and started throwing spoons. We ended up getting bit on the Lip-Rippers so we continued to use them exclusively. We were picking up fish pretty consistently and having a good time. Unfortunately, my son’s friend was not getting bit or catching any fish which was not sitting well with either of us. I always like to see a guest do well the first time they come with us in hopes that they’ll get addicted and continue to want to pursue fishing. At any rate, he just wasn’t having any luck at all.
My son and I decided to give him a chance with the hot lure in hopes that he would hook up while we took a little break. We watched him and tried to get him to use the retrieve that would hopefully get him a bite and allow him to land a fish. He did, after a while, get a couple of bites but was unable to land those fish.
Fishing With Some New Friends
While we were taking this little break, some folks that were fishing next to us and doing fairly well, began talking with us and ended up asking for some help setting up a new bait-casting outfit. I was happy to do so and through the course of the conversation, we found out that they were from Canada and just didn’t use them much up there.
Naturally we talked a little bit about alternatives to what they had and they thanked us for the information. That’s just one of the pleasant surprises that this wonderful past time hands you on occasion, the opportunity to make new acquaintances from different places. To those folks, we say hello from MVF and we look forward to hearing from you as you continue your trip. It always makes me happy to see family’s fishing together as I have done with mine all these years.
We got back to fishing and were picking up a few more here and there and just enjoying the day when we got another unexpected surprise. My son threw it out there and was bringing it back in when he felt a tap, set the hook and started reeling it in. One little problem though, this fish just didn’t act like a trout. It was staying down, not coming in and when it figured out it was hooked, this thing started peeling drag as easily as you or I stretch a rubber band.
We didn’t get a chance to see the fish but were all speculating on what it was. I thought that most likely it was a catfish. My son’s friend figured it had to be a carp the way it was running and staying down. So we all just stood around and watched my son play the fish waiting to get a look at what was causing all the fuss.
Eventually, he got that fish close enough for us to get a glimpse and lo and behold, it was a bass. At that point, the fish took off on
another run with me advising my son to just go slow and not horse the fish as he was using 4 pound line and could easily break it if he or the fish got a little froggy. We knew that it was a big fish when we got the first look but not until several minutes later did any of us really know how big it was.
He finally got the fish close enough to net and only then did we see why it took so long to land that bass. Somehow my son had foul hooked the fish right on the underside of the tail with just one point of the treble.
I have no idea if the bump that my son originally felt was that bass taking a stab at his little trout spoon or if a trout hit it at the same time it saw this bass coming at it and high tailed it out of there. Whatever happened to get the hook in the tail of the bass is, in the final analysis immaterial.
What is truly incredible is that that fish stayed buttoned on that little hook without breaking anything. After unhooking the fish, we got a scale and weighed her, 8 pounds, 10 ounces. What a HOG!
Another Great Day
The beauty of fishing is a day like this. You have those occasions where something completely unexpected but downright cool happens and for me, it is just another reason to continue fishing as often as I can,
See ya on the water…