Toman Caviar

[3dkicker]

Went fishing last weekend with my buddy Tony. He's got an upcoming PVA event on the river and the last time we pre-fished the event together he took first place, won a boat, and qualified for the Federation Championship. Not that I'm saying that he won it because of me but I like the connection .

So we get out on the water and he wants to fish one of the VA creeks to see what he can put together. We purposely time it so we have identical tides as he'll have for the event. We hit our first spot and skunk. Run to the next one and he catches a nice 16" bass. Not bad but we need more numbers and bigger fish. Head to another location and bingo!! he hits a nice fish on one of my custom Punishers.



We fish along the area but no more keepers. Not good. We pull into an area that typically holds good bass and numbers but we don't catch anything. Not good. I switch over to a Horny Toad and a snakehead blows up on the bait. It's in the 6-7lb range and is full of eggs (hence Toman Caviar). Toman, I learn later, is another name for snakehead. It goes in the livewell and will be dinner that evening. I continue with the topwater and catch my first and second bass of the year on topwater. Tony spies another toman and hooks up with a 5-6lb fish and more food for dinner!!!

We fish another area with limited success and really need to figure things out. We had passed a good sized grassbed in the creek and figured if the bass weren't shallow then maybe they've transitioned out to the main channel and are hanging around the grass beds. Off we go!!

We hit the grass bed and sure enough there are numbers of fish and quality too. We don't hook up on all the bites but we find what he's looking for to win a little $$$. We'll see if it holds up this weekend.



On the way home I stop with the two toman at a restuarant that I've eaten in before and work a deal with the owner. He fillets one fish and I give him the other. Works for me. No mess to clean up or skeletons in my compost to attract the critters. We get into a conversation about ways to cook the fish which gives me a couple ideas and he offers that if I bring him more fish he'll cook them for me next time. Bonus!!! General Tso's Toman is an actual way he cooks the fish. Sounds pretty good to me.....can't wait to catch a couple more!!!