My biggest bass on this little lake!

It was almost dark, and I decided to just cast out a couple more times
and call it quits. I had caught a few small ones, and one about 3 lbs.,
so I was satisfied with the day. I was fishing a 6" chocolate neon blue
worm weightless. I threw it toward some toulies, the worm hit about a
foot out from the toulies, and before I could take up the slack line,
the bass set the hook for me! I was using my light quantum reel and rod
with 5 lb test. I always set the drag at what I think is just below the
breaking point....this "gal" started taking line like crazy! I actually
thought a big cat had taken my worm. Then she jumped, and my heart
started beating! She ran back in the toulies, and tangled the line
up...I was devastated, nothing but a solid pull on the line. I opened
the bail, and thought...lets see what happens. A few seconds later she
came out of the toulies and headed for deep water. She was still taking
drag, and i decided to back reeel some...I was afraid I had the dag set
too tight! She jumped a couple times, and I could see she was a "heavy
weight" lady . A couple guys that were fishing a ways down the bank
came over and cheered me on....I finally got her head turned, and
managed to keep my wits about me........6 1/2 lbs. of beautiful fish...I
don't carry a scale, but one of the guys had one, and wanted to see what
she weighed!

I love light spinning gear, but I think that was about as good as I can
expect to do with what I was usinng...I don't thnk I could have handled
much more fish than that one!

I was beginging to think that this little lake was only home to small
bass...less than 4lbs., I can't wait for "morning"!!!! grin

John K

"John B" wrote in message
...
snip She ran back in the toulies, and tangled the line
up...I was devastated, nothing but a solid pull on the line. I opened
the bail, and thought...lets see what happens. A few seconds later she
came out of the toulies and headed for deep water. snip
---------------------

John,

I found the same thing to be true some years ago when I was fishing
ultralight spinning rigs with Dad on Sardis Lake in Mississippi. There are
some huge bass in the lake, and one of them grabbed a 4-inch finesse worm on
a Slider jig that I was tossing around flooded brush on Engineer's Point. I
think I had 4-pound test line on the reel at the time. A six or seven pound
bass slurped up the worm and just stayed where it was in the buckbrush. I
popped the rod to set the hook, which was like striking a match to a
short-fused cherry bomb. In a second, feeling the tug, that bass exploded.
Sending up a shower of water and shaking the bushes, it zig-zagged a few
times back through the thicket. I was thinking "of all the times to not have
my trusty 17-pound test Strenn!" and hoping my drag wouldn't seize up.

In only five or six seconds (seemed longer, of course) the bass stopped. I
had just a little pressure on the line -- not too much because I didn't want
to set it off again.

I then remembered how Charlie Brewer would extract fish from laydowns and
brush piles on his lightweight tackle, and I tried his technique. I just sat
there without moving, without trying to force the fish. Eventually, I felt
a little slack, and I cautiously took it up. When the fish paused, I did,
too. It took about three minutes, but eventually that fish back-tracked out
to the edge where it encountered my bait. I just kept a little pressure on
the line, and the fish followed, as docile as an old dog on a leash. I
didn't so much reel the fish in as I did guided it in. The fish provided all
the propulsion. When it got up to the boat, I belly-lifted the fish over the
gunwales, weighed it, and set it back in the water.

Joe
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