# Wasn’t Even Planning to Fish – 5/22/09



## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

So, the weather is still pretty nasty and as such, I figured I’d skip fishing altogether and instead go cast net a few bream to put in my stocked pond. : The bass in there have been doing pretty well, but I wouldn’t mind them getting even fatter.  However, when I arrived at a spot where bream usually school in the dozens, not one could be found. Even chumming with bread didn’t draw them out. [smiley=thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif] I suspect that the wind, waves and nearly submerged dock had something to do with their disappearance. Perhaps another time… [smiley=shucks.gif]

I next ran some errands and stopped by Lowes and Home Depot for some chore supplies. However, when I left the store I discovered that it had stopped raining. [smiley=engel017.gif] Hmmm…I was torn between heading home to work on the landscape lights or making a few casts somewhere. [smiley=1-mmm.gif] Fishing won out, and I headed to a little bass hole that I hadn’t visited in a month or more.

The nice thing about this spot is that it’s really down in a hole, so it affords great wind protection. The downside is that you have to balance on a very steep embankment and there isn’t much room to make a backcast, so fly fishing is out of the question. With the ground being as wet as it is, I just about slid into the water three or four times. [smiley=tongue.gif] Another thing I like about this pond is that it’s heavily choked with lily pads, which lends itself well to my favorite style of bass fishing. [smiley=thumbsup3.gif] More than anything else, I enjoy chucking a frog or similar lure out onto the pads and just working it across the open spaces. I laugh every time a blowup occurs! [smiley=popcorn2.gif] Even though I lose more fish in the pads than I catch, the thrill factor makes it well worth it.

So after catching a couple of small bass in the pads, and losing a few as well, I tore the nose out of the lure I was using. : As I bent down to pull another out of my tackle bag, I noticed a red plastic worm lying in the grass right by my feet. Now I haven’t thrown a worm for bass since I was a kid, but for some reason that I still don’t really understand, I decided to tear off the ruined head of this discarded worm and put it on my hook. :-/ Why I would do such a thing is beyond me… :-?

















After climbing back down the slope from re-rigging, I made a cast with this secondhand worm into the same area I’d been throwing the good stuff. Wham!  From out of nowhere a decent bass erupts from the pads and engulfs the worm! Somehow I managed to not fall down and kept the fish from getting hung up in the weeds… [smiley=toast.gif]









Ok, so I’m thinking that must have been a fluke, coincidence or just plain luck, but after releasing the bass I see that the worm is still useable. I rig it back up and climb back down the bank.  My next cast plops in very close to the last one. Boom! [smiley=eek.gif] This blow-up made the last strike seem like a ripple and I’m thinking “No F-ing Way!” [smiley=woot.gif] I almost lost her to the pads, but managed to horse her up onto the bank while she was still very green. Needless to say, my thumb took some punishment when I grabbed her, but it was worth it! [smiley=supercool.gif]

















I think you can see I was a little shocked by how well that worm performed. ;D Although it was in pretty bad shape after that big bass, I did get one more strike out of it. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

I guess I’ll never really know what made me pickup and use that worm at that particular time. [smiley=hmmm.gif] I’d like to think it was angler’s instinct and experience somehow allowing me to recognize what the fish wanted. Realistically though, I suppose it was more likely that I realized I wasn’t doing so well and was just hoping that the guy who’d been there before me knew more than I did. :-[ I’d have to say he did indeed! [smiley=dankk2.gif]


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## backwaterbandits (Dec 15, 2006)

Cool story, nice pics and great fish!
(I'd get some more of those worns)
 Dave


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## tom_in_orl (Dec 9, 2006)

Great story and nice fish.


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## mark_gardner (Mar 18, 2009)

thats a nice bass man [smiley=1-thumbsup3.gif] definitely one of your nicer ones as of lately if i'm not mistaken [smiley=1-mmm.gif]. looks like if i'm doing any fishing at all this weekend then its definitely gonna be for bass


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## Green_Hornet (Nov 1, 2008)

Good catches! You have to keep throwing different things at them to keep them interested I guess. They seem to have a pretty good memory if you use the same thing all the time.


