I've been holding this story in for too long now. I kinda wanted to go back to make it come full circle, and to make some sense out of it all. At least that way I could say I learned something.

This is fixing to be a long one….. Tldr: lots of nothing, then lots of something, and I audibly lost my mind, but we won the tournament

There's a particularly special lake that's not too far from where I live, that is renowned for having a ridiculous number of big bass, but they are also not easy to figure out in the summer.

Earlier this year, I decided that I was going to figure em out. I wish I could say that I did. I thought I was getting close to it, after a respectable day with my best friend earlier in the summer, but with a club tournament approaching, I needed to get the ball rolling.

So I set out on a solo mission, to at very least put together a game plan for the upcoming tournament. I got there at first light, and started fishing my buns off. Nothing. The water was glass calm all day (a condition I'm starting to deeply dislike). Then about 4 hours in, I catch one -a 2.8lb largemouth. Not great, but it's a start right? Ha! Another 3.5 hours pass, without another bite.

I felt completely defeated. I had zero ideas left, and I had had enough. So I headed for the launch early, thinking about a nap before work that afternoon.

Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but something made me stop at the same spot I started on, before I made it to the ramp. I'd seen some quality fish on sonar first thing that morning, but beyond that, I was dancing on the line of the definition of insanity (doing the same thing multiple times, expecting a better outcome). I turned on the new BTBAM album, and cranked it.

As I dropped my trolling motor in the water, the slightest hint of a breeze started, barely enough to make a ripple on the water. Beyond that,I don't have the slightest idea of why what was about to happen, happened.

Sitting here typing this now, what happened over the next 40-45 minutes doesn't even feel possible. I hooked up on my first cast. 4lb 6oz largemouth. Ha! That's gotta be a fluke right? I didn't even bother to set up my tripod to take a pic, cause I was certain that was going to be the highlight of my day.

My next cast will haunt me till the end of my days. I hooked into a MONSTER bass. I mean EFFIN MONSTER BASS. I don't usually mention ones that I don't land, but this was PB material. It jumped 2 times, and then once more just out of reach of the net, and threw my jig right into my pant leg.

That's when I lost it. I started swearing up a storm (and I'm really sorry to anyone at the public area next to where I was fishing, both for the cussing and for the music.) I didn't know what else to do, so I cast again, and to keep this long story from being ridiculously long, my distraught swearing was quickly transformed into a over stimulated release of pent up everything, as I boated another 6 big bass, one after the other. All on my #dobynsrods DC 733sf.

I was still spun out when I got to work. My hands were still shaking.

Holy smokes! I haven't even gotten to the tournament yet!

Well, the tournament was nearly the same conditions as the above told day. I caught one decent bass at the beginning of the day, and then a couple smaller ones, but we were struggling. Tony got a couple decent smallmouth late in the day, but we weren't at all feeling great coming to weigh in with under 17lbs. (On a lake that had 2 bags over 29lbs in a recent tournament.)

Turns out, second place had 11lbs. 😁

I still don't get it, but I'll never forget either of these days….. And I NEED to get back to this place PDQ.

fishing #bassfishing #fishingaddict #yourenotcrazyimcrazy #ifyouaintscopinyourehopin #wthisgoingon #nothingmakessemseanymore