This is the story of ol' Babe....

[BoyoBoyle]

Back in high school, we had this party spot back in the woods where we'd have fires and parties almost every week. But this wasn't new for the town, actually our big brothers used to have parties at the same location... actually out parents used to party back there. So it has a pretty well-known reputation. This party spot resides about half a miles walk back in the woods in an area called Blooming Valley... or as the party goers called it... BV.

Its funny, but what most people don't know about BV is that only about 30 feet past the fire-pit behind some trees....is a lake... a pretty big one too, with plenty of fallen trees, wildlife, and even a huge swampy inlet we call "The Amazon". And to top it off, the lake can't be seen from any road or structure, and if you wanna take a boat out on it, you had to carry it back.

So as teenagers we spent a lot of time back there, mostly drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. We brought a Jon boat and oars back and we started going out on it because, well, it beat standing, and it added to the scenery. Only problem was after a while our parents got a little suspicious about why we kept sneaking back to the woods, so we started bringing fishing poles as an alibi. None of us really fished, but it gave us something to do while we drank beer and smoked.

Well what once was fishing while drinking beer quickly turned into drinking beer while fishing. We got hooked pretty quick. We started by throwing rooster tails and catching tiny crappies by the dozen and every once in a while a bass or bullhead. But then one day while i was out there all along tossing a rooster tail i got a big hit. To tell you the truth, from this day, i still don't know what the hell took my line, but it started pulling the boat. I never caught a glimpse of the fish but it wrapped around a log and snapped my line. This was right before my buddy came back, and i tried telling him the story but he gave that "Yea, suuure" look. Well the same happened to another kid a few weeks later... at the same spot.

As time went on we got more and more into bass fishing and pretty soon we were pulling out some nice 2-4 pounders almost daily. We felt like we had this fishing down. Pretty soon we completely stopped drinking beer and were just straight fishing.

Now back at this lake along the west side, there's tons of structure and random deep spots. We call this section of the lake Bass Row, because that's where all the big bass action is at. But we all believe there's one hog in there that rules the row. It's name is Babe Van Winkleman, and this fish means business. The name comes from a outdoorsman we know very little about but we thought it had a nice jingle and we added in the Van so the initals started with BV. At least once every four or five times we go out... at least one person has their run-in with ol babe. The fish does all the moves, swims under and around logs, underneath boats, shakes and slacks line, and can just snap line with brute force. This fish simply puts us in our place. Its track record of baits taken is somewhat impressive and not exagerrated...

3 rainbow trout rooster tails.
2 t-rigged 5/0 hook and worms
1 t-rigged lizard
1 tube rig

I'm 22 now and have a few solid years of bass fishing under my belt. I still fish with the same friends at the same lake. But I've gotten into bass fishing a lot more than they have, they're still pretty casual about it, while im turning into a fanatic.

This year, I pulled out the current record for the lake weighing in at 5lb 6 oz. My personal best. I was feeling on top of the BV fishing world. I was nailing big fish every time out and was feeling pretty confident. But I quickly forgotten and lost respect for the legend of the lake, until about a week ago.

It was pretty slow day and I was throwing my go-to rig for the lake, a 10-inch t-rigged watermelon worm, when I finally got a solid hit and even more solid hookset. I looked at my buddy and said kinda jokingly "Finally got into a big one!".... which was followed up a few seconds later with "Oh boy...." The fish gave one solid pull, then gunned for the boat. I reeled as fast as i could to keep the line tight... the one thing i did right. Now the fish was near the boat going back and forth in front and trying to go down underneath the boat. This thing was big... i mean... i remember the fight with the 5 pounder, and it was a good one, but this fish was putting up a lot more, I was thinking six to seven pounds respectively. Then came trouble... the fish started moving more under the boat and towards the rear where i was sitting. Then, with one big burst the fish took off near the back of the boat.... right for the trolling motor. Pretty soon my line was dead tight, and a second later it went loose. Babe Van Winkleman got away. The worst part was the fish never even came close to surfacing so i never got a good look at it... I was devasted to say the least. That night, I couldn't focus on my reading, and took nearly an hour to fall asleep.

Two days ago I went back to fish the lake to help get my mind off ol Babe.... I didn't catch a single fish. Skunked. First time thats happened at that lake in over 4 years.

A curse? of the Babe? I sure hope not. Hopefully just a warning.

But ones thing's for sure... I'll be back... and one day, I'l get another crack at ol' B.V Winkleman.

The End.