jwluresme

Mine happended recently over the Memorial Day holiday. Went to our vacation place near Hot Springs. We went over to Lake Hamilton to shore fish near the hatchery there. Walked around the cove there fishing for about an hour and didn't catch anything. I had a lipless crankbait tied on. I went back to the spot I started at near our car, and made a few more casts. Finally, something hit the lure. I reeled in what I believe was a yellow bass (it had teeth, so not sure of that). Since lipping it wasn't good due to the teeth, I grabbed it by the body and began to get the hook out. The fish was thrashing about a bit making the hook removal difficult. In fact in one of it's moves, the rear treble got stuck into the fish's side. Great! My wife ran to the car to get the camera to take a pic of the fish I caught. ;D While she was getting that, the fish jerked again and freed itself of the lure, but unfortunately buried one of the barbs on the treble into the pad of my left thumb. It was in a good bit past the barb. I asked my wife to get my needle nose pliers so I could attempt to extract the hook from my thumb. This was my first time doing this, and after pulling on it realized it was not going to come back out the way it went in very easily. My wife is a neo-natal nurse, but I don't think she was too excited about trying to help me get the hook out of my thumb! I was sweating, both from the heat of the day, as well as the pain and tension in the situation. After 5 minutes or so of debating what to do, a man and his wife that had been there by the lake asked if he could help. He informed us that he was an x-ray tech at the hospital, and knew that what they would do at the emergency room would be to push the hook the rest of the way through, then cut the barb off. He also said he had fished his whole life, and had to do that to himself once before. My wife gave him permission to take care of the situation!! He got hold of my pliers, asked if I was ready (heck no!), and then bore down and pushed the hook back through the pad of my thumb. It did hurt a good bit, albeit briefly. He cut the barb and slipped the hook back the other way and out of my thumb. I went to the restroom in the building there near the boat launch ramp and washed it very well with soap and water. We left and went back to our place and put peroxide and antibiotic ointment on it. By the next day, it really didn't even hurt very much. God puts people in the right place at the right time. I was blessed and grateful to the man (David I think his name was) for being there and knowing what needed to be done. I hope this is my first and only experience with having a hook in any part of my body! Jim

Razorbackbasser- Got your note and thanks, albeit I am just now seeing it (June 28th). I did find someone to take my wife and I out. We did a night trip, the night before the full moon. It wound up raining for part of the evening. I caught a 4 1/2 and a smaller one. My wife caught one. The guide probably caught 6 or 7. Turns out he is a neighbor right down the road from our place in Bismarck, and he's also the brother in law of a pro angler on the FLW that resides there in Bismarck. We also went out to the FLW Tour weigh in at Ouachita on Friday of Memorial Day weekend. My first time attending a pro weigh in. Have a good one! Jim

I will be in the Hot Springs area (Bismarck, by Lake Degray) from May 21st to the 31st. I want to get out fishing, and my wife has offered to treat me to a guide for my birthday on the 27th. We are only 10 minutes from Degray, but more like 45 min to an hour from Ouachita. Most of the guides seem to prefer (or insist) on striper/hybrid fishing. I would really like to go after largemouths. Obviously Ouachita is a great largemouth lake, but I'm sure Degray has decent LM population as well. Any personal preferences, and/or can you recommend a guide that knows fishing for LM bass pretty well? As a side note, the other thing at play is that there is a FLW Pro event at Ouachita over Memorial Day weekend, and another event at Degray the same weekend. I am wanting to get out say on Wednesday the 26th or Thursday the 27th, which should be less of an issue with regards to the tournaments (although I'm sure practice rounds will be going on). Thanks in advance for any recommendations! Jim Whelan - Hurst, Texas

I am a non boater for the time being. I live in Hurst, mid cities area of DFW. I am interested in fishing with others that have boats in any of the DFW area lakes (preference for large mouths, but any is OK). Also willing to split guide costs for places like Lake Fork. I am fairly new getting back into fishing since childhood, but have been reading and studying a lot in magazines and websites. I have pretty decent gear, and am willing to learn from others who know more than I do and just have fun fishing. My personal email is jwhelan56@sbcglobal.net, or my cell is 214-769-3101. Grapevine, Hubbard, and Lewisville are probably closest, but Whitney, Ray Roberts, and even East Texas like Fork, Bob Sandlin, Cypress Springs, etc. are not that far (2 hours or less). Thanks in advance. Jim Whelan

Greetings Fishing Freaks! I wanted to share my story of a great day on Lake Fork on December 12. I had fished there two weeks before on the day before Thanksgiving. I had a decent, but not great day catching four fish, with the largest being about 3-3 1/2 pounds. I asked my wife for an early (and only) Christmas gift of going back out to Fork in search of a "lunker" before the end of the year. I contacted the same guide I used before Thanksgiving, My. John Tanner. I highly recommend John if you are thinking of fishing fork with a guide. It was 38 degrees and misty raining when we left the dock at 8:00 a.m. It wound up being a fairly miserable morning, both weather wise and fishing wise. I caught one fish, a 4 1/2 pounder in the morning. That was the only fish caught between us before we headed in early for lunch. After drying out and warming up over lunch, we headed back out. I wound up catching 3 more fish over the next few hours, all pretty decent between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 pounds. The entire day we fished red/crawdad 1/2 oz. Rattlr's and ripping it through the grass in shallow water. We headed late for what I knew would be the last spot to fish for the day, a channel with homes and boat docks along one side. I made a silent prayer looking skyward as we headed towards this spot, that the Good Lord would let me catch one more fish, and if it was possible a "big-un". After 45 minutes or so, I cast to a spot along the shore where a concrete drainage ramp came down from the property and into the lake. The lure came to a stop, and I set the hook. When the fish surfaced, I could see what looked like a pretty big head on it. After lipping it into the boat, I had bagged a 7 pounder, and over the 24" slot limit on Fork. After snapping a few photos, we turned her loose to be caught another day. I wound up catching a 5 fish limit of approx. 20 pounds including the 7 pounder. Not a bad day weight wise on what was a pretty crappy day of cold and wet weather in mid December in Texas. John wound up getting shut out for the day, but I feel certain he was glad I caught five and him zero, versus the other way around. John is great company, and a good Christian man. John will be fishing some tournaments again this year on the FLW Tour, and I wish him all the best and will pray for his success. John finished 7th at Guntersville last year in a FLW event. I've attached one photo of my "lunker". I hope to get back out with John this spring and see if I can top my personal best. What a great day I had at Lake Fork! Jim Whelan Hurst, Texas