One Memorable Strike

[Al Agnew]

I floated one of the shallow, mine waste choked sections of Big River last Thursday, a ten mile float where most of the good water is in the first five miles, and even there the good fish-holding water is seldom over 4 feet deep. I fish it because it's accessible and easy for my wife to shuttle me, and because I've fished it all my life. It produces fairly well for such poor habitat, with the occasional big smallmouth, but the spotted bass are now at least as numerous as smallies in this stretch.

The fishing was mediocre Thursday. The river was a bit low and somewhat murky, and the fish just didn't seem very active. I caught 15 smallmouth, 15 spotted bass, and 7 largemouth, with the largest smallie about 16 inches. Any day on the river is a good day, but if it hadn't been for one strike, this day wouldn't have been very memorable.

It looked like a smallmouth spot. The river came out of a riffle, angling into a rocky bank with 2 or 3 feet of good water off the rocks, shaded by a bluff. I was using a topwater, a Lucky Craft Gunfish, at the time, and the first cast I made to the rocks landed perfectly, within a foot of the edge. I began to work the lure.

If one is attuned to this kind of fishing in fairly shallow water, you can sense rather than actually see the odd, subtle bulge in the water as a big fish suddenly moves toward a topwater lure. It's something that barely registers on your conscious mind but in a split second it tells you that something magical is about to happen. It almost makes the hairs rise on the back of your neck. That's what happened on that cast, and a second later the water simply exploded at my lure. I've heard such strikes described as toilet flushes, but only if you're talking about those public restroom toilets that instantly drop all the water with a horrible sucking sound. I've also heard it described as a horse hitting the water, but that's not right, either. Nothing is quite like it, but it sure puts your heart in your throat and makes you involuntarily utter a "Holy crap!" even when you're alone.

The fish instantly went deeper, and in the murky water there was a short period of suspense as to whether or not it was a smallmouth, though I was fairly certain it wasn't. No, it was a largemouth, and after a few minutes I boated a 22 inch green bass that was a little skinny, so it probably weighed a bit under six pounds. Battling and capturing the fish was an anti-climax; I live for the strike, the instant when you know you've fooled a big fish, the splash and the live feel of a wild creature connected to you. And that one strike made Thursday a day I'll remember for a while.

[ness]

Very nice, Al. Great description of the moment.

[Mitch f]

There's something special about the way a largemouth takes a topwater bait, especially a stop and go bait after it has paused for a moment. I like to describe it as a giant sucking sound combined with someone dropping a baseball in the water from 50 feet high.

[eric1978]

Cool report, Al. I've never caught a bass that big in a river. Hope you upload a pic while you're doing the canoe pics.

[Gary Lange]

That's why I like to fish Top Water Baits and especially Buzz Baits. Just the anticipation of the strike coming at any moment gets my heart racing.

[RSBreth]

I had a strike like that today, but on a Bass Bug, then lost the fish as it did that "backflip jump" thing Smallies love to do.

That Gunfish is an awesome lure that most don't know about. I've caught more "schoolie" Stripers at Beaver Lake on the Gunfish than any other lure. They can't leave it alone!

It's good on the river, too.

Great report.

[Bman]

"One Memorable Strike "

That's what happened to me last Thursday.

What an outstanding report. You paint quite a wonderful picture in our minds.

[Gary Lange]

I remember wading the Fox River in Illinois one Summer Day with a friend. We had been doing well working eddies and downed trees along the shoreline. I cast up to a downed tree a couple times and didn't get anything. I was talking to my friend and at the same time dropping a 1/16oz Charlie Brewer Crappie Slider with a 3" Watermelon BPS Stick-O straight down into this tree and pulling it back up. I did this about two times and was distracted talking with my friend when the water exploded next to me and a chunky 15" Smallmouth came clear out of the water to grab my little bait. It scared the crap out of me because I wasn't expecting it but he hooked himself up and after a short fight I lipped him, admired him and turned him loose. That was exciting to say the least because I was somewhere else in my mind when it happened and it brought me back to reality.

[10pointer]

great story al, thats why we live for this stuff !!!