spooksandflukes

Once we were fishing this little lake and there was maybe 6 or 8 other people fishing nearby. Everyone was mostly targeting catfish. There was this one guy maybe 100 yds from us fishing off this long point and suddenly he jumps up and runs down the bank and grabs his rod and proceeds to give it the ultimate hookset. Well, he hooks up and we're all watching to see what it looks like. Meanwhile he's still fighting this fish like a madman. It made me tired just watching. He was really into it, I guess. A few mins later I see this huge tail break the surface. Its a channel cat maybe 20-25lb range and he is giving it heck trying to get it on the bank. Then I see him reach and grab his line and start pulling and I'm thinking to myself this is going to end badly. Then the line snaps and the guy throws his rod down and start screaming. Now It has happened to everybody at one time or another, but this guy runs down about waist deep in the water, catches and starts pulling in his line and walking out deeper in the water till he's almost chest deep. We are all rolling laughing at this sight then he dunks his head underwater and is wrestling around with this fish. I'm thinking that I would have just let it go and walk away with my dignity. When he comes back up he staggers toward the shoreline and just when I think he is about to fall down at the waters edge he heaves this big old fish up to the bank. Everyone fishing the area just breaks out yelling and clapping. Never seen anything like that, heck I never heard of anything like that.

Well there is too many dumb things to list here, but a few come to mind. When I was maybe 16 or 17 I was fishing this small mountain river. Its loaded with little redeyes and I had hiked about 3/4 mi to get there and on the first cast my spinner caught a branch of an overhanging hemlock tree. In the process of trying to free my bait I gave it a super yank and it came flying straight at me and stuck two of the trebles right under my right eye. Anyway, I couldn't see to remove it so I had to hike all the way back out to my car so I could use the side mirror to remove the hooks. Another time I was fishing on my friend's boat. It was early springtime and the fish were really biting good. My friend hooks up and starts fighting with a foul hooked 3lb bass and starts yelling for the net. I reel in several ft of line on my new quantum baitcaster combo and set it on the rear deck floor of the boat. While netting the fish I notice something in the net besides the fish and realize that thing looks a lot like my cell phone. In my rush I had brushed the net across my pocket catching the belt clip and pulling my phone out. I untangle the fish and hand it over and retrieve my phone pull battery out really quick and put it in my gear bag. Then I hear a dragging sound then thump and a splash. I turned around and my rod was no longer on the deck. The water was still in the mid 50s so the last I saw of that rig was it sinking to the bottom of lake Hartwell. Luckily my phone was alright after drying out, but never saw my rod again.

This is what always works for me. Strike King burner spinnerbait in sexy shad then 3" Chug bug then Rapala flat rap in chrome/blue then 1 oz Buckeye football head mop jig if that doesnt work my all-time favorite, 4" Yamamoto grub dark color on 1/8 oz texas rig, or you can start with that rig first ;D

What is a donkey rig??

Thanks for the welcomes...I live on the Anderson Co. side of Liberty. It is only about ten mins from my driveway to the Twin Lakes ramp. I havent fished at all this week work getting busy and its too dang hot. You get a few hours at daybreak and then fish head off back to structure. Ive found a lot of fish hanging out around massive bait in the channel bends last week but nothing was getting them up till I broke out the big spoon. Hopefully the weather will cool down some at least to a balmy 90 degrees or so.

My name is Dan and I am from Upstate SC, Clemson area. My home lakes are Hartwell, Keowee, and Jocassee. Also I fish central PA several times a year for smallmouth bass. I primarilly fish hartwell for largemouth and my new addiction Striped bass. I have been bass fishing for about ten yrs and I learn something new almost every time I go out. I usually spend 2 days a week fishing. Work is slow so it beats sitting around watching tv. I would like to see if there are other anglers out there from this area to swap tips and ideas.

In my experience when you get those little taps it may be smaller bass or a perch. The blue gill feel like a little machine gun. If they keep it up and I know there are bass in the area I will swith to a blue gill color jig and pump and glide it a little further out from the bank. I know this sounds bad but I see so many fisherman fishing plastics around chunk rock. When the bait falls in between larger rocks you feel a bump or series of bumps then they set the heck out of the hook. This usually ends badly either hung up or cutting the line outright. Then they swear the fish cut them off. Keep the line fairly tight and keep it still for a moment if you feel a bite or just weight on the line swing it. One more thing try to use the most sensitive rod possible it makes a world of difference.