I was in the middle of a lake trying to get to the other side, away from people. As I get closer I make out other kayakers already there.   Opps.  I stop and look around. Where to go?  I look down and despite being in 30 feet of water I see grass.  I was wind-drifting over an island, maybe.    Hmm. Why not?  I fling out a weightless Tex rig worm.  As soon as the worm hits the water my line starts moving sideways.   Whoa!  A good bass dances across the surface.    Luckiest cast of my life.  I must have landed it in a fishes mouth. Haha. I see the other  kayakers head out deeper.    So funny.  
 

then it started distant thundering and lightning.  What a day.  I fished the rest of the day within eyeshot of my kayak launch point. 

Haha definitely! I was fishing last summer...threw my jig out (didn't land where I wanted it to), then my kayak drifted into some branches. It seemed like a good stopping point, so I took a little break and ate a sandwich.

 

I went to reel in my jig (didn't even know where it was anymore) and I had a fish on.

57 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

I was in the middle of a lake trying to get to the other side, away from people. As I get closer I make out other kayakers already there.   Opps.  I stop and look around. Where to go?  I look down and despite being in 30 feet of water I see grass.  I was wind-drifting over an island, maybe.    Hmm. Why not?  I fling out a weightless Tex rig worm.  As soon as the worm hits the water my line starts moving sideways.   Whoa!  A good bass dances across the surface.    Luckiest cast of my life.  I must have landed it in a fishes mouth. Haha. I see the other  kayakers head out deeper.    So funny.  
 

then it started distant thundering and lightning.  What a day.  I fished the rest of the day within eyeshot of my kayak launch point. 

I do stuff like this all the time. That's what makes fishing the best sport in the world.

I don't know how many nuts a blind squirrel finds, but I'm sure it is more than the number of fish I found last time I went fishing.

Oh yeah, especially when I'm just casting the bait to straighten out my line on the spool.

I feel more like the nut usually…

A blind squirrel never goes far from the oak tree.

Tom

 

This is my best one.  My wife and I were fishing.  He line was frayed so I re tied her lure.  (You can't tie a lure on without making a cast, I think it's a rule)  I cast her lipless crankbait out the back of the boat, totally away from the area we were fishing and caught a 4 pounder.  

 

2nd best one.  I saw what I thought was a log on my side imaging.  I thought "there may be a bass under that log".   I cast in the area of the log.  The log was a 50+ pound catfish that I was finally able to land over 30 minutes later.  Some people get aggravated if they catch another species when bass fishing.  I'll take a 50 pound anything on bass tackle.  

It has been a strange year. Most things that worked in years past is not working. But I keep doing some of those things because I know at some point, it'll work. For instance, I keep trying the frog, though I have yet to catch one on the frog at the main place I fish. But I've tried to be flexible. I've caught several on the Zoom Speedworm lately. Lost a big one yesterday that bit this bait. After 3+ hours I had 3 fish to show. Then I just decided to sling a lipless crank all over a huge grassy flat. Caught 4 more that salvaged the day.

 

But, as you said, it was casting blindly except I knew it was the right depth and grassy. Honestly, I could have limited myself to half the reservoir and caught all these fish.

3 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

Oh yeah, especially when I'm just casting the bait to straighten out my line on the spool.

I get some of my best bites while picking out backlashes.

I once set the hook on a fish and missed. The worm went over the boat and landed about 20 feet on the other side. I reeled up the slack and a fish had picked it up already. Got that one.?

As fisherman, you ever feel like a blind squirrel that finds a nut?

 

Some days that's all I got!

Yes, I'm thinking of bringing a cup full of pencils out on the water...

Not quite in the same vein as these stories, but one time my dad hooked a landlocked salmon and after 10 seconds or so the line went limp and he thought he lost it. Next thing we know a salmon jumped and landed right in the boat. It was still hooked, so apparently it swam directly at us faster than my dad could reel, leading him to believe he lost it. Nobody ever believes him when he tells the story, but I witnessed it. When we went into camp for lunch we told people the fishing was so good that they were jumping into the boat. 

No. But it ticks me off when I find a spot that should be holding bass and there's nothing on my electronics and still nothing when I fish it anyway.

On 5/30/2022 at 11:37 AM, JbroBass said:

Not quite in the same vein as these stories, but one time my dad hooked a landlocked salmon and after 10 seconds or so the line went limp and he thought he lost it. Next thing we know a salmon jumped and landed right in the boat. It was still hooked, so apparently it swam directly at us faster than my dad could reel, leading him to believe he lost it. Nobody ever believes him when he tells the story, but I witnessed it. When we went into camp for lunch we told people the fishing was so good that they were jumping into the boat. 

If you ever gigged frogs at night with a spotlight, this story is very believable.

Shine a spotlight over bluegill beds and they jump straight into the boat, crazy.

3 hours ago, Bird said:

If you ever gigged frogs at night with a spotlight, this story is very believable.

Shine a spotlight over bluegill beds and they jump straight into the boat, crazy.

Ha!! I didn’t think anyone would believe it but I bet you will. years ago we were gigging frogs in an inflatable kayak and tiny largemouth kept jumping into the kayak. Like over a dozen of them! My buddies wife was in the kayak with me and screaming like crazy, it was hilarious. Even everyone on the bank was laughing at us