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Leap Year Catch, JDM Gear Success, and Other Ramblings
2/29/2020, Leap day. This day only occurs once every 4 years, kinda neat actually. An Astronomical year is actually 365.25 days, so we basically just add an extra day (February 29) every 4 years to keep the stars, moon, and calendar aligned with the correct seasons (shortened version, Google it). Leap day started cold and windy this morning in E TN, 23F with wind chill, so while enjoying a cup of coffee the weather lady on TV wished all the Leap Year birthday people a Happy One, and stated her father would have been 18 years old today.....took me a minute to comprehend that one. Anyway, Saturday morning chores of wrangling firewood and basement cleaning complete, I tackled the main objective of the day, installing batteries on my truck. Yes, you guys that run the full size Diesel Trucks know what I am talking about, they have 2. Earlier in the week they began dragging a bit on start up, thought maybe it was just the cold weather, popped the hood and discovered they were the original batteries that came on my 2005 Dodge Truck.
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14 years old, not complaining at all, did ask the guy at the parts store if the new ones would last as long...he laughed, I laughed too. Finished in time for lunch and a chance to catch the UT-Florida Basketball game, the day was slowly getting away. I prepared a nice early supper and told the wife I was going to run down to the creek for a few minutes to try to catch a fish on Leap Day, can’t do it again for 4 more years, sounded like a good excuse to me but more importantly, she bought it. Arrived at 6:20, sunset is at 6:27 so I knew I didn’t have much time, but clear cold blue skies were going to allow me a few extra minutes of fishing time. At 6:30, my first victim, a small largemouth.
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On the Triple Cross with the 3lb Unitaka Braid, he was fun. 7 minutes later a Bronze-backed acrobat made a mess of my bait and jig, but qualified for a pic and a measure, 15.5 and colored up nicely.
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Now it is getting kind of dark, but who wants to leave now. 6 minutes later one of those Green Fish attacked my little 1.5in Hellion, he definitely tested the line and drag of the Diawa Luvias.
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A couple casts later I hook into a pig, she has plans other than a picture, but again the JDM gear performs perfectly, and a 17in Smallie touches the tape.
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Now that is an excellent fish in my book, and on this gear, an absolute blast. But the night was not over, how many times do we say, “Just One More Cast?” Of course, next fish, a White Bass.
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It is seriously dark now, but...
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Two more Smallmouth, one was a quick release in the mud, and unfortunately, she took my Bait and my night was over.
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A great day, and even better evening. Only once every 4 years, I hope not. Happy Leap Day.
Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app
