My fault
 

Beautiful night last night so we grabbed some takeout for dinner and went to a local pond in a community. People jog around it and theres lots of activity. My wife walked the dog and my kids and I brought our rods. I've never fished there but TX is like Florida and some of these ponds are loaded. Both kids had on weighless senko rubber words and after a few casts both had bass. This went on for an hour and the kids had a dozen fish. All small but chunky and healthy and beautiful coloring, pretty sure they were males. Some were guarding beds. All of a sudden there is a whoosh! and I see a big wake and tail of a big bass in a few inchies of water. I think it followed one of the baits in and took off when it saw the shore. My son casts out behind it and in a minute he was on, the fish came to the top, flared its gills and it was 5lbs easy. Huge head and shoulders. Hes cranking away and I tell him to ease up and play it out. I start to move towards him to land it and ....tunk. Fish is gone. Crap, the kids is in shock. I telll this happens all the time, nothing he could have done. I re-rig his rod and figured I'd check the drag, it was tightended all the way. Last week we were on the boat and he was hung up and I needed to break the line, it was my fault. I forgot to reset the drag. Crap, I cost him that fish. he woke up this morning and asked me when we're going back to the pond, he wants that fish

Nice. Don't tell him about the drag though:uhuh:

Post pictures of his first big Texas Bass.

cool story Jim

I told him it was my fault, he didnt sweat it. My wife and I didnt even have our phones with us to take pics. My daughter was a superstar outfishing my son and taking all fish off herself. It was crazy easy fishing.

He's hooked now!!
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Neb - we went to a tournament weigh in last weekend. We saw tons of monster bass. Top prize was a truck and a loaded skeeter bass boat all valued about 100K. My daughter went ape shat and all she talks about is tournaments now. she is very competitive and to enter a tounrament with me. `
The fishing is really turning on here, the next few months will be topwater for bass and the stripers will be going nuts as the shad spawn on the lakes. I'll post some pics as we get some more fish

Cool stuff. It's a different world down there.
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the tournament stuff is f-in insane. Look at this - took place last weekend at a lake near me.
Tournament News | Dodge Ram and Bass Champs Mega Bass Tourney - Wired2Fish

a truck every hour and big bass wins truck and boat - $150 to enter.

How many people enter that tourney?

People here really have no idea how much bigger LMB fishing is compared to SB.

Awesome story... he'll get that bass I'm sure!

I saw a hunt for big fish where they were just slaying big striped bass in a river in Tennessee and it got me thinking... why are people in the south so obsessed with LMB when they can have a great time with freshwater stripers that are like 10-20 times the size!!

So the kid misses out because of his dad's rookie mistake.

Cool story Jim, they'll be alot more lost bass in his future... Thats what keeps you coming back for more!
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basically, thats the truth!

LMB fishing here is big, big business. There are tournaments everywhere, every week. You see rangers loaded with so many screens it looks like an IT deparment, dual powepoles, 250hp motors. If you guys watch WFN, you'll see Lake Fork on it all the time. It produces double digit fish regularly. Lots of texas bass pros who make big money. its like NASCAR.
And you're right, we have lakes here with stripers that get to 20-30 lbs yet when I talk to guys, they've never fished for them. Its all about largemouths. Also culturally, people here love competition. Every cub scout event has a chili cook off, or cake contest. Every thing is a contest.

Jim, is it all lures down there or do they fish live bait for LMB? And do you need heavier gear for freshwater down there or is it the same as here?

Great story Jimmy

When you consider just how many waters hold largemouths compared to those that hold stripers, it's easy to see why stripers take a back seat.

Plus when you have very warm, consistantly warm temps, the warm weather and water will drive the stripers to deeper water, while largemouths are active in shallower water making them easier to target.
(not easier to catch, mind you, just easier to go after)

I can only imagine the quality of the bass down there, since they do grow faster and larger in warmer climates.

We dream of getting a 5-10 lb. largemouth up here, where they dream of getting a 10-15 lb. bass down there.

John, I think they shoot you if you use bait for LMB. its all lures.

thats the truth. The winning sack at the weigh in I attended - 5 fish limit, was 30lb......with only 4 FISH!
One 11lb, one 8lb and one 6 and one 5....wtf!

Awesome!!!