Thread: Skunk left on the way to the dock

Thanks guys!

6Pound, guess what? I went back and tried to repeat it today, got there earlier, same spot by the bridge, this time dragging both the Hellgramite on 20#, and the bobby Garland Blue Ice on 4# (this is a crappie forum after all). And just as you said, couldn't repeat it. Nothing for 2 hours, straining the water all around where I'd caught that smallie. So again, was thinking of heading back in, though it was still early. Maybe go home and do some chores. Exciting.

Then I thought, ya know you've got that big Whopper Plopper that you bought for northern pike. Never caught anything on that either. Might as well get rid of the hellgramite and see if I can get a pike on the way back.

Pike was on my mind. Before I took off in the morning I'd talked to a friend on shore about northerns, and he said he'd caught a few nearby. Seems like you catch them on a real high speed retrieve, he said, like when you're just reeling in a cast fast to make another one. I know what you mean I said.

So with the Whopper Plopper tied on to some stout mono, good, I gave as long a heave with that big lure as I could. It weighs a ton, and it landed with a big splash that probably drove what few fish there were in the area away. Reeled it back in, splashing and gurgling. Nothing.

I'd passed the bridge pier already, and behind me about 50 yards away was a shore fisherman watching a rod in a forked stick. Didn't seem like he was catching anything either.

Another cast and a splashdown, sounding like I'd thrown an anchor at the shore. Okay, man, reel it back as fast as you can this time, you can't be bothering anything worse than you already have.

Half way to me the water opened up under that lure, and a split second after that what looked like a brown bowling ball shot up out of the water. The guy on the shore yelled "Holy ....... " I couldn't make out that last word. Confused by these unexpected occurrences, it eventually dawned on me that I should lift the rod and see if there was a fish attached to the line. There was. The biggest smallmouth I'd ever seen. Three more seconds into it, and the drag wasn't tight enough. The reel handle seemed to slip, then the fish turned and ran toward the boat. A second later the line went slack.

It's funny how you can change your mind about things like deciding to do chores rather than fish, shortly after what looks like a four pound smallmouth throws a lure. Again I strained the water all around that area. And again, nothing.

Remembering the day before's journey around the back end of the sandbars up river, there was one spot that was a little deeper than the main channel. And it did have some logs tangled into it. Seemed smally-ish or crappie-ish to me, though I had no luck there with jigs before. What about the Giant Whopper Plopper? What the heck. Try that, and if nothing just REALLY go home.

So I did. And there was indeed a smallmouth there. And I caught it. And I even had my camera with me. Sixteen inches this time. A nice fish that jumped and ran like his big brother did earlier. Only I'd tightened the drag, and he was kind enough to stay on. That made my day again, and I really did go home after that and do chores!

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