LowHybred09
07-11-2011, 03:12 PM
So as promised, here is the post explaining our fishing a little better. We started casting topwater plugs early on but it seemed there wasn't much of a topwater bite for us. Actually nothing on top. The first part of this section is wide, deep(for this river), and slow. I noticed some action flicking on top like small bait fish, out over a shallow flat of rocks. I tossed a swimbait there with nothing so I tried my shakyhead with a powershaky worm in green pumkpin. I missed a hit and that was a sign of life. Felt small though. A couple of casts later I had a pick up and set the hook into what felt like a really nice fish. It fought real hard and when it came to hand I couldn't believe this spotted bass was only 16.25" long. I honestly thought I had a 3lb bass on. Nice start to the morning. Right after this Smiley missed one on her shakyhead. We fished on and I came to some blowdowns. This is where I hooked a small 12.5" largemouth on the worm. He hit on the upriver side of the blowdown. By the time we fished our way to the first set of shoals it was HOT! The heat wasn't so bad except for the humidity made it so muggy it was hard to breathe. In our second pool below shoal 2, Smiley yells, "I got one!" I paddle over to see if I can help and she isn't saying a word. Her spinning rod is doubled and she is just playing this fish like a pro. Which wasn't easy because this shoal bass was giving her one heck of a fight. After what seemed like eternity she nets a nice shoalie just under 3lbs. Measured 17.5" Her hands were visibly shaking for she still is new to the rush and excitement of catching big bass during a tournament. It was such an awesome thing to watch, how well she handled that bass and to know how far she has come in the last year...from throwing beatle spins to winning team bass tournaments.
We continue on when Smiley misses one on her shakyhead. She tosses back in and a few seconds later she is playing the fish in. It was a small redeye right at 9" long which is just over keeper size. I thought this was funny because she weighed a redeye in last year in the Macon tournament on this same stretch of river. She almost lost the fish while taking the picture because she didn't think it was big enough to need me to bring her the stringer. The fish flopped but she regained control and took the needed pics. This fish was part of our team winning stringer so it was definitely vital so this shows you to always secure your fish before taking the pics. Smiley lost what would have been her 3rd fish in the Columbus tournament from not having a stringer. I began tossing my 4" swimbait and just below a shoal, right in the seam, a fish jumps on it. I hadn't changed the factory hooks which IMO are way to small and the fish came unbuttoned. My heart sank because I still only had 2 and we were almost to the area where we planned on turning around to paddle back upriver. This was a good sign because it was my first hit on anything aggressive. Now I was about to come to a log on the bank that has swift current that runs by and is a spot where I almost always catch a fish. They just like to live there. Tossed in and as if on cue, a fish jumps on the swimbait but just as quickly comes off. Let a few choice words fly and continued on. It was almost 12 and we had to be off the river by 1:30 to make it back to Bass Pro on the northeast side of Atlanta which was about 75 miles down heavily trafficked interstates.
I tossed my shakyhead at a deep rock pile with some wood on it that usually holds some fish for me and detected a strike. Slam back my rod only to have the line snap. At this point I can't believe what is happening. In a short section like this you have to make every bite count and I was not finishing the job. Retied and then switched back to the swimbait and had a fish bump it. Cast back a few times and he finally grabbed it again. It was a real skinny, 14.25" shoal bass. It filled my stringer so now it was on to try for a big girl to cull and make my stringer what it needed to be to win. Rachael missed another fish on the shakyhead in the meantime but no more fish on. I paddled up to the bottom of a small seam across the river and stood up. Tossed my swimbait to it and WHAM!! Felt like a vacuum underwater sucked in my lure. I set the hook and the fish came 3ft straight up in the air. "OH MY GOD," is what came out of my mouth. Smiley hadn't seen the fish yet and didn't realize I had a 5lb shoal bass on when the fish repeats jump one and sky rockets 3ft straight into the air again. I am freaking out because this is a huge shoal bass and on these tiny hooks to boot. The fish started pulling me towards some blowdowns and that deep rock pile with the log jam on it. The fish had strength like you wouldn't believe and knew what to do with it. It tangled me in the wood twice and the second time I had to put my rod tip underwater and around the log to get him free. All the while the lure was on the outside of his face making all this that much more dangerous because he can hook the lure on that log and come off so easily. After a good 3 minutes of battling this fish I finally get him by the belly and on top of my yak. I let out a whoop and head towards a rock for pictures. The fish measure 21.5" long and was 5lbs. My second biggest shoal bass to date. I was in disbelief as to what just happened but we continued on anyways. I told Smiley I was going to head back to the car to get gas for the truck since we had run out at the put in. She was going to try and get her 3rd fish. When she made it back to the truck I heard a very disappointing story. She had hooked into an estimated 3.5-4lb shoalie on her swimbait and it had thrown the hook after jumping twice. She was very upset about this and that fish would have put her near the top for sure. That's fishing though. We were fortunate enough to do how well we did in winning the team division together and in my first place and big fish finishes. Great day!
