The parents were down over the weekend for my daughter's third birthday party can't believe she is three already.  As usual Dad and I headed down to the pond for some fishing Sunday afternoon.  Saturday evening we went down for a few minutes and I pulled in two small ones.  But, Sunday afternoon we were going to settle in for some serious fishing.  I was after the bigger ones that were in there.  Figured with all the heat recently they were deep and that's where I was heading.

First 20 minutes I got two strikes on deep cranks that I missed.  After 20 more minutes nothing happened and I switched over to some soft plastic swimbaits nothing.  Then, tried some jigs still nothing.  Spinners nada.  Jerk baits zilch.  Worms zero.  After about an hour and a half of not even a single strike, I went to one of my favs and sure fire baits the rattle trap - specifically, a 1/2 oz baby bass pattern that will always get strikes for me.

Started out with a couple of medium cats using my 7 ft rod to the middle of the pond.  Started ratcheting it up and casting to the other side and pulling it across letting it bounce around off the bottom.  Frustration was starting to set in a little, so just started slinging it to the upper end.  

On the second next zip code cast, I felt a slight tick.  Was that a strike?  No sooner had that thought left, then boom!  The line straightens, the rod bends and is turning in the direction away from me on the other end of the pond back to some brush.  I set the hook and start reeling.

She feels good and putting up a good fight.  I have on 14lb test and a fairly stiff rod but try to be a little gentle.  She jumps once but can't shake the hook.  Jumps again, this time a good foot out of the water and doesn't shake the lure.  She looks to be a solid three pounds.  After some more fighting she gives up and I am cranking on that reel pulling her across the pond at this point.  

As she gets closer I can see that its definitely one of the larger ones in the pond.  Thinking that my day was a success at this point, I keep reeling and lift her out of the water.  Just as she clears the water, she gives one last final wiggle and throws the hook.  Falls back into the pond lays there for about a second then takes off.

Was tough to watch her swim away.

After that, I can't begin to imagine what it feels like to be in a big tournament.  Have the fish on the line that will win it all, only to watch it swim away when it's within easy reach..

That's the very reason I invested in a net! BASS you cannot use nets, but FLW you can (IF i'm correct).

I haven't lost a single fish yet if it's been within 10ft of me.