# November Surprise



## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

*Once In Life Time Catch*

11-13-2010 Fishing Report

Saturday&#8217;s forecast was the last day of a stretch of forecasted warm weather. The air temps were dialed in on hitting the high 60&#8217;s and it was both mine and my friend&#8217;s last planned trip out on the water for the year. Our high expectations were met with surprising fulfillment. I&#8217;ll attempt to be brief and let the pictures do most of the talking . . .

It was a beautiful day to start off and my friend quickly hooked into a dink on a small swimbait. But, this little catch couldn&#8217;t have come close to foreshadowing what was to come next. Only minutes after catching that little bass my friend asked if he should continue throwing a large sized buzzbait he had tied on? Looking back my answer would seem to be prophetic. I replied by stating that if he&#8217;d keep at it with that buzzbait he would surely not haul in huge numbers but, in the middle of November what he did catch would be huge. 

I was just about to launch another cast out when my peripheral vision caught some movement coming from the corner of my eye. I dismissed it as my buddy slowly churned his buzzbait right passed me across the bow of our canoe. Then my attention shifted to what must have first caught my attention. A dark silhouette of a large fish moved out from the depths turned into position and tracked behind the lure. From our vantage point in the canoe the scene was unbelievably surreal. We were right in front a light colored rock ledge that broke off sharply into deeper water. We were both witness to this massive fish lurching out of the dark. The fish effortlessly closed the gap and in what looked like one motion the bass engulfed the entire profile of the buzzbait. After what seemed like an age he landed the biggest largemouth bass we&#8217;d both ever seen. We took some quick pix and a measurement then it was released as it meandered back into the murky bottom. 

My buddy&#8217;s once in a life time catch rightly overshadowed the experience of me catching one of my personal best largemouth but, none the less it was a beautiful specimen. I had thrown a soft jerkbait with a chartreuse tail right atop some lay downs. After a few quick jerks I felt my line pull and I set the hook. It gave a surprisingly aggressive fight for a November catch that lasted a good measure of time as it attempted to break out for deeper water. 

But, the stage belonged to my fishing partner because what he caught may never be duplicated on his line again. I am still impressed by the size of the fish he caught, it had jaws set like bear traps and its beauty was unmatched. 

I cannot think of a better way to end our fishing season. 
Check out the pix I know they&#8217;ll keep me dreaming about next year&#8217;s season through the long winter that&#8217;s coming.


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## SConner (Mar 3, 2007)

Congratulations, those are amazing. No doubt you will be day dreaming about these all winter.


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## Marshall (Apr 11, 2004)

Nice bass a true giant! Looks like an awesome place to fish.


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## sala0288 (Oct 26, 2009)

What a pig! Great looking fish, don't recognize the place you guys are fishing is it local? Not trying to steal your spot just curious where that beast came out of!


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## bsmith (Mar 26, 2010)

Wow, I wish I could end my fishing season like that. I went to efork Saturday, the day was beautiful but the fishing mediocre. Caught a couple largemouths and a handful of crappie, nothing of substantial size, was still a great day though.

Congrats on ending the season with such a pig!


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

sala0288 said:


> What a pig! Great looking fish, don't recognize the place you guys are fishing is it local? Not trying to steal your spot just curious where that beast came out of!


The fish came out of an old gravel pit North of I-70, its on private property but, the owners have let us fish there for about the last 4 years. It is a beautiful place with about 30+ acres of water. Its got every conceivable combination of fishing structure, depth changes, and vegetation an angler could hope for. I fully appreciate the opportunity we have to fish there. We try to fish there several times a year but, we try not to out wear our welcome. Every trip is great and produces good bass. This last trip really topped off a great year. All in all between the two of us we hauled in about 9 bass throughout the day Saturday.


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## fishingredhawk (Apr 14, 2004)

HAWG!!!

Did you guys get a weight?


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## nitsud (May 22, 2010)

Damn! A two thumber! Deep two thumber at that. Nice fishes both, and what a way to end the year!


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

fishingredhawk said:


> HAWG!!!
> 
> Did you guys get a weight?


We had no device on us to weigh it  but, i did get a measurement with my buddy holding it up vertically and it measured 22 ½ inches with mouth wide open. I think if it would have laid out flat with its mouth closed it would have reached 23 inches no problem. Sure would of liked to get a weight before we let her loose though. The size of its mouth is what impressed me.

Gives real meaning to the term *"BucketMouth"*


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## Buzzin (Jun 22, 2010)

Nice pigs you lucky dogs! Its winter you have caught two really nice bass this year. I think its time a asked Santa for some scales!


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## small talk (Feb 13, 2009)

WOW! What a great way to end the year! Awesome catches!!!


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## greenghopper (Jun 14, 2010)

A very nice way to end the season. Congratulations on your catch and thank you for sharing.


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## TPfisher (Aug 31, 2009)

two very nice late season LM's. looks like a gravel pit. Is it?


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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

U can figure out approximate weight by this formula..length x length divided by girth.


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## RIDGE_RUNNER91 (Aug 13, 2010)

TPfisher said:


> two very nice late season LM's. looks like a gravel pit. Is it?


He said it was an old gravel pit in his second post


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## RIDGE_RUNNER91 (Aug 13, 2010)

Shad Rap said:


> U can figure out approximate weight by this formula..length x length divided by girth.


That formula doesn't make sense to me........

say we have 2 fish the exact same length but 1 is fatter than the other...........

say fish #1 is 25" long with 20" of girth (25x25=625 625/20=31.25)
and fish #2 is 25" long with 22" of girth (25x25=625 625/22=28.41)

logic would dictate that the fatter fish would weigh more, but according to your formula fish #1 (the skinny one) would weigh 31.25 pounds and fish #2 (the fat one) would weigh 28.41 pounds. So your forumla says that the fatter of the 2 fish would actually weigh less that the skinnier one.

Am I missing something?


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## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

RIDGE_RUNNER91 said:


> That formula doesn't make sense to me........
> 
> say we have 2 fish the exact same length but 1 is fatter than the other...........
> 
> ...


The formula I had read was: [L x G x G]/800 
so fish #1= [25*20*20]/800=12.5#'s
and fish #= [25*22*22]/800=15.1#'s
I'd take either one!!! hehe

SMB sweet photo's dude! Pics like this will surely help get me through the winter! It looks like there was a nice walleye chop going on the surface there. I hope your canoe didn't take on any freezing water  
Any idea how fat the thing was? That is a real lunker, and the look on your friend's face is so damn funny 
-House


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

Pretty cool thing, my buddy made his way into the 2011 May Issue of Bassmaster Magazine. 

Check out the Mail Call on page 80, titled: *"Ohio Lunker"*. The mag used the last picture I posted below in this thread, if you want to see a larger version of what the mag printed.

Pretty cool, huh?


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## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

SMBHooker said:


> Pretty cool thing, my buddy made his way into the 2011 May Issue of Bassmaster Magazine.
> 
> Check out the Mail Call on page 80, titled: *"Ohio Lunker"*. The mag used the last picture I posted below in this thread, if you want to see a larger version of what the mag printed.
> 
> Pretty cool, huh?


I knew it! I swear I looked at that picture three times and thought "Man, I know I've seen that goofy pose before"  Tell him congratulations from OGF on part of his 15minutes of fame.


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