Seeing all of your recent bass pics starting to show up, I felt motivated to go & make a rare, as of late, attempt to catch some meaningful Largemouth.
Well, so much for that tender notion....
Set out shortly after sunrise with a M spinning rod, a bag of white trickworms, exactly 3 extra loose hooks(ask me how I knew that :x ), & a starting point just far enough away from the car so that when I came across a peacock, it would be too far of a walk back to change gears. This was to be a pursuit of native species, exotics be damned!
After about 1.5 hours & almost 2 miles of walking, I probably caught 20-25 bass that looked mostly like this
![Image]()
Mostly dinks with a couple approaching 14-15".
The disheartening part was the 4 fish I broke off! On 4 occasions, I watched the bright white trickworm disappear under a large boil only to set the hook & come up with the end of my line.
The 1st occurence I thought I had a valid explanation. 10 minutes prior, I caught my PB jaguar cichlid!
![Image]()
never seen 1 that big before. While lifting it out, I could feel/hear some abrasion as it shook its head, but didnt think much of it. Oh well.
About 30 minutes later, a repeat occurence. Set the hook into something very solid, & snap. WTF? Thought maybe a big snakehead sucked it in past its teeth, or perhaps a gar as I had seen scads of both cruising about. Picked at small fish for a while & then same story, set the hook into something meaty only to have my leader pop (12lb. Floroclear). It was another hour of tinkering with 10-14" fish before I watched an estimated 4-5lb LM rocket out of a veg mat & smoke the trickworm. Same story. Now I had the pleasure of a 2+mile walk back to the car without a hook.
Action overall was good, & It was pretty fun watching that worm get lit up as it walked thru & over the veg/pads. I used to fish floating worms a lot & did well with them, but like so many things, I kind of forgot about them.
As it pertains to floroclear, well, thats the 3rd spool of it that has seemed to "go bad" in as many years. Has cost me some big smallies & a few bigger fish this last time. When I got back to the car, played around with the remaining leader and the spool it came off, it was pretty obvious it didnt take much of a "pop" to make it snap. Im sure that theres some legit reason or something I exposed it to that would explain whats happening to it, but, screw it, theres too many other choices. Cant recall ever experiencing this with other line.
P-line floro, while I cant say I ever really thought you were anything special other than fake fluoro, I appreciated the value you seemed to represent.
May you now rot in hell instead of on my spool......
This is almost the end of my rant/report.
When I got in the car it occurred to me my bag of white trickworms was running low. Decided to pick up more on the way home. Feeling a tad, pissed, about the days earlier debacles, I looked out the pass side & noticed a drainage ditch that I have driven past many times over the years. Usually I remind myself that even though it looks like a scuzzed-out ditch, I need to actually look at it 1 day.
Well, today was that day, & it just wouldnt feel right to not show some cock!
Walked up to the bank & saw a group of 4 peacocks cruising the 2' deep ditch.
Back to the car, grab the ML with the bucktail & about 15 minutes later, I had landed 4 peacocks from about 2.5-5lbs out of a spot ive drove past dozens of times over the years. A better ending to a unfortunate outing.
![Image]()
![Image]()
& thats all!
Well, so much for that tender notion....
Set out shortly after sunrise with a M spinning rod, a bag of white trickworms, exactly 3 extra loose hooks(ask me how I knew that :x ), & a starting point just far enough away from the car so that when I came across a peacock, it would be too far of a walk back to change gears. This was to be a pursuit of native species, exotics be damned!
After about 1.5 hours & almost 2 miles of walking, I probably caught 20-25 bass that looked mostly like this
Mostly dinks with a couple approaching 14-15".
The disheartening part was the 4 fish I broke off! On 4 occasions, I watched the bright white trickworm disappear under a large boil only to set the hook & come up with the end of my line.
The 1st occurence I thought I had a valid explanation. 10 minutes prior, I caught my PB jaguar cichlid!
never seen 1 that big before. While lifting it out, I could feel/hear some abrasion as it shook its head, but didnt think much of it. Oh well.About 30 minutes later, a repeat occurence. Set the hook into something very solid, & snap. WTF? Thought maybe a big snakehead sucked it in past its teeth, or perhaps a gar as I had seen scads of both cruising about. Picked at small fish for a while & then same story, set the hook into something meaty only to have my leader pop (12lb. Floroclear). It was another hour of tinkering with 10-14" fish before I watched an estimated 4-5lb LM rocket out of a veg mat & smoke the trickworm. Same story. Now I had the pleasure of a 2+mile walk back to the car without a hook.
Action overall was good, & It was pretty fun watching that worm get lit up as it walked thru & over the veg/pads. I used to fish floating worms a lot & did well with them, but like so many things, I kind of forgot about them.
As it pertains to floroclear, well, thats the 3rd spool of it that has seemed to "go bad" in as many years. Has cost me some big smallies & a few bigger fish this last time. When I got back to the car, played around with the remaining leader and the spool it came off, it was pretty obvious it didnt take much of a "pop" to make it snap. Im sure that theres some legit reason or something I exposed it to that would explain whats happening to it, but, screw it, theres too many other choices. Cant recall ever experiencing this with other line.
P-line floro, while I cant say I ever really thought you were anything special other than fake fluoro, I appreciated the value you seemed to represent.
May you now rot in hell instead of on my spool......
This is almost the end of my rant/report.
When I got in the car it occurred to me my bag of white trickworms was running low. Decided to pick up more on the way home. Feeling a tad, pissed, about the days earlier debacles, I looked out the pass side & noticed a drainage ditch that I have driven past many times over the years. Usually I remind myself that even though it looks like a scuzzed-out ditch, I need to actually look at it 1 day.
Well, today was that day, & it just wouldnt feel right to not show some cock!
Walked up to the bank & saw a group of 4 peacocks cruising the 2' deep ditch.
Back to the car, grab the ML with the bucktail & about 15 minutes later, I had landed 4 peacocks from about 2.5-5lbs out of a spot ive drove past dozens of times over the years. A better ending to a unfortunate outing.
& thats all!