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab129/LowHybred09/IMG_20110709_075208.jpg
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab129/LowHybred09/100_0005-4.jpg
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab129/LowHybred09/IMG_20110709_101027.jpg
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab129/LowHybred09/100_0011.jpg
We continue on when Smiley misses one on her shakyhead. She tosses back in and a few seconds later she is playing the fish in. It was a small redeye right at 9" long which is just over keeper size. I thought this was funny because she weighed a redeye in last year in the Macon tournament on this same stretch of river. She almost lost the fish while taking the picture because she didn't think it was big enough to need me to bring her the stringer. The fish flopped but she regained control and took the needed pics. This fish was part of our team winning stringer so it was definitely vital so this shows you to always secure your fish before taking the pics. Smiley lost what would have been her 3rd fish in the Columbus tournament from not having a stringer. I began tossing my 4" swimbait and just below a shoal, right in the seam, a fish jumps on it. I hadn't changed the factory hooks which IMO are way to small and the fish came unbuttoned. My heart sank because I still only had 2 and we were almost to the area where we planned on turning around to paddle back upriver. This was a good sign because it was my first hit on anything aggressive. Now I was about to come to a log on the bank that has swift current that runs by and is a spot where I almost always catch a fish. They just like to live there. Tossed in and as if on cue, a fish jumps on the swimbait but just as quickly comes off. Let a few choice words fly and continued on. It was almost 12 and we had to be off the river by 1:30 to make it back to Bass Pro on the northeast side of Atlanta which was about 75 miles down heavily trafficked interstates.
I tossed my shakyhead at a deep rock pile with some wood on it that usually holds some fish for me and detected a strike. Slam back my rod only to have the line snap. At this point I can't believe what is happening. In a short section like this you have to make every bite count and I was not finishing the job. Retied and then switched back to the swimbait and had a fish bump it. Cast back a few times and he finally grabbed it again. It was a real skinny, 14.25" shoal bass. It filled my stringer so now it was on to try for a big girl to cull and make my stringer what it needed to be to win. Rachael missed another fish on the shakyhead in the meantime but no more fish on. I paddled up to the bottom of a small seam across the river and stood up. Tossed my swimbait to it and WHAM!! Felt like a vacuum underwater sucked in my lure. I set the hook and the fish came 3ft straight up in the air. "OH MY GOD," is what came out of my mouth. Smiley hadn't seen the fish yet and didn't realize I had a 5lb shoal bass on when the fish repeats jump one and sky rockets 3ft straight into the air again. I am freaking out because this is a huge shoal bass and on these tiny hooks to boot. The fish started pulling me towards some blowdowns and that deep rock pile with the log jam on it. The fish had strength like you wouldn't believe and knew what to do with it. It tangled me in the wood twice and the second time I had to put my rod tip underwater and around the log to get him free. All the while the lure was on the outside of his face making all this that much more dangerous because he can hook the lure on that log and come off so easily. After a good 3 minutes of battling this fish I finally get him by the belly and on top of my yak. I let out a whoop and head towards a rock for pictures. The fish measure 21.5" long and was 5lbs. My second biggest shoal bass to date. I was in disbelief as to what just happened but we continued on anyways. I told Smiley I was going to head back to the car to get gas for the truck since we had run out at the put in. She was going to try and get her 3rd fish. When she made it back to the truck I heard a very disappointing story. She had hooked into an estimated 3.5-4lb shoalie on her swimbait and it had thrown the hook after jumping twice. She was very upset about this and that fish would have put her near the top for sure. That's fishing though. We were fortunate enough to do how well we did in winning the team division together and in my first place and big fish finishes. Great day!
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab129/LowHybred09/IMG_20110709_075208.jpg
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab129/LowHybred09/100_0005-4.jpg
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab129/LowHybred09/IMG_20110709_101027.jpg
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab129/LowHybred09/100_0011.jpg