Bass thumb? Nope, even better

[lizardsrule]

Well first off, I haven't been here in awhile, and thought I drop by to say hello again, and also get a little bragging in again rotflmao. Anyways, I have been trying to get my dad out fishing for a couple of weeks, but our schedules just haven't worked out. So today finally we had planned to go out bassing. Dad is a shiner man for those who don't know it. We left at 4:45 am, and went got the boat, and gas. And started off on the 1.5 hour drive to Astor, FL. There is a launch onto the St. Johns river, and it's been where I have been doing most of my fun fishing. We got launched at 6:30am and I immediately headed for the first spot. I have never shiner fished this area, so I wasn't sure of exactly where would be the best. I decided, that the first location, would be a underwater dock, and hit that location and dropped anchor. Dad grabbed his shiner, and I threw, the spinnerbait, and the chatterbait. Those 2 baits have been the mainstay on the river for me for awhile now. I got a couple of Gar bumps, and started to throw a weightless Senko. Dad had a couple of Gar hit his shiner, but no bass. I hooked up with the first dink(13") shortly after beginning the with the Senko. I then moved the boat a little ways down, and again dropped anchor. I then caught the first keeper of the day 14.0000001" LOL. Dad caught a Gar. We then moved south on the river to Lake Dexter. I had been catching bass in the dollars pads, some up to 5lbs, so decided that would be a good place to drop anchor. I threw the spinnerbait for awhile, and then the Fluke, which has worked well also in these places. No luck, so I picked up the chatterbait, and on probably the fifth or sixth cast I hook up with a big fish. My first reaction was that this wasn't a bass, it was something else. When I use a spinnerbait or a chatterbait I have the drag down tight, and use braided line. I want the fish hooked up quick, with minimum worry of any hookset really. Well this fish pulled out drag on 2 seprate occasions in the first say 15 seconds of the fight. I got it turned around and headed towards the boat, then it rolled out of the water Yes it was a bass, and it just may be my new personal best from the looks of it. Well I fight it to the boat, and dad has the net ready, but again the fish makes a run, and takes drag. Now to put this in perspective on how tight the drag was, if I can pull it out, with my hand, without it digging into the hand and slicing it, it isn't tight enough for MY PERSONAL PREFERENCE ONLY. Well I got it back to the boat, and dad nets it, and WOW what a unexpected pleasure, and joy. I litterally let out a LOUD WHOOP. There were a couple of other bass boats within range, and of course the clapping began after they asked if it was a bass or not rotfl. It was 26.25" Long, and I didn't measure the girth. Didn't really care to be honest. And yes once we had it in the boat, I REMEMBERED TOO LATE, that the camera was in the truck. So no pics, but for me that's OK, cause I'll beat it anyways. I'm not sure if had a bigger girth than my best, but it was really a sweet bass, it may or it may not have been my heaviest bass. It is the first of many to come of double digit bass from the St Johns, and it's connecting lakes for me, so it was even better. Of course I can never catch those fish in the tournies LOL. I ended up catching another small bass, and dad ended up with 2 bass, one dink and one 14.5". I caught 2 Pickerals, and that was it for the day. That HAWG was fun I actually have Bass Palm, the teeth marks ripped up my hand between the first finger on the palm, and the thumb because her mouth was so big, and I wanted to make sure I got a good lip on her. Yes the fish was released quickly.

Lizards