7/12/09 Trip W/Pics

[Bubba_Bruiser]

Go to make a good trip this morning fellas to another lake (Approx. 70 acres) on the land we were fishing the other day. I was surprised the wife let me go so easy, but I reckon I know lock down is right around the corner, 7/27, to be exact. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Anyways, we made it to the water about 5 AM with some hopes of some pre-sunrise blow up. We went for nada on the Spook, buzzbait, and devil horse type prop bait (can't remember what it is called) and a tiny torpedo. We still had a few minutes left before the sun broke the horizon and we trolled over to an old road bed with a submerged tree and brush pile. While we were trolling, I must say I was just messing around and letting a 7" anaconda drag about 100 feet behind the boat, wham, I caught a 2 lber. Bubba 1, skunk 0, so I don't have to worry about him the rest of the day. We pulled up near the road bed and my buddy threw a 6" liz on an isolated log about 50 yards from the point and all I felt was the boat shake and heard him say "Get the net". Wham, first fish for him 9#:

At the same time I was twitching a Spro popper frog, about the time he said get the net, ba-doosh, a toad whalloped on the frog. Early morning jitters had me though, and I reckon I snatched before he got it sucked in. I watched my buddy fight the fish and readied the net, and then stale mate, the fish wrapped. But my buddy kept his cool and pressure on the fish and she finally came around surfaced and I got her. I was so excited, I had just lost a pig, and my buddy had a fish as big around and it was long. So I took the pic and he released it. I caught another fish, 3.75#, on the frog:

Then my buddy threw by the brush pile, and same scenerio all over again. Another fish I would estimate about the same size as the first one. He had the fish coming to the boat and he turned his head and I saw the rod go lip, he said man she got off and I told him I don't think so. I asked if he had retied from the last beast, because sho'nuff, broke line. Well we fished around and picked up a few more fish and then moved across the lake to a point with a grass and pad flat. My buddy kept trying to tell me that he just didn't have confidense in my frog. I made a long cast and just twitched the frog across grass. The frog didn't clear the grass line an inch and spla-doosh, 1-1000, 2-1000, set and the fight was on. My buddy was hollering for me to throw him the net so I did and it got tangled in crap when I tossed it up to him. He just kept telling me to play the fish. He finally got the net unhung and boated her for me. Another fattie that tipped the scales at 6#. I was so glad to finally clear the 5# range for the year. Not by much, but it is always a goal to catch at least 1 fish over 5 a year.

He sucked it to the gullet.

The sun was getting high. So I put Spro daddy away. I made a trade a while back with Zooker, and he sent me a Yo-Zuri crankbait. It probably dives 3-5' and it flashy silver with a gold cap. Not sure of the specific color. But first cast, first fish.

Dinks need some love, too.

Now we're talking.
I think I caught 12 fish on the formerly know Yo-Zuri. It shall now be called the Yo-Zooker. My buddy threw a crankbait until he was blue in the face without a hit on another crankbait. He kept saying well they are close in color. But I kept telling him that mine had the blessing of the Zooker. We had a pretty good pattern going though. Most of our fish were hanging around isolated cover and were coming off of green based lizards (Watermelon seed & Kudzu).When the sun would poke out, I would go back to throwing the Yo-Zooker and pick up a few here and there. I know some of you might look down on us keeping fish like this. But hey, we are just following the land owners request. They provide pay hunts and feed the customers with a lot of our catches:

Big ole war mouth AKA "Sugar Puss" on the Y-Z:

I just want to take a minute and thank a lot of you guys for your input. And thank you Kevin for creating the site with people who aren't afraid to share information. This time at home, I have caught more fish on a spinner bait and crank bait, than I have in the past 10 years. I learned from listening to y'all and I appreciate it. I could have threw a silver crankbait or Rat-L-Trap with the high sun today, and maybe shared the same results, but I thought I would chunk that crank in honor of Zook and the prayer of Godspeed to his return to the water. Thanks again for sending me the cranks Zook. The only downfall of the day was that I ended up in Immediacare this evening with Laryngitis and a bacterial infection from what they said came from a viral bug I caught Sunday evening. My kids were high fiving and bumping chest for the thought of a holler free couple of days.