Memories From My Past

[betursweetbass]

Back around the fall of 1995 I was living in Redding California. There was a nice little pond in our housing district, it was called Mary Lake. It was a nice little pond about 5 acres in all.
It had been there for over a hundred years and the folk lore goes, it was a result of the original pioneers that settled in that part of town who had dammed up a seasonal stream to provide a supply of water for well into the summer. Well by the time I moved there in 1994 it was surrounded by houses on the south shore and some along it's west bank as well.

Anyway, it had lots of bass, blue gill, crappie and cat fish. I found it to be the "training grounds" of my "seasonal" bassin education. This was also the time frame for when I had heard about keeping a journal or log of my fishing trips and keeping notes on my success or lack there of. Some of my favorite memories are from fishing this small pond from shore and from my very first bass hunter purchased from the Bass Times magazine.

I remember one time fishing from the shore where I had tossed out my 4 inch green weenie that I was fishing on a Berkely Series One spinning rod with 4 pound test ( I was very brave in those early days) and I had made a cast to an area where I had seen a little disturbance in the weeds, not too far from a short but mean looking stick up (a dry, but not dead, plant of some sort) and at the top of the highest part of this stick up there was a little V shaped tip where one branch or twig had broken off the main stem and left this little V.

Well as I made my cast towards the area where I had seen the movement in the weeds, of course a slight breeze just blew in and my line had securely fallen right in the middle of that little V on the stick up. I bet you can guess what happened next, right you are, the fish picked up my green weenie and my line started rolling over the stick up, heading out towards deeper water. What was so remarkable about this event was the fast that I had just placed some new line on my reel and in the sunlight it was glistening like a mirror flashing in my eyes.

Well I set the hook on the bass and the battle was short and sweet, with a real exciting finish to it as well. It seems the little stick up was pretty darn strong and my line was still deeply intrenched in the V on the top of it. Well towards the end of the battle with this little dink about 20 ounces or so, I had to make a decision about what to do about my line up on top of this stick up, so as the bass came towards me I gave my rod a stiff yank as the bass was approaching the stick up, and he was launched up and over the stick up right in front of me and I was able to land him and quickly release him. My memories of this event are of course much more vivid and alive in my mind, and to share this story with you all on the web here does hardly any justice to the beauty and excitement of the moment, but take my word for it, it was a classic moment from my bass fishing past.

Another fond memory of mine was the time when my buddy and I where fishing in the late afternoon in my bass hunter, and the bass where jumping at dragon flies, well the thought came to me to toss my favorite worm at the time which was the 4 inch green weenie on my light line with no weight. I caught a few nice bass fishing on in the fly like this when something really remarkable happened. I had made a side armed cast towards one of the bass that I had just seen jump, and about halfway to where I had intended my cast to go, a really nice bass jumped up out of the water and snatched my worm right out of the air. The really amazing thing was he jumped about 2 1/2 feet straight up to get it.

The final memory I would like to share is the time when I missed a fish, after he had picked up my 3 inch catapillar grub. I was again fishing with my buddy (Russell) and we where cruising along some blow downs fishing with light line again and small BPS catapillar grubs. Well, I had made a cast over by one of the blow downs and saw my line twitch a bit, I set the hook on the culprit and had him for a few seconds but then he came off and all I had on my line was my hook, he had managed to free the grub form the hook somehow.

Russel and I continued working our way slowly along the BD's and into some weeds not too far away, we caught a fish or two and started working our way back over the area near the blow downs again. About 20 minutes after I had missed that one fish by the blow downs, I again had another bite in the same general area, and this time I landed the bugger, and low and behold when I went to pull the hook out from his lips, I saw my grub from earlier stuck half way down his gullet. I had just caught the same fish I missed maybe 30 minutes earlier, and got my grub and the rattle back that I use in just about all my platic baits.

There's been several times when I have been out fishing that something really remarkable has happened and those are of course the times I remember well. I know some of you have had some similar experiences and I would invite you to share some of yours here if you like sometime.

Have a Safe and Happy Holiday Season everyone, and most of all....A Very Merry Christmas.

Bet

[WTL]

Thanks for the post. Its funny how you can remember some specific encounters with bass enclosed in your memory like a small movie. The first story you described reminded me of the fluke occurance of catching my first bass. I was in Florida when I threw a producto junebug tournament worm over some rushes and watched it slide down over a bent rush....straight into a hole where a 2 1/2 bass was laying in wait. I still can't decide how I got so lucky on that one. Knowing what I know now, it should have never happened. Maybe that shows how much we learn with experience and why beginners luck really exists.

[skeeter944]

yeah wtl,i still remember when i hooked my first bass on a plastic worm,i set the hook like 4 times! it only weighed 2.4lbs,but i fought really hard!

[Super Fluke]

Originally Posted by WTL

Thanks for the post. Its funny how you can remember some specific encounters with bass enclosed in your memory like a small movie. The first story you described reminded me of the fluke occurance of catching my first bass. I was in Florida when I threw a producto junebug tournament worm over some rushes and watched it slide down over a bent rush....straight into a hole where a 2 1/2 bass was laying in wait. I still can't decide how I got so lucky on that one. Knowing what I know now, it should have never happened. Maybe that shows how much we learn with experience and why beginners luck really exists.

ya what he said

[DEbass'n]

I remember one time when i was just a little tike about 8 or 9, my dad his buddy named Buddy, and I went fishing in his jon boat to a small pond not far from the house. It was a pretty food day. I caught 15, my dad caught 7, and Buddy caught 2 nice bass. The fish i remember the most came when we were moving spots. I reeled in my plastic worm, and as we moved i decided to just let my worm dangle on top of the water. We went past this little bush in the middle, and out of nowhere a fish grabs the worm and all i have to do is lift my rod and he is in the boat .