# House Report: If you can't beat a PB, tie it!



## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

This is the look I've been getting from hybrids this month:








They know I've got their number, and I have been very fortunate to have had such good success this late in the summer dialing them in. Please don't get me wrong, though. I get skunked... I get skunked a LOT, lol, but I learn from every trip and know that if I put in enough time on the water, I will sooner or later get into something worthy of a few photographs. 

*Report:*
9/6/2013, after fishing all morning with coangler and having a terrific time catching some big fish (Link:http://www.ohiogamefishing.com/community/showthread.php?t=240511&page=2), I headed back to familiar waters closer to home. I wasn't really sure how I could top the great morning we'd had. We had landed 3 fish over 25 inches and I had lost a battle with the fish of a lifetime. I made the mistake of grabbing the reel on an explosive fish that was spooling me, and I ultimately paid the price with a loud snap on my 14 pound Fireline. Never again...

I hiked down to a spot where I'd caught my personal best river hybrid just 10 days prior, and ironically, I was wearing the same exact shirt and using the same exact combo as when I caught this 27", 10 pound hybrid on 8/26:







. The only difference was that I was using an identical Pfluegger reel with 14pound Fireline instead of 12 pound braid like the last trip. 

I fished the area for 2 hours without so much as a hit, losing 3 of my favorite lures, and I was beginning to think that I should have just called it quits earlier in the day when I was on top...but then I decided to go sit down on that same rock as my last report to rest my back and get a drink. So there I was in the same exact spot, wearing the same exact shirt, using almost the same exact lure (it was missing its eyes by now) and it happened again. I flipped my swimbait out into the gnarliest water around, targeting the only sliver of shaded water on the stretch, with little hope of catching anything and I was greeted with an explosion of water that was violent enough to spray my face from where I was sitting. My drag screamed as the fish went racing off to the Ohio River. I didn't react right away because I thought that I must certainly be dreaming. Is this really happening again? Suddenly, I am haunted by a flashback from the morning trip where I lost the mother of all big fish, and questions start racing through my mind: Did I set my drag correctly? Will this new line break on me again? Is one of my guides knicked? Did I just crap my pants??!??

Unlike the morning monster I let peel off 100+ yards of line, I played this fish like a champ, working my drag up and down to match his energy level while keeping my rod tip high to let my rod do the work. It looked like a battle from the surf, with two hands on my rod at times while the fish exploded with anger as the fight raged on farther and farther downstream. After a final desperate effort to pull free, the fish finally succumbed to its fate of photographs and "holy craps" while I quickly set to work releasing it back into the water. All I could think about was the fish from the morning trip that got away and how I had found a way to somewhat settle the score with the fishing gods. It didn't even cross my mind that it might have been the same fish from just 10 days before until I was reviving it out in the current. I measured it at 27 inches but did not have a scale. Could I have possibly caught the same personal best 27inch hybrid twice in a row? It certainly looked and felt heavier than the last one. I'll post a few pics of this fish and then a side-by-side comparison. I'd love to hear what you guys think:

























Comparison:
8/26 vs. 9/6









Until the next striped adventure...


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## deltaoscar (Apr 4, 2009)

HOUSE said:


> Did I just crap my pants??!??


 lol...

Just from those two pictures I would say those are two different fish, but those are some eerie coincidences surrounding the two.

Congrats.


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

House,

What are the habits of these hybrids? Do they travel this time of year, migration or do they camp out. It could be the same fish, dunno . . I want to say no, which is AWESOME! Did you check out its mouth for a sign of it being hooked before? Again, no experience with these BEASTS but a 12" smallmouth will put up fight enough to know the next time if its been hooked before. I would imagine due to the hybrids brutal fighting, evidence would surely be obvious if it had been hooked before.

I'm thinkin you have landed twins not the same fish! Soo COOL! Great post . . if I hadn't had so many unbelievable tales to tell on the water myself I wouldn't believe you could nail two twins in the same spot on different days in the same manner wearing the same shirt.

