that the best fight of the entire year would come on 11/27. Well a fat 35 lber, with big shoulders and the strength to match. I haven't seen a bass this shape since the 80's, gave me one H*LL of a fight today. It was the icing on the cake, as I had just played with close to 45 schoolies around 2-5 lbers and then started dragging a few live hickory shad around.
Funny because I never heard the Baitrunner drag, the fish just sort of took the bait and slowly swam around under and beside the boat. I'm not even sure how long it had the bait, because I happened to look back and noticed my line almost abeam of the boat. Went back to reel in and toss it out behind the boat and suddenly the battle was on. Had two other large fish on briefly but never got them stuck well with the circle hook. These hickory shad are big, like the big bunker of the 80's, so I guess more time would have been in order, I was just too damn excited after that first one.
I had to double hand the big one up onto the gunnel, unhooked it and was reaching for my scale and didn't she flop right back into the river
. She deserved it, but man I'd have loved to see how fat she really was, plus a quick pic would have been sweet. I had one 32 lber on certified scales this summer and this fish was clearly bigger. I'm so glad I decided to fire myself and go fishing, wish I could do it the rest of the week, because those fish should be there still.
Funny thing is anyone could have caught them this morning, without a boat, because I was literally fishing in and around the empty boat slips. Schoolie you should know exactly where I hooked that big one, just a few boat lengths below where that guy released that 28 lber. You might want to call in sick yourself
.