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## phishphood (Dec 15, 2006)

Super sweet bass Jeff. I just so happen to have a bag of those very worms if you need me to meet you there. I'd be happy to share. ;D


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

I'm pretty sure that worm is a Culprit RedShad. It is by far the best worm for bass fishing. Anything from Culprit works great, but the RedShad is definitely the ticket for dark water, or night time bass fishing. I caught my biggest bass ever on one. The Red Shad is a staple in my freshwater tackle box. Along with some Tequila Culprit worms, and some Okee Gold Culprit worms. Tequila for nice crystal clear water.


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## mark_gardner (Mar 18, 2009)

> I'm pretty sure that worm is a Culprit RedShad. It is by far the best worm for bass fishing. Anything from Culprit works great, but the RedShad is definitely the ticket for dark water, or night time bass fishing. I caught my biggest bass ever on one. The Red Shad is a staple in my freshwater tackle box. Along with some Tequila Culprit worms, and some Okee Gold Culprit worms. Tequila for nice crystal clear water.


dont forget about june bug, "anybody" who is "anyone" has some june bug in their box, oddly enough though some of my biggest bass (8-9lbs) have been caught on some really odd colors like mustard with brown spots [smiley=paranoid.gif]


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

> > I'm pretty sure that worm is a Culprit RedShad. It is by far the best worm for bass fishing. Anything from Culprit works great, but the RedShad is definitely the ticket for dark water, or night time bass fishing. I caught my biggest bass ever on one. The Red Shad is a staple in my freshwater tackle box. Along with some Tequila Culprit worms, and some Okee Gold Culprit worms. Tequila for nice crystal clear water.
> 
> 
> dont forget about june bug, "anybody" who is "anyone" has some june bug in their box, oddly enough though some of my biggest bass (8-9lbs) have been caught on some really odd colors like mustard with brown spots [smiley=paranoid.gif]



Junebug does work good too. I had some great luck with this one pack of "Tomato" from Culprit. But it was only about half of the pack. Some of them had chartreuse tails, where others had red tails. The ones with the chartreuse tail was nonstop action. Whereas the ones with the red tails didn't get any strikes at all. All of this was in the same body of water, on different days. I have yet been able to find a pack of "Tomato" with chartreuse tails. But my days of bass fishing are in the past. I only fish for bass when I have an itch and no way to get on the water.


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

Thanks for all the responses and great information guys!  We took my friend's johnboat back to that spot today for a few hours. Saw a few 4lb plus fish, but they refused to eat. I think I caught around 10, my friend caught 3, all pretty small. This was the best fish of the morning...











> Super sweet bass Jeff. I just so happen to have a bag of those very worms if you need me to meet you there. I'd be happy to share. ;D


Yeah Jason, we still need to fish sometime, don't we?


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

> Thanks for all the responses and great information guys!   We took my friend's johnboat back to that spot today for a few hours. Saw a few 4lb plus fish, but they refused to eat. I think I caught around 10, my friend caught 3, all pretty small. This was the best fish of the morning...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The colors on those bass look nice!


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

> Oh, I meant to respond to this before but forgot. Why not buy a pack of tomato and a pack of chartreuse, snip the tails off of them all and then use a lighter to melt the cut ends and join the chartreuse tails to the tomato bodies?
> 
> I repair a lot of my soft plastics that are hard to find by melting/joining parts. Works great!


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## phishphood (Dec 15, 2006)

I actually got to see my boat today and even put line on a new reel. That's about as close to fishin' as I've gotten lately.


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

> I actually got to see my boat today and even put line on a new reel. That's about as close to fishin' as I've gotten lately.


What's going on with your boat? :-?


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## phishphood (Dec 15, 2006)

> > I actually got to see my boat today and even put line on a new reel. That's about as close to fishin' as I've gotten lately.
> 
> 
> What's going on with your boat?  :-?


Suffering from severe dehydration. Needs water badly. ;D


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