2 Days Later- Career Best Smalley!!

April 3rd 2010-

To celebrate the 1 year anniversary of catching "Dottie," Dotson's 7lb behemoth Largemouth, we went out to hold the "1st Annual Dottie Day Tournament." The field of competitors was a "who's who" of the rollinbass.blogspot.com community. Basically me, Dotson and Kughn. The 3 best fisherman I know. (care to challenge us?)

The 3 of us started out in the Darby and the conditions were perfect. The fish were hitting right on the edge of the current near slack pools. It was ideal for jigs. I was working a black 1/8oz football head jig with the leech trailer and felt it get hit like a ton of bricks. I patiently reeled in the slack and judo-chopped a hellacious hook set. FISH ON. This big lady was none too happy having a hook in her grill on a Sunday Morning. After a terrific fight Dotson landed the beast and I went ballistic.

19 1/2" 4.2lb Smallmouth Bass

Coolest part, she had at least 6 hook marks in her grill. How sweet is that? Catch and Release at its finest.

Kughn quickly picked up on the pattern and wacked a few small ones quickly. Dotson wasn't so fortunate. It just wasn't his day as several hookset attempts went unsuccessful. (that's a nice way to say he got skunked) Kughn stayed at the spot and continued his assault. All in all he finished with 8 smalley's including these nice 18"ers

April Fools, But I Ain't Playin...Career Best LM

April 1st, 2011-

Oh, it's no joke amigos...I finished the Month of March at 149% to sales plan, 138% for the year which is in the top 50 of 1800 Account Managers in Grainger . I figured I deserved an afternoon off to see if anything was biting. I started at my favorite spot on the Darby and casted into the riffles and let the Jig drift through the current. Within the first few casts I felt the Jig get crushed and set the hook like a caveman who's been hibernating all winter.

After an epic fight I landed this 17" 3lb 7oz smallmouth

I figured it wouldn't get much better than that on a cold windy day in April- post cold front. I decided I'd let the River spot cool off and bring Mark back there once he showed up. I walked back up to the honey hole to see if any Largemouth were biting. I wasn't very optimistic because of the 20 MPH wind and murky lake.

I had my brand new waders on and was standing in the water casting a watermelon/red flake Yamamoto Senko...10 feet from me I felt something blast the worm. I'm fishing with a new 7 foot rod that doesn't require the Eric Dotson "Jump-Set" Technique, so I calmly set the hook and just knew right away it was special.

Maybe it was the drag screaming as the fish ran. Maybe it was the adrenaline. Whatever the cause, I knew I had a giant fish hooked. I let the fish wear herself out until I could ease her, and me, up to the bank. I lipped the monster and ran up to the top of the hill. That's when all hell broke loose. I tend to go nuts when I catch a 3lber. Nothing compares to the reaction I had today. I went absolutely BERZERK.

I'll just post the rest of the pictures and let you check them out. What you need to know is that this is the biggest Largemouth Bass I've ever personally caught, measured, weighed and released.

21 inches 6lb 5oz Career Best Largemouth Bass

It's safe to say the 2011 year is off to a phenominal start. The 1st trip out Toby catches a lifetime 12.1 lb largemouth. My 4th trip out I catch my 3rd biggest Smallmouth and my career best Largemouth. It's gonna be a damn good year....

Do You Believe in Magic???

Feb 28th, 2011 Do you believe in Magic??? I went to Disneyworld for a national sales meeting with customers. Yesterday before customers arrived at Disney I pre-scouted some spots in a lake at the Caribbean Beach resort. I caught 14 bass in about 3 hours on a Lake Fork Hyperworm, 4 of which were caught in a row on some shallow flats near boat docks. I wanted to let the area cool off so we could come back the next day with customers and knock em down. My customer from the Egg Farm Toby, who's more of a friend than customer, flew in the next day. After we were done with work stuff i took him to the flat where i was catching Bass the day before. We were drinkin beer and havin a good time, mainly making fun of Toby's pink koozi that said "Real women drink beer." After 4 smaller Bass his rod doubles. He didn't say a word as he fought the fish which is an anglers indication that a big fish is on. Normally when you hook a fish you say "there's one" or "fish on", but Toby said nothing. He fought the Bass for over 5 minutes like a pro. The fish came up to the surface and we saw the mouth as it tried to jump. We all about shit ourselves when we finally got a glimpse at the size of this monster. I immediately threw myself down on the dock scraping my elbow and lipped this behemoth. Not like a normal thumbing of a bass, but grabbed the bottom lip by all 4 fingers. As I pulled the fish out of the water it kept coming, and coming and coming out of the water. Pandemonium ensued. 12.1lb 26 inch Largemouth To put it in perspective, the state record in Ohio is 13.2lbs and that's stood since 1972. Toby's fish was 12.1. A once in a lifetime experience. We called over anyone who was within shouting distance of my profanity to see the fish. We snapped a few pictures and I'm proud to say the fish was released unharmed to be caught again next year. Like the pro he is, Toby calming went back to fishing while I sat on the dock unable to think clearly because of what i had just experienced. The fish will be appearing in an upcoming edition of Bassmaster Magazine's Lunker of the Month Club which displays all 10lb+ Bass submitted to the national publication. Enough said. The fish was world class and was a truly remarkable experience that all parties involved will remember for year to come. Congrats Toby, you truly are THE MAN