Now That's What I Call Bass Thumb!

April 28th-

What a hell of a day. Had a terrific day at work selling my ass off and I decided to cap it off with a trip out to the honey hole. Mike came along because he hadn't caught a fish yet this year and I wanted to make certain that streak ended today. Boy did it ever.

Within a few casts of the buzzbait Mike dropped it right on top of a bass's head and he immedately blew up on it. First fish of the year and it was on topwater!

I started out with a white spinnerbait and caught 5 within a few minutes. The spinner bait bite died off pretty quickly so we switched to Senko's. I started out with green and they just absolutely went ballistic. I was catchin em left and right. I hooked up with this nice 3lber which is a damn good size for this lake. After catching 10 smaller bass it was nice to hook this giant!

We continued at this pace slaying bass. Mike would get hot and catch them on consecutive casts, then I'd hit 3 or 4 in a row. I set the hook on one fish and thought it was a nice bass and it ended up being this GIANT 10 inch bluegill!! That's fish ohio size! It's the biggest blue gill i've EVER caught in my life. This thing was bigger than both of my hands!

We caught bass on every color and size of senko. I'd cast it out, let it sink and then pop it up and make a few reels. They would grab it and take off and I'd just lay back and cross their eyes I hit them so hard. I even broke a rod landing one of them! That's how hard we hit them...broke a freakin rod on their asses.

I ended up catching 31, yes 31 largemouth and a 10 inch Fish Ohio Bluegill. Needless to say, I've got some CRAZY bass thumb going on!!

"That's the Biggest Bass I've Ever Seen with my own eyes!"

April 3rd-

You'd have thought today was April's fools day, but brotha I ain't kiddin...we MURDERED em today!!! This is without a doubt the most productive and impressive day that I've been a part of in my entire angling career. All 1 year of it. I really don't know where to begin, or even if blogspot handles the amount of pictures I'm about to post. Today was in every sense of the word, Epic.

Eric met me for the super early bite at the honeyhole behind Otter's. If you remember, last time we came to this spot Otter and Eric were catching Fish Ohio sized Crappie and Bass and I couldn't get Nary a Nibble. I wore my "have a crappie day" t-shirt to ward off the evil spirits. The weather report was 77 and windy with a chance of thunderstorms, but when we got to the lakes they were as calm as glass. I was eager to throw a topwater bait which I've yet to do in 2010 in Ohio. There was action all over the surface so I knew they'd be biting.

I'm trying all different kinds of rythmns with the Torpedo topwater trying to figure out what the fish wanted. About 20 casts into the day a monster bass exploded on the lure! I had to have woken up the entire county as loud as I was yelling.

"Top" o' the mornin' to ya

There might not be anything better than a big ol bass blowing up topwater. The commotion on the surface slowed down so I switched to a watermelon Paddle Tail Senko with a 3/16oz slipshot sinker. What a fantastic decision that ended up being, as you'll see below. I was walking around the bank pitching and flipping it into the brush surrounding the shore. I'd let it hit the bottom and pop it a few times, then let it fall. They were CRUSHING it on the fall. Pop, pop, sink BOOOOOM! Slayin em.

Do yourself a favor and pick some up from Bass Pro Shops

After a 20 minute hike back to Otters to move our cars out of his neighbors driveway, Eric and I were back on the pattern. I switched the Senko Strike King fluke style soft plastic in shad. The pattern was still white hot and I caught 3 more in a matter of moments

Suddenly we hear a roar off in the woods. A wall of wind drilled us straight in the face and didn't stop the rest of the day. Of course, we had found a fool proof pattern that was resulting in big bass every few casts, and the wind had come to screw it up. However, fishing in windy conditions can be pretty productive. The wind blows the small bluegill, shad and other baitfish to one side of the lake because they hate the current. And let me tell you this, where there's baitfish, there's big fish.

Eric had caught a few small guys until he hooked into a "blogworthy" fish. He was having a tough day on the water. He missed multiple fish and was getting hung up alot. I'd gladly trade that for what was in store for the lucky bastard

Look closely at the size of this fish to give you perspective on what you're about to see...

The wind was getting pretty out of hand at this point and I was tempted to call it a day. We had been on the water since 7am and we were working the hell out of baits. Otter and I were about to start throwing nightcrawlers in the windy end of the smaller pond. Eric had ventured down to the far shoreline where the wind was coming in determined to get more bass on the watermelon fluke rig.