P.S. Change your clothes next time or the fish will smell you comin and you'll have no chance!!  may need to change your name to oldstinkyguy


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## gibson330usa (May 15, 2012)

Nice job, looks like different fish to me. I'm thinking you should never change that shirt again, chicks dig that.


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## RNeiswander (Jul 6, 2008)

The bottom two lateral lines are different between the fish, bodywise they look about identical.


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## Crawdude (Feb 6, 2013)

Hilarious story! You have the big hybrid pattern down to wardrobe and sitting position!


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Nice fish house... Those guys are brutes!


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## trailbreaker (Oct 11, 2008)

nice fish house


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## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

Beautiful!


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## Smittyfisher (Dec 11, 2012)

Man o man! Way to go house your killing it.


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## GarrettMyers (May 16, 2011)

BOOM! I think the second one is a white bass, you gotta look real close at the stripes.


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

Awesome hybrid. You are playing with fire by using such light line. I'd recommend using a reel that can accommodate 300 yards of 20 to 30lb braided line such as Power Pro.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Definitely a yellow sand perch.


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## nitsud (May 22, 2010)

You're crazy, that's some kind of clown/donkey hybrid. Probably invasive.

Wait, you mean the fish?

Nice work as usual, HOUSE.


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## Murky&deep (Aug 28, 2013)

A nice guy named Eman once explained the warm water hybrid bite. As I live near Salem Rd, the lower Miami is my backdoor. I suspect that this bite is nearby and not much above Milford. Am I on the right track of thinking about this?


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## co-angler (Jan 3, 2010)

Yeah House what gives? Drop the forum some coordinates digits...
Pretty rude not sharing I say!


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## GarrettMyers (May 16, 2011)

Murky&deep said:


> A nice guy named Eman once explained the warm water hybrid bite. As I live near Salem Rd, the lower Miami is my backdoor. I suspect that this bite is nearby and not much above Milford. Am I on the right track of thinking about this?


No, they never stop going upstream.


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## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

SMBHooker said:


> House,
> What are the habits of these hybrids? Do they travel this time of year, migration or do they camp out.


I have all kinds of voodoo striped bass theories but many of them are just nonsensical attempts to rationalize the countless hours spent standing in a riffle twiddling my thumbs. I'll send you a PM with some of them so I don't ruffle any feathers on the forum. Keep in mind that I'm a work in progress with only a few years of experience chasing these things. ...If only the _real _hybrid pros like Fallen, Nitsud, or a few of the SmackTackle guys would write a book...

Here's another picture I made comparing the two beasties. I really think I should have weighed the second fish:











Murky&deep said:


> A nice guy named Eman once explained the warm water hybrid bite...


Unusually tall guy that speaks funny and usually wears an Affliction t-shirt, suspenders and a NRA hat?


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## Murky&deep (Aug 28, 2013)

Thank you for the insights. Eman told me the hotter the weather, the better the bite. Things should be smoking by Wed. House, you definitely sound like you pay your dues, but that's what it takes. I haven't paid my steamy hot summer dues.


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## SeanStone (Sep 8, 2010)

Congrats. Im leaning toward the same fish, not because of the pics though. It just seems too strange to catch a massive nearly identical fish in the same spot twice. Then again you were close to the ohio river so there could be a lot of fish migrating in and out of your spot.

Either way congrats

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## sammerguy (Jun 7, 2011)

Not the same fish, and it makes me hate you even more!


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

SeanStone said:


> Im leaning toward the same fish, not because of the pics though. It just seems too strange to catch a massive nearly identical fish in the same spot twice.


Definitely not the same fish & very common to catch similar sized fish in a short period of time, as the age classes school together. 


I did actually write a book. 



It's a color by number.


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## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

fallen513 said:


> ...
> I did actually write a book.
> It's a color by number.


I found your coloring book and it was depressing:


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