Murphy’s Law and Bass Fishing

It’s been a great year for bass fishing which is not over yet and throughout the year we have managed to catch a lot of fish without having any major catastrophes in the process. However, as anybody knows, there always exists that chance, no matter how remote that Murphy will jump up and bite you right in the butt.

Murphy being of course the founder of Murphy’s Law which says that “anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” Such was the case with our last evening fishing trip. 
               

It’s still summer here in good ole So-Cal although the days are getting shorter and the nights longer. Usually when this happens we like to get in a couple more evening trips for top-water bass as they tend to get very aggressive in preparation for the winter months. So off we go, as luck would have it, on the day of the full moon to see what would happen. 
               

We got to the lake with our gear ready to go and our lures tied on. The night before, we had checked our line and retied all of them in anticipation of the evenings fishing. My son chose the Spook when we got there and started casting beyond some lily pads in what looked like a good spot. He had only taken two casts before a nice three pounder inhaled the bait with a ferocious strike and the fight was on.

Now keep in mind that it’s been hot out here and the weeds are now visible everywhere we look on the lake. So my son is winning the fight and just as he gets the fish to the edge of the lily pads it dives one more time, my son pulls up and the line goes limp. He reels in the last fifty feet or so of line only to discover that the line had snapped leaving him without a fish on his thumb and me with one less lure in my tackle box. After a short break in which I can hear some mumblings but nothing specific he is off to get another lure and retie. He checks the last fifteen feet or so of the line, trims a bit off and reties.  
               

Off we go to the next spot after not getting any more action there and besides, sometimes it’s better to just cut your losses and move on. We pick out another likely looking spot that has some coontail growing up through the water about 160 feet from shore and decide to cover the area in front of it from every angle that we can hit. We both start casting and again, on probably his second cast, he hooks up.

Problem this time is that he hooked up with the coontail. I have reviewed the Spook and in that review explained that when I first got the lure I wasn’t at all sure that the triple grip hook design was going to be effective at keeping fish buttoned on but after using it found these hooks to be extremely effective. And now I can say with certainty that they are just as good at hooking stick ups as they are at hooking fish. So now my son is working to get the Spook free and trying everything he can to get it back. Right then old Murphy sticks his nose in things again and this time, after one pretty good yank, there is an ugly sound and the top fifteen inches of the rod starts sliding down the line. This ends up being  the first BPS rod that we have ever managed to break. To top all that off, he ends up having to break off the lure and is at this point thoroughly disgusted with the evening.  
               

I am catching a few fish as this is going on which doesn’t seem to help matters much so I suggest that he picks up a rod with a swim-bait or a swim-jig tied on and keep plugging. Unfortunately he is intent on counting the cost of the trip up to that point and just is to engrossed in that little mental exercise to really concentrate on fishing. I figure it’s best just to let him have some time to come to grips with old Murphy and keep on casting.

My next fish  hits my Shadilicious and this one feels like a really good fish. After fighting it for a couple of minutes, I get it close to shore and to the surface only to find that I had a seven pound catfish on the end of the line. I got him up on shore and had to really work to get my hook out of him. I finally did, then I put my bait back on the hook and cast out again. Something just didn’t feel right on this retrieve and when I got it in, although by this time it was dark, I really looked at the lure and the hook to see what was wrong.

Sure enough, that catfish had bent the hook enough to make the bait run all cock-eyed and there was no way to bend it back to its original shape. So off I go to the truck for another hook only to find out that we don’t have any more of that particular size and weight. Thanks again Murphy. Now it’s time to go to the general store they have at this lake and get something to drink and cool us off. Here we go again with old Murphy. They had just changed the closing time from 9:30 pm to 8 pm due to the shorter days and we didn’t get the memo.
               

Only one thing to do now, just keep fishing until it’s time to go and see how the rest of the night goes. I guess old Murphy had his fun and decided to pack up at that point because nothing else happened the rest of the night. We both caught two more without any more issues and packed it up about 11.  
               

One thing about a night like this, after licking your wounds you realize that you now have the opportunity and excuse to go and get some new equipment. I know there are a few new products I have my eye on so stay tuned and I’ll let you know what I get and as always, how it performs.