# Monster SMB + great fishing day!



## afellure12 (May 14, 2012)

I caught the largest small mouth bass that I have ever seen last Wednesday! Started the day out early, heading behind the barn to dig up some worms. Then got a buddy and started wade fishing and catching bluegill and rock bass to use as bait later. After catching some bait we waded out to a rocky island (after watching a 4 foot water moccasin slip into the water...) in the middle of the stream current. We were right ahead of a deeper hole with a muddy sandy bottom lightly strewn with medium to larger rocks. Not so many though that I had too many snagging issues. I had been told there were flathead in the waters, so I heavy Carolina rigged a 8 inch rock bass on my Tiger Rod/Abu Garcia setup and threw it out towards where I thought the original stream ran in the deepest part of the pool. My buddy was casting small jigheads with night crawlers for bass or bluegill. Then we spotted a Musky about 3 feet long. Huge gorgeous animal. Made me wish I had braved bringing my phone over the water. It just hovered there, so I grabbed my second rod which was still bobber rigged with a split shot and an eagle claw hook. I took off the bobber and bit off the sinker real quick and threw on a bait fish then tossed it past the musky drawing it across its vision. It was clearly following my gill and interested, so I cast again and this time it made a startlingly quick dash towards my bait. Then it basically head butted my bait (maybe a missed strike?) and I went to set the hook thinking it was biting. The fish then swam off and my hook was ripped out of the bait. But man, my heart was pumping, that was so exciting! Some cranes flew by and were upset at us. Perhaps we were in their spot ha ha. As I went to set up that rod with a spinnerbait to throw towards the grass on the other side, my buddy pulled out just one after another bass 10 inches and under from the stream in some riffles and slacks. He eventually lost count, but thinks he caught maybe 20 bass in the 3 hours we were there. I snagged a 8 inch dink on my first cast. On my second cast, I got a huge drag peeling bite (purposefully loose to not lose rod)...but on the rod I had thrown out for flathead with an 8 inch bait instead. It was a circle hook so I took the time to reel in my other rod to ensure it was set. I then picked up my rod and started fighting a fish that I guessed to be a small flathead. It was amazing. With the currents and the fish fighting and running it took about five minutes to get it to where I could see it. The moment it broke water and I saw a massive bronze colored back my jaw dropped. After two more hard runs I got it close enough to me to land it. My buddy was standing there shouting and excited the whole time. He had Ausberger's and when he gets excited everyone knows ha ha, and I'm so glad he was there to see the fish too, because everyone knows he can't lie about how massive it was! The circle hook was perfectly in the corner of its mouth, the now dead rock bass sliding up the line. I removed the hook and I was excited and yelling too now because this was the largest small mouth bass that I have ever seen!!! I was almost wondering if it was some species or cross species I didn't know about, but no it just looked like a huge SMB. I kid you not, this mama jama was a good two inches longer than my arm...so I'm guessing around 20 inches! Now you can see why I was so excited! I was holding the fish of a lifetime and had no camera. I had a mesh bag for bait that I was going to put it in for a few minutes while I went and got my phone for pictures. As I was walking over to it in the water...I tripped and zippy zoom the magic beast of dreams was gone. I stood there, muddy, hands and knees bleeding, and my buddy looked at my worried I was going to be upset. But no, I couldn't have been happier! As we were packing up I saw both leather back and snapping turtles of very good size. We also got to see a Kingfisher pick up where my buddy and I were leaving off. An amazing way to spend some time off


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

great story, and congrats on you pb smb. I know what its like to want pictures and not have a camera. it really sucks.
sherman


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## 1basshunter (Mar 27, 2011)

Nice story. I have forgotten my phone to take pictures so many times. 
And congratulations on your personal best


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