One more big shoal bass before July is over! 7-31-10 report

[LowHybred09]

I was up late lastnight, couldn't sleep and it was around 3:00a.m. I figured I might as well sneak down to the river and put my yak in for a few hours and catch the morning bite. I was in the water by 3:30. The moon was pretty big so I could see fairly well. Started tossing noneother than my trusty J-11 rapala in black/silver. At 3:45 I felt a nice fish grab my rapala, SWEET...already have a fish on and I haven't barely been fishing 15 minutes. The fish was pulling hard and of course my net tangles up....wanted to net the fish no matter how big it was b/c it was dark with treble hooks in it's mouth. I had to just lift it in my yak, turned out to be a spot over 2lbs! Nice start. Before the sun came up I landed 2 more small spots one on rapala and one on shakyhead jig/worm and lost a fish on the rapala. They were killing it too....not just swatting at it but taking it all the way. So when the light got safe enough I slipped down some shoals....expecting a great sunrise bite because of how well I was doing to this point. Nothing....for about an hour after sunrise I still hadn't put another fish in the boat so I start heading back upriver on the other side. About 3 casts into heading upstream and I see a big bass inhale my rapala about 15 ft out. The water was real clear and now the sun was up, 7:45a.m. to be exact. The fish basically set the hook on itself so I just kinda held on. It made four or five hard runs taking drag and jumped twice but couldn't make it all the way out of the water because I was holding my rod underwater to keep it down. Finally I get it to my net and let out an unheard "Waderjon Yell." Then I see a fellow kayaker coming downstream so I grab him and get him to take some photos. I have to stop fishing alone! The fellow kayaker had scales and it weighed in at 3 1/2lbs. Nice shoalie to end the month! Then a few minutes later I saw a fish turn underwater to my right after something, feeding on something passing by...tossed my shakyhead on it and he nailed it before it hit bottom. A pound and a half or so, nothing huge but a pretty shoal bass. Had one more fish on as I was almost to my take out spot....hit upriver and started jumping so I didn't get much of a hookset, was almost 2lbs...don't know if it was a shoal bass or LM, but I would guess shoalie w/ the acrobatics. Left the water at 8:30 before the heat took over. Great morning of fishing!

The 2lb+ spotted bass
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab129/LowHybred09/0dc39234.jpg

Aprox 3 1/2lbs(on someone elses scales, mine are broken)
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab129/LowHybred09/cd7ac24f.jpg

Another view
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab129/LowHybred09/fdb09eab.jpg

The last shoalie landed
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab129/LowHybred09/863cdd9c.jpg

[PawPaw]

Smiley is gonna get mad at you for using her kayak!!!!

[Bruiser]

Kudos! I was also going to get up early to catch a quick morning bite, but the bed felt too good!

[PawPaw]

What are Kudos, Bruiser???? Are they anything like those Pepperridge Farms cookies called Goldfish???:confused::confused:

[Bruiser]

If you must know...
http://www.kudosbar.com/kudos/images/siteowner.jpg

[waderjon]

LOL :)

Nice fish LowHy.

[LowHybred09]

I love Kudos! Grew up eating those things. And about Smiley's yak, I loaned my old lighter kayak to a friend and when I go by myself it's easier with her's than my new one. I asked if she wanted to come, but the bed felt to good to her too.

[turkey]

nice fish!

i had a river fishin trip planned a couple of weeks ago.....couldn't fall asleep so i grabbed the gear and hit a local pond at 2am....fished till about 4am....then drove up to the river......some of us aren't lucky enough to live minutes away from a river :)

[dmurf2005]

kudos are a big deal! those shoalies are too. good fish man