1/27/10 Trip

[Bubba_Bruiser]

Got out yesterday for the first time this year on Lake Okhissa in south MS. Me and my buddy Tommy ended up with 6, me 5, him 1 for 10 hours worth of fishing. Needless to say it was a tough day. We hit the water about 6:30and had ESE wind most of the day and 51-54° water temp, and about 6-8' of clarity. But there was a highlight, I did manage a fish over 6. I will say that with confidence, because I think if I said 7, I would be called a liar, and we don't want that now do we.


I started out the day with a 3/8 buckeye shakey head with a green pumpkin straight tail worm. I got a bump right off the bat, but swung and a miss. Then my buddy hooked up on a 16" on a watermelon Zoom mag trick worm. Skunked washed off of him. We fished for another hour and I got another bump, but strike 2. I had a rod rigged with 3/8 War Eagle double willow (gold & chrome), white/chart spinner. I was throwing the spinner and letting it touch bottom and pumping the rod to get the blades turning and then slow rolling it. About the third cast, bang, 17" in the livewell. Another couple of cast, bang 14". A few later, bang 16". So I decided I would re-tie. A couple of cast later, I snag a brush top and the line breaks. I caught the bait and lost it again trying to bring it to the boat. Note to self, next time try to snag with a treble hook. Bye-bye $5.79 and my fish catchin' machine. We left that spot and went to another cove on the north bank. I got 2 hits dead stickin' a Senko, but no deals sealed. I did find that the Seaguar #20 Carbon Pro is some bad mamma jamma line. I got hung on the hook set and snapped the gammy 5/0 hook trying to break off since we were tied up. We fished on for a while with nothing. Then we moved back on the south shore in 6-10' of water. I tied on another War Eagle with double gold willows with a white/gold skirt. I threw up on a flat and let it touch down. Bam, stuck like chuck, I thought I was hung, but then I saw the white flash, and I was hollering reverse. I reckon I thought I had a marlin and we needed to chase it, but I knew my buddy was on the trolling motor and felt the boat going forward. I finally got the fish turned and had her coming my way. I saw another fish butting heads with her over the bait and it swung away about 10' from the boat. I thought this is too easy. She must have thought the same thing because when she saw the boat, she turned and peeled out some drag. All I could think was one hook. She made about 3 more hard turns right at the boat, but I wasn't horsing her because were out of the timber. She finally came up and I got some lip. Did my whew and then concluded with the windmill on the back deck holding the fish between my feet, that was for you, NFE hahahaha. I measured the fish right on the dot of 22". I think I could have squeezed out over to get out of the slot, but I am not going to keep a fish like that without the intent to mount. I say the fish weighed over 6 because the game warden told us their recent survey showed an average weight of #6.5-7 for that length. And she was fat and full of eggs. I christened the fish and threw back and wham, I reckon I caught her runner, a 17". We could have packed up then, because the rest of the day was scratch. And I lost another $5.79 on a snag and my last War Eagle. We had a few more short strikes on worms, but no takers until we packed it up at 4:30.
We had a good time though. I got to ride in style in a 07 Bass Cat Pantera II all day and got to try out my Christmas present. I tried a crankbait (DT10) off and on all day when the timber would thin out. I had got my TigeRod 7' Med crankin stick matched with my Curado E5 last week like I told y'all in another thread and all I can say is that this is most sensitive, casting machine I have ever thrown in my life. I never have felt sensation with a rod like I did with this one. I know this might be a sore subject for some over past threads by bringing Tim's name up, but props to a first class rod builder and person. I feel if we can mention any other rod we purchase and believe in, I can mention his by not having any professional ties with the man. I think if I can get my reel right, I will be able to cast 50+ yards with a muscle up cast. I can't wait to hook up on a fish, but just throwing the bait my buddy told me if the post office caught me they were going to charge .44 a throw. I put #12 CXX line on the reel and it is smooth as silk too. I put a little muscle behind some cast just to test the waters and never had a problem with it lashing, it just peeled off like silk. I got a few pictures of my set up just for googling purposes and to give me something to look at when I go back to work. I love the green wrap to match the reel, style and grace baby hahahaha.