That's when I heard shreeking screams of words I cannot publish even on the internet, with the word "giant" in between. Otter and I took off sprinting. I could see the monster from 500 yards away. We catch up to Eric right as he's lipping the fish and all 3 of us go absolutely bananas.

Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the show...

Wait for it...

Wait for it....

6LB 10oz -Fish Ohio Largemouth

This is the condition I found Eric in when I walked up. He was bent over clutching the Behemoth to catch his breath. Look at the belly on that toad!!!

She was so full of eggs it looked like she was about to burst. Just kinda hanging out up in the flats about to spawn, which the only reason he had any shot to catch her. We quickly weighed her, took our pictures and safely released her back into the water. CPR- catch, photo, release. That's why the spring bite is so critical. The LUNKERS that lurk in the deep water 10 months out of the year move up into the shallows to spawn, and it's the only chance you'll have to get your picture taken with them.

We were pretty much acting like the Bengals won the superbowl. 6lb 10 oz Largemouth bass!!!!!! All 3 of us said "That's the biggest bass i've ever seen" at one point or another. My, how Eric's luck had changed. He turned frustration and persistance into the biggest bass that he may ever catch. He wisely decided to call it a day considering it can't get any better. Truly one of the greatest walk off performances I've ever seen.

How do you follow up a 7lb bass? The wind was so feirce at this point you could hardly cast. Otter found a digital camera by the bank and we looked through the pictures on the memory card and the guy caught some nice fish. A few minutes later he comes poppin up out of the woods looking for his camera. He said he caught 15 bass in 1 hour there yesterday. Otter and I threw on some night crawlers and decided to see what happened. BANG BANG BANG BANG. 4 consecutive casts I caught a Bass, 2 hand sized blue gill and a Crappie. THAT'S THE CYCLE BABY!

Even "Lil' Super" got a monster! That fish is bigger than he is!

And to all you losers who stayed in bed this morning instead of participating in history, have a crappie day. All in all, Eric caught a damn near 7lb Fish Ohio Largemouth and I caught 11 Bass, 1 Crappie and 10+ bluegill. I caught fish on 5 different baits and presentations. It actually kinda felt like we were Anglers, and not just guys going fishing on a Saturday afternoon. Congrats to Eric on a career size Fish Ohio Largemouth, and congrats for releasing her to get bigger!

April Fools!!!

April 1st-

What a terrific day! 76 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. You get about 30 days a year like this and I'm so thankful it's happening now. The waters are warming up and the fish are on the move looking to gourge themselves before the spawn. I'm happy to help them eat. Kinda. Until I rip a hook through their mouth!!

I went out with Toby and we've been anxious to fish together all winter. Hell, at one point he and I were standing outside in the snow messing with equipment. Toby has a 10 foot pelican boat and frequents a great spot in Mt. Vernon. Within about 10 minutes I caught a small Largemouth but it was great to get the first one in the boat. Still slow rollin the white spinnerbait! They're tearing it up right now.

About 5 minutes later I felt a fish bump the spinnerbait but i couldn't hook him. He came back and slammed it...I damn near fell out of the boat setting the hook. I knew right away it was a giant, it felt like I had a swimming cinder block on my line. He was fighting so hard that I had to strip drag out. Finally I get him up to the boat and Toby lips him. This is the point where I go psycho apeshit. YEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a fat cow!!!! Easily a top 5 fish

I threw it on the scale and it measured 3lbs 11oz. Damn near 4lb Largemouth at this point in the year! Once she feeds for a couple weeks she's well over 4lbs.

Off to a hot start!!! Moments later I caught another tiny guy. 3 fish in less than 30 minutes, one of which is a tank.

That's when things changed.

The bite disappeared. We weren't getting bumps and we threw everything in our tackle boxes. Nary a Nibble...The joke became "Doesn't this bait look good?" "Yep, if I was a bass I'd eat it."

I felt bad for Toby because it was his first time out in 2 years (how do you own a boat and go an entire season without fishing!?) I wanted him to get his first fish. But all in all, it was a fantastic day on the water and we had a ton of fun. It's heating up right now, I'm really excited for a marathon on Sunday!