posted by Dan on Jul 24
We were on day three of a great week fishing the big lake in Florida. Three guys, staying in a cabin overnight, dinner of fresh large mouth, hush puppies, stewed tomatoes, followed by large scotch and waters while we told stories and prepared our gear for tomorrow.
One night my friend Frank had a few too many of those Scotch and waters. The following morning the lake was completely still and flat and not a breeze. This was great for fishing but not too good for my friend Frank. We were circling these floating islands of weeds very quietly and my friend made a cast and just fell asleep in the chair on the boat. Suddenly a large mouth hit his lure and yanked the pole out of his sleeping hands.
He yells “ MY ROD IS GONE.” Mark and I could hardly keep from laughing when Frank dove into the water, and stayed down for a long time. Then, up he came with rod, no fish, very wet and very sober. Frank was and is my friend and now that was a story to tell.
posted by Dan on Apr 14
I was walking along a city canal along University Drive and Miramar Parkway in South Florida, casting along with a bass rod and a baitcasting reel. On the way down I picked up lots of smaller fish similar to what I’d caught there before.
I had passed a 4′ x 8′ sheet of plywood but felt it was too risky to lose my little diving plug. However, on the return walk, while fishing on the way back to the car I decided to cast right next to the sheet of plywood. The plug landed one inch from the left side and I cranked the lure. It dove and stuck. Damn. I knew there were nails on the plywood. I pointed my rod straight at the lure and began pulling to try to pull the the plywood sheet to me and get my lure. Suddenly my lure pulled back.
Now if you know how tight you make your drag when you bass fish, it was to my surprise that the drag began to sing. After a while I finally got it in and my eyes popped. A guy cleaning his bass boat in his driveway screamed and dived for a scale.
That dirty canal produced a 16 pound largemouth. And that is no fish story. This guy who lived nearby was more excited than me and all he said was “Biggest ever.” With that I looked at this trophy and thought about what that fish could produce and I set it loose back into the canal. What a gene pool.
Largemouth Bass
