The day I caught my big bass …
I remember it like it was yesterday. It was back in the early 80’s, I don’t remember the exact day but I do remember it was in early spring. A friend and I decided to go over to Lake Isabella, basically my home lake, for a day of tubing, and what a memorable day it turned out to be.
Twas a bit nippy that morning as we loaded the truck so the little woman made me take along the waders. I promise her that I would use them, what a mistake that would turn out to be … keep reading to find out why.
Anyhow as we are driving to the lake, rounding a corner we both detect the very distinctive smell of a skunk within close proximity. All of the sudden there he was, directly in the path of the headlights … Thinking quickly I figured I would rather take the little fella out, may God rest his little soul, instead of a head on into oncoming traffic or over the mountain side. To this day I’m still not sure if that was a good idea or not. Everything that was in the bed of the truck had the skunk smell on it.
We arrived at the lake at 0 dark 30 and proceed to get ready to get out on the water. Oh yeah, my waders, float tube and fishing rods all had the wonderful smell of road kill skunk on them so that was real pleasant, ha! Because of the promise made, I pull on the ole waders, which by the way were the old fashioned thick vinyl, rubber coated, oversized 50 pound models.
Maybe I exaggerated the weight just a bit, but neoprene ones were not yet invented. Either that or they were still way too expensive. I then hook up the suspenders in order to keep them up so they didn’t fill with water.
Off we went, throwing a good old Texas rigged 6′ Mann’s Jelly worm. This was before the days of the hand poured plastics we all use now days. In black grape we proceed to kick some bass. I truthfully don’t remember just how many we caught that day but it was quite a few. Most of the bass were averaging about 1-2 pounds with a couple that were in the 5 pound range.
As the day progressed I figured what the heck and put on a 12 inch Jelly worm that I had originally bought as a joke. I believe it was a 12 incher, I remember they used to sell them in 2 packs.
Anyhow, on my first cast with this monster worm I feel the distinctive tap, tap of Mr. Bass inhaling the worm. I then reel down and proceed to drive the hook home. As soon as I set the hook I KNOW that the beast on the other end of the line was a lot bigger that the 5 I had caught earlier and the fight was on. I battled this giant for what seemed like hours, in truth it was probably more like 3 or 4 minutes before she came up to the surface and shook her head.
“Holy Sh*t!!” I yelled when I saw her. My buddy didn’t see her but knew by the way I was reacting that I did have a big un.
Then my worst nightmare came true, she had managed to get into a submerged tree. I looked at my buddy and said, “Hold my rod Cliff, I’m going in after her”.
As I said earlier, Cliff had not seen her jump so he didn’t know just how big she was so he thought I had gone completely nuts. “Just break her off” Cliff told me, to which I replied …
“NO WAY, this is the world record bass”. Mind you, at this point in my “Bass” career the largest I had caught was a 7 pounder.
I then proceeded to un-hook the crotch strap and drop down into the water. As Cliff was holding the rod I started to swim down with a knife in one hand to cut the line and using the line between my fingers with the other as a guide.
I figured I’d keep my eyes closed to avoid getting all the dirty water in them, big mistake. All of the sudden I found the tree with my forehead, yep that required 4 stitches.
It was then that I opened my eyes and saw the size of the fish. I grabbed her by the bottom lip, cut the line and proceeded to try and swim back to the surface.
Remember the waders? Yep, the once 50 pound waders were now completely full of water and weighed a TON. There was no way I was going to let go of what I was sure was a world record bass. So there I am, my life passing before my eyes, bass in one hand, knife in the other wondering just how the papers would report this one.
I then realize all I have to do is un-hook my suspenders and swim out of the anchor that my waders had become. Easier said then done. I ended up dropping my knife in order to use my free hand to help me disconnect the suspenders and wiggle free of the 2 ton anchor, ha!
So I finally get out of the waders as I kicked up to the surface. Gasping for air as I finally broke the surface. Cliff told me that he was starting to worry about me and asked if the fish was worth it. As I slowly pulled her out of the water he was shocked.
I took her to the local super market, after a quick stop at the E.R to stitch up my forehead, to weigh her as well as brag about the one that didn’t get away. She weighed in at a whopping 15.7, not quite the world record but a monster never the less.
Yes, this was back in the old days when we just didn’t know any better and everyone kept their catch. Hell, catch and release was a term used by fishermen who were just too lazy to clean their catch. Now days, I wouldn’t even dream of killing such a magnificent animal.
It was at this point in my life I had an epiphany. I wanted to learn everything there was to know about catching big bass. Yes, anyone can get lucky from time to time and catch a 10 pounder but in order to catch them consistently it takes a different mind set because they are a superior fish.
No, I don’t believe bass possess the ability to gain knowledge like humans do. But I do believe that they learn from past experiences and become conditioned to things that are not normal for them …
Like the sound of a boat motor, the dropping of something in a boat, especially an aluminum boat without a deck or even loud noises.
I also believe that they become conditioned to smells and lures that produced an unpleasant effect the last time they encountered it. Like being pulled in a direction they didn’t want to go by a fishing line. Their natural instinct is to attempt to go somewhere safe, brush, rock piles, or a structure. In general, Like I said, Conditioning, not knowledge.
During my quest to learn how to catch big bass, and hopefully one day catching the world record largemouth bass I have read a lot of books and articles.
In My Honest Opinion a MUST read for anyone who is serious about catching big bass consistently is the book by Bill Murphy titled “In Pursuit of Giant Bass
Another good read is “Big Bass Zone: Catch Monster Bass
I do hope you enjoyed my story. It sure brought back some great memories for me.
Until Next Time, Good Luck to ya and Tight Lines
[tags]big bass, largemouth, bass, fishing[/tags]
