Drove up to the mountains to hit my favorite lake at sunrise this morning. It was cold, foggy, and with the exception of the loon family that resides there, I had the lake to myself. The bite started off slow for the first half hour or so, with only a pickerel coming to the boat. I made my way to one of my go-to spots on this lake: a well defined point with a steep, weedy bottom and a small lily pad bed. I've pulled a lot of nice bass off this point in the past. I flung my wacky rigged Senko just on the edge of the lily pads and let it fall. As it slowly sank, the line suddenly came alive and took off. Quickly reeled up the slack and set the hook into something solid and strong. At first this fish gave up no ground and got itself wrapped around a rope tied to a floating dock. Luckily, I was able to free it and quickly brought it to the boat and landed it. I immediately knew this was the biggest bass of my life, not including all the monster bass I caught in Mexico. This fish went 6 pounds 3 ounces and 23.5". After photos and measurements, I released her and she took off strong as I sat there shaking and smiling.

 

I landed a few more decent fish on senkos and jig-and-craws before some dark clouds rolled in and I went in. Getting rained on in 50° weather with no rain gear wasn't something I wanted to do. This year has been the best fishing year of my life, and that certainly continued this morning. I'll be back at it at sunrise tomorrow!

Congrat man.

Awesome 

Doesn't get much better than that. Congrats.

Congrats on the nice fish, I know that shaking feeling just had it last week when I caught mine too??

WOW  ~  That's a TANK !

 

What a Great Bass & a Genuine Big Bass Smile you just can not get any other way.

Congrats on that Beautiful New Personal Best.

Good Luck tomorrow (bring the rain gear)

A-Jay

I bet your still shaking...congrats 

Wow, that's a long 6.3 lber! Citation length here in VA.

 

Congrats!

Beautiful fish! Congrats.

Congratulations!  That's a beauty!  

Slob!

Wow! Congrats. Beautiful dark water bass.

 

That is a HUGE northern bass, esp from N NY. 23plus inches too. That kind of frame, with a belly full would add another pound in weight. If she makes it through the winter you could just break your PB again.

 

Once upon a time, I caught a 21plus" bass on a crankbait off a small rubble hump in August. She was missing one eye. The next year, my fishing buddy caught her again, on a crankbait on the same little hump in August. She was a good half pound heavier. Don't ever believe that letting a fish go means you'll never see it again. I routinely make re-catches on my waters.

 

Again, congrats on the PB. That's an esp sweet one from my perspective, being a one-time NYer myself.

41 minutes ago, Paul Roberts said:

Wow! Congrats. Beautiful dark water bass.

 

That is a HUGE northern bass, esp from N NY. 23plus inches too. That kind of frame, with a belly full would add another pound in weight. If she makes it through the winter you could just break your PB again.

 

Once upon a time, I caught a 21plus" bass on a crankbait off a small rubble hump in August. She was missing one eye. The next year, my fishing buddy caught her again, on a crankbait on the same little hump in August. She was a good half pound heavier. Don't ever believe that letting a fish go means you'll never see it again. I routinely make re-catches on my waters.

 

Again, congrats on the PB. That's an esp sweet one from my perspective, being a one-time NYer myself.

 

I couldn't believe it when I put the fish down on the tape measure and it was over 23". It certainly wasn't a skinny fish by any means, but also wasn't overly fat. Just nice and healthy looking. Like you said though, with that length she could be 7+ if I can catch her again. You can believe I will be trying! 

That's a MONSTER Bass for the capital region of NY Grats!

Nice Bass, hopefully catch her again in pre spawn.