Caught using one of my hand tied jigs with a blade runner molded into the head it was tipped with a JDC 4 inch strike grub watermelon black & red fleck color.
http://www.jdcbaits.com/index.html
Yeah one word...........Wow!
Biggest smallie of my life but I hope I'm lucky enough in my lifetime to catch another one of same size, 1/2 lb bigger is what I'm looking for :wink: It might not end up being me who catches it but I imagine the state record will be remade in the next year or two, the fish keep getting bigger every year.
When I first set the hook I thought it was a snag, I moved the rod tip a good 6-8ft in the air and it felt like I buried the hook on one of those buoy marker chains, time to cut the line type deal. The fish didn't move for a few seconds in the beginning. I think it might have been surprised it got caught? Seriously first 45 seconds after I saw the fish I was pissed cuz I thought it was a carp, in the water the fish looked too big to be a bass. Fish ran back down deep 4 times, each time I was surprised to hear my drag go like that this early in the year. If I had been near any rocks this fish would just be another story, there is no way I would've landed this fish having to get it up through the erosion rocks that line the shore. I felt very lucky to get the net on him on the second try. Even when I got it out of the net I was in disbelief. I called about 20 people to get Bob Long or Ed Bohn's number to ask them what I need to do to get this fish verified. Tared just prior to weighing my Salter spring scale from cabelas only got to 6lb 2oz. It was caught in about 18-20 feet of water. I can't imagine what that 12lb behemoth out of Dale Hollow, Tennessee looked like :shock:
I was using 8lb vanish flouro on a 7ft med action rod with a Diawa Black Widow II 2500 series reel. I responded to it previously in a post under tackle questions, I will put any Diawa with the new Digi-gear feature(Excelor, Widow & Theory models) against any other reel regardless of price. I know I sound like an advertisement but man that reel handled this fish well. Smooth when the drag was winding out and instantly responsive when it was my turn to take back some line.
It was a female that had already begun establishing girth(eggs this early?)
Fish was photographed as it was being released and swam away strong immediately after re-entering the water :wink: 8)
It was awfully close
