Bob Pierce and I were fishing a Spalding County Sportsman Club tournament at Jackson. It was a cold January day for our first tournament of the year, and I had learned to try for one strike on a day like that. All morning I had been casting a chrome Wiggle Wart crankbait when something thumped it just before lunch time - and I did not hook it! I was devastated, just knowing I had missed the only bite I would get.
About two hours before weigh-in scheduled for 4 pm I cast toward the middle of a small ditch. The wind blew the front of the boat around toward my line just as I felt another thump. When I set the hook I heard a huge splash, but did not see it because Bob was between me and the fish. I knew it was a good one by his amazed comment "What a fish!"
I was lucky enough to fight it to the boat and Bob netted it for me. When I put it in the livewell, I stood on top of the lid until we went in - I did not want it to jump up, knock the lid open and get away. That was impossible, but I was not taking any chances!
I tried to let that bass go after weigh-in, but it would not swim off. The 8 pound, 4 ounce fish not looks at me from over the TV as I write this - it has been on my wall since 1978! It won big fish and first place in that tournament and also won me a plaque for big fish for that year in the club.
My second 8 pounder also came at Jackson Lake during a January club tournament - this time in the Flint River Bass Club. I had fished all day without a single bite and was sitting down, letting the wind blow the boat across a point while I drug a spinnerbait along the bottom. My partner for the day, Cecil Aaron, was fishing his first tournament.
When the spinnerbait stopped moving I pulled back. A strong fish took off and fought like crazy, but never came to the top. I told Cecil it was probably a big hybrid or catfish by the way it acted. When it got near the boat I loosened my drag to keep it from making a hard run and breaking my line.
I pushed the drag too hard and it went loose about the time I saw it was a huge bass. When it saw the boat it made the run I expected, and I got a terrible backlash! I could not reel in. I grabbed the line and pulled that bass back to the boat hand over hand and Cecil netted it for me.
When I got the fish in I grabbed it and started yelling from excitement - and so did Cecil! We had to be a sight out there in the middle of the lake yelling at the top of our lungs. That bass did swim off when I released it and its identical 8 pound, 4 ounce weight was good for third biggest fish that day. It was a good day for big fish with a nine pounder and a bigger eight pounder caught.
The biggest catfish I ever caught was a 12 pound blue cat. Linda and I had put out about 25 quart jugs with lines and hooks on them in the cove at our boat club at dark the night before. When we went out the next morning we found all but one, and a couple had small "eating size" cats on them.
After riding for a while we spotted the jug cruising along in the middle of the lake. Every time we got near it the cat would pull it under and we would have to wait until it popped back up. This happened about a dozen times over the next half hour until the strain wore the cat out and I was able to grab the jug. That fish made some good stew!
