At 9:40 I was fishing the worm in a tree and it felt different. I would pull a little and it felt like I had a leaf on the hook or the worm had balled up. I was pulling the worm up to a limb and was not sure what I was feeling. After a few seconds of this, I told my partner I thought it was a fish and set the hook. Sure enough, a 15 inch largemouth had swallowed my worm and hook. I quickly put it in the livewell and started back to fishing.
Almost an hour of fishing the blowdowns produced no more bites so we moved out onto a point with gravel on it. I started throwing a Baby Brush Hog on a short Carolina rig and was dragging it through the rocks. At 10:45 I again thought I had balled up the bait or had picked up a leaf, each time I would move the lead I could feel it come free but the bait still felt mushy.
After about four pulls I told my partner how stupid I was - that is how the other bass felt. When I set the hook I almost jerked a 14.5 inch largemouth into the boat. I had moved it all the way up the point to where we were sitting. I was lucky to land it.
That was it for bites that night. I placed second with my two weighing 2.88 pounds and second place was just over five pounds. The winner had 7.5 pounds so I could not have won with the one that got away, but I would have moved up!
I was taught two lessons - AGAIN - that night. Never lose track of a fish you are fighting. Know where it is at all times and keep it under as much control as possible. Let you attention slip and bad things are going to happen! And don’t play touchie-feelie with a bass. You will usually loose. I wonder now if there were other bass holding my worm that I did not feel good enough to set the hook. When in doubt, set the hook, even at night.
See page 1 for the beginning of this story >>>>>>>>
