Springfield Lake

[OzarkFishman]

I made it to the lake about 9:30. Once I got the boat in and trolled to the main lake it was 10 before we started fishing. We started pitching jigs for about 40 minutes without a bite. Then, I switched to a weightless soft plastic and that was the ticket. I caught 7 bass within 45 minutes. Most were 12 or 13 inches, with the biggest being 15 1/2 inches. This whole time my buddy hadn't caught anything other than 3 or 4 trees.

He broke off his line and we didn't have much time left, so I had him use one of my rods that was rigged up with a fluke. I told him to pitch it close to cover and let it sit, then jerk it a few times and let it sit again. We only had about 10 minutes and I was getting worried that he wouldn't catch a fish. Within 3 casts, he caught a thick 13 incher (bit right after the first jerk). After a few more casts he set the hook and I thought he was hung. I looked away and then heard the drag. This guy doesn't fish much and will openly admit he doesn't have the best technique. I tried talking him through it, "keep your rod tip high and your line tight!" As I reached to get the net ready (the drag is still screaming), I looked up and saw that he was holding the line with his reel hand trying to keep the line from going (he had a pretty deep groove in his finger). Just as I told him to let go of the line, the line snapped. I am not a big-fish story type of guy, so I will low ball this fish at a 4 pounder. I checked the drag after the line snapped and it was set correctly. We had to get back so that he could make it to work and the entire time we talked about how the drag works and the proper way to play a big fish out. It was definitely a learning experience for both of us.

It was a beautiful December day out there today. A little windy, but definitely worth the trouble.

OzarkFishman