Captain Ahab
Well-known member
We left early this morning in search of the wily and reclusive Large Mouth bass. First stop was Lake Towhee (Bucks Co., PA) where we arrived with the morning sun just peeking over the edge of the world. It was really quiet for this lake, even the ducks and geese appeared to be still sleeping.
We slowly stalked the edge of this very weed filled pond, hoping to catch a few bass feeding in the shallow water. As the sun rose and the light mist cleared we worked soft plastics, scum frogs and a buzz bait hoping to draw a strike - nothing! Apparently the fish had a rough weekend and were sleeping.
I noticed a fish crashing the shallows and made my way over the scummy dam to cast at it. Just as I got into position I hear Jake yell - " I got one, Dave." I yelled back - "is it a big one?" He replies, "I cannot tell, it feels heavy!" Suddenly he exclaims, "****, it is a snapper." I make my way back to where he is fishing just as he pulls a medium sized snapping turtle out of the weeds. The turtle hit a top water weedless frog and had the hooks stuck in the beak. We manage to get the hooks out after some manipulation (the turtle was really pissed and kept snapping at us). This was made even stranger because the day before, while fishing a different pond, Andrew hooked a snapper on a 5" Yum Dinger.
I hate hurting these turtles and consider catching them real bad mojo, but in both instances we were able to release the turtles unharmed. I never caught one on artificial bait before and we manage to hook two in two days?
Well it might have been bad mojo for Jake, but my assistance in releasing the turtle unharmed was good mojo for me! We left Towhee and went to the "Quakertown Pond (Montgomery Co., PA) where Jake quickly caught a smaller bass. I made my way to a spot where I have had great luck and cast out to a submerged weed bed. On the second cast, my line shot out and I set the hook, after one hard shake, the lure (5" Greem Pumpkin Yum Dinger) popped free. I let the bait sit and the bass returned immediately, picking it up and running before I reared back and got a solid hook set.
I could feel that this was a nice fish and it ran, pulling drag. It headed way to my right side towards a large bed of lily pads but I managed to turn the fish and get it into open water. Then, as I reeled the fish towards me it shot into some pads right in front of me. By this time I had jumped down the slight hill (about three feet) and was standing with my feet partly in the lake. The line wrapped around the pads and I opened the bail hoping the fish would swim free. The fish pulled a little line but it was stuck. As I was using 8 lb test, I was now really concerned that the line would break if I tried to horse the fish in. By this time, Jake was standing on the shoreline behind me offering suggestions and exclaiming, "wow, that is a big fish!"
I started to wade in towards the snagged line, and then remembered that my cell phone was in my pocket, holding the rod high, I grabbed the phone and yelled at Jake to catch it and not let it fall into the lake. Jake snagged the tossed phone and I waded into the lake up to my chest and grabbed the fish. Jake took photos of me in the water wading that I will post later.
It was well worth getting wet:
4 lb 14 oz of fat bass!
We slowly stalked the edge of this very weed filled pond, hoping to catch a few bass feeding in the shallow water. As the sun rose and the light mist cleared we worked soft plastics, scum frogs and a buzz bait hoping to draw a strike - nothing! Apparently the fish had a rough weekend and were sleeping.
I noticed a fish crashing the shallows and made my way over the scummy dam to cast at it. Just as I got into position I hear Jake yell - " I got one, Dave." I yelled back - "is it a big one?" He replies, "I cannot tell, it feels heavy!" Suddenly he exclaims, "****, it is a snapper." I make my way back to where he is fishing just as he pulls a medium sized snapping turtle out of the weeds. The turtle hit a top water weedless frog and had the hooks stuck in the beak. We manage to get the hooks out after some manipulation (the turtle was really pissed and kept snapping at us). This was made even stranger because the day before, while fishing a different pond, Andrew hooked a snapper on a 5" Yum Dinger.
I hate hurting these turtles and consider catching them real bad mojo, but in both instances we were able to release the turtles unharmed. I never caught one on artificial bait before and we manage to hook two in two days?
Well it might have been bad mojo for Jake, but my assistance in releasing the turtle unharmed was good mojo for me! We left Towhee and went to the "Quakertown Pond (Montgomery Co., PA) where Jake quickly caught a smaller bass. I made my way to a spot where I have had great luck and cast out to a submerged weed bed. On the second cast, my line shot out and I set the hook, after one hard shake, the lure (5" Greem Pumpkin Yum Dinger) popped free. I let the bait sit and the bass returned immediately, picking it up and running before I reared back and got a solid hook set.
I could feel that this was a nice fish and it ran, pulling drag. It headed way to my right side towards a large bed of lily pads but I managed to turn the fish and get it into open water. Then, as I reeled the fish towards me it shot into some pads right in front of me. By this time I had jumped down the slight hill (about three feet) and was standing with my feet partly in the lake. The line wrapped around the pads and I opened the bail hoping the fish would swim free. The fish pulled a little line but it was stuck. As I was using 8 lb test, I was now really concerned that the line would break if I tried to horse the fish in. By this time, Jake was standing on the shoreline behind me offering suggestions and exclaiming, "wow, that is a big fish!"
I started to wade in towards the snagged line, and then remembered that my cell phone was in my pocket, holding the rod high, I grabbed the phone and yelled at Jake to catch it and not let it fall into the lake. Jake snagged the tossed phone and I waded into the lake up to my chest and grabbed the fish. Jake took photos of me in the water wading that I will post later.
It was well worth getting wet:
4 lb 14 oz of fat bass!
