IcatchDinks

I've only ever gut hooked one fish, and it wasn't even me, it was my wife. In her case it was all due to reaction time. She was so determined to make sure the fish had the worm in it's mouth that it had already gotten it down its gullet by the time she set the hook. I just hope we didn't kill him.

I should have realized the snapper would go after the lure. But for some reason I assumed he would only be interested in live bait. Speaking of, that's the only thing I could get the bass to bite last night. Ned rigs, senkos, jigs, spinners, cranks: all came up empty. But I caught four on the old worm and bobber set up. Sometimes the classics are the way to go.

That's how it is in Michigan, too. I love seeing new records set. Even if it's in another state. It means that the big ones are still out there, growing and thriving and just waiting to be caught.

This happened a few weeks ago, but it was interesting, and I like telling stories, so I'm gonna tell it anyway. Memorial Day. We had a family BBQ later that evening, but I decided to go fishing in the afternoon, beforehand. Tried a couple small ponds around town, with no luck. There's this little abandoned pond behind the Kohl's that I've seen some people fishing before and figured I try. Caught a ton, and I mean a TON, of large pumpkin seed. Average size for them was seven inches, biggest was over 9. Caught three or four at 8. Lots of fun. But I like bass. So I switched ponds again. Caught two small bass on a Texas rigged senko, and decided to try my luck with top water. (whopper plopper to be exact.) Nothing doing. I'm fishing, nothing striking. But it's a nice day, and I'm enjoying it, so what the heck. I keep fishing it. I notice a smallish snapping turtle at the water's edge, two or three feet in front of me. He eyes me up. I eye him up, we decide we're okay hanging out together, and I keep fishing, and he keeps doing whatever turtles do. Fifteen minutes later, I've decided it's time to head home. One more cast. I throw out the plopper, real it back in, nothing all the way back to the shore. I'm about to lift it up out of the water when that old snapper pokes his head out of the water right next to it, eyes it up for a split second, and bites. And I don't have my pliers. So I drag the old boy onto the shore, hold him in place with my foot, and carefully begin to extricate my lure from his very powerful, very angry mouth. He's mad. I'm mad. He's hissing. I'm cursing. How do I extricate my hook, you ask? You and me both. Normally, I would just cut him loose and be done with it. But he had the treble hook caught in both the top and bottom of his mouth. I felt like I would be seriously harming him if I let him go like that, and besides- I wanted my lure back. It's really tough, leathery skin in there. Kinda like hooking your jeans or something. And all I had at my disposal was the contents of my tackle bag. And it had a surprising lack of actual tools. I tried using my car keys to pry the hook out of his mouth. And was partially successful, getting the hook out of the top of his mouth But that was working way too close to those jaws for my comfort. And he was activley trying to take off my fingers. I finally found my fish stringer. The kind you hook through the gill flaps and let them swim in the water until you're ready to bring them home. I bent the wire of one of the stringer hooks out straight and used that to fish the other treble hook out of the bottom of his mouth. Finally he was free. And I was late for the BBQ. But it was a fun story to share, and I took a couple pictures.

Only caught a couple of little guys. After hours of fishing, I switched to a Rebel floating frog crank, and finally found some action. Both of these guys chased it up into 3 or 4 inches of water and would only bite it when I stopped reeling. Saved me from getting skunked.

I've had rock bass. Not bad. Very similar to other sunfish. I've heard you do wanna watch for parasites, but I've never seen any yet.

Went fishing today. Didn't drink enough water like an idiot. Got some bad heat sickness. But the wife caught a nice little smallie. I caught nothing, other than a really little small mouth that wrapped me around some brush near the bank and freed himself. So, yeah. I've had better days fishing. ? Drink water, folks.

I think there's alot to fishing for me. I love it. It helps calm me down, it gets me away from everything man-made and out into the beauty of creation. I'm generally a really impatient person, but not when it comes to fishing. I'll spend hours trying to get a bite, trying different lures, presentations, angles, bodies of water. Most of all, it affords a place to be alone with my thoughts.

Richard Gene The Fishing Machine knows best.

I just realized I uploaded the wrong photo. That one was later in September. Weighed closer to 1.5 lbs.

This thread is not good for me. Jealousy has turned me pea green with envy. I would love to get out on the great lakes someday. But without a boat and living almost in the dead center of Michigan, that makes it kinda hard. So I fish my local rivers (mostly the Chippewa) for smallies. My PB is the 2lber in my profile pic. I caught him in early September last year.

I woulda just said go to Amazon.com, search for fluorocarbon and sort by price from lowest to highest. But, this whole venture smells fishy to me.

Welcome!

I love me some smallies. Beautiful fish.

Literally what I thought when I read the first line. But I will definitely agree with the sentiment that spinning reels are the way to go... Maybe because I don't yet own a functional BC.

Crazy.

Michigan's state record claims to be 2lbs 2.4oz. I must admit, I have my doubts...

Caught the biggest pumpkin seed I've ever seen. I didn't know they got this big. He weighed about half a pound.

Was just about to say something similar.

That's how I always do it...

I can't lie. I love the Whopper Plopper. As far as the worm, I've got more fish on worms than all my other baits combined. I can't imagine abandoning it. I can never get anything to hit my spinners. Ever. I know I must be doing something wrong, but when all my other baits work for me, it seems like a small problem that I have yet to remedy.

? Seriously though, that's probably it. I like being alone when I'm fishing and strangers talking to me disrupts that.

Define world record. Biggest bass ever caught? (That we know of) Yes. Biggest bass ever caught within the rules of sport fishing (as laid out by the universally recognized IGFA) and in compliance with state laws? No. But, it counts for me, and I don't need any official stamp next to it. Define world record. Biggest bass ever caught? (That we know of) Yes. Biggest bass ever caught within the rules of sport fishing (as laid out by the universally recognized IGFA) and in compliance with state laws? No. But, it counts for me, and I don't need any official stamp next to it.

The thing that gets me the most annoyed is when people without a clue about fishing feel the need to stop and talk to me about fishing. If someone is genuinely interested in fishing, or is a fisherman/woman themselves, I love to chat with them. But sometimes people just feel the need to talk to you if you have a line in the water. Deep down I know they're just trying to be nice and friendly, and I always try to be polite and kind in return. But for whatever reason I get really irritated at such a small thing. The part that bugs me the most is that I don't know why I hate it. ?

Definitely the wildest fishing story I've ever heard. ?