Last Time You Were Totally Pumped
- Thread starter RCF
- Start date
Coach Potter
Life of the Party
I can turn into a 12 year old pretty quickly and it doesn’t take much
. I get really excited when I can see fish chasing or eating what I’m feeding them.
The most memorable for me was during my first big bass tournament. I had only fished a couple of small events prior. I had no business fishing that event but I was too dumb to know any better. I conned a buddy who had more experience than me into fishing it with me. It was a 100+ boat event with a $10,000 first place prize and guaranteed $2k to big fish of your flight and there were 3 flights. An event like that brings out all of the best sticks.
We were actually doing pretty decent as we had 15-16 pounds of small mouth for our best 5 in the live well and it was only mid day. My partner had caught a 6# SM right out of the gate in the morning but we assumed it would take 20# to make the cut and fish day 2. Our SM bite had died off so we decided to run over and fish a string of docks hoping to stick a big large mouth. At this point in my bass fishing life there was a LOT I still hadn’t done and fishing jigs around docks was one of them but my buddy thought it was the move to make so I went along with it.
We start pitching our jigs at and around these docks when I get lucky and accidentally put my jig up under the dock for the first time ever. I think I even made some smart ass comment about how awesome I was. Immediately a giant LM comes out from under it…my buddy sees it at the same time as I do and he says, “that fish has a jig in its mouth”. I had seen the same thing as he was seeing when it occurred to me that jig sticking out of the fish’s mouth was MY jig. I muttered out loud, “that’s my jig” as I was reeling down to dot here eyes…mayhem ensued!
When she had swam out with my jig she had swam around a dock post so when I set the hook she was already wrapped around the post. Fortunately, I was fishing 50# braid but the fish was wallowing on the surface like a whale. My buddy is running for the net, I’m trying to talk the fish into staying buttoned up, it sounds like I’ve harpooned an alligator, somewhere along the line the trolling motor was bumped on high and the prop is grinding on rock, the fish is 3 feet from me but all I can do is keep pressure on the rod. It was an absolute goat rope that ended with me on my back and the fish in a bear hug. My partner immediately opened the live well lid and I rolled her in. I tried to stand up to hug him but my knees buckled. For the next 5 minutes I sat on the back deck shaking.
The fish turned out to weigh 7.42 pounds. We were in the 2nd flight and my fish was the big fish with only one team team left to weigh in. I’m starting to think about how much tackle I can buy with my half of 2K
. The last team steps to the scales and those A-holes flopped a pair of 8’s…not just one fish bigger than mine but 2 of them.
In the end we squeaked into the top 10, made the cut, and earned the opportunity to fish for the big prize the next day. We finished in 7th place, made a little money and firmly set the hook on what I would be doing for the next decade of my life.
. I get really excited when I can see fish chasing or eating what I’m feeding them. The most memorable for me was during my first big bass tournament. I had only fished a couple of small events prior. I had no business fishing that event but I was too dumb to know any better. I conned a buddy who had more experience than me into fishing it with me. It was a 100+ boat event with a $10,000 first place prize and guaranteed $2k to big fish of your flight and there were 3 flights. An event like that brings out all of the best sticks.
We were actually doing pretty decent as we had 15-16 pounds of small mouth for our best 5 in the live well and it was only mid day. My partner had caught a 6# SM right out of the gate in the morning but we assumed it would take 20# to make the cut and fish day 2. Our SM bite had died off so we decided to run over and fish a string of docks hoping to stick a big large mouth. At this point in my bass fishing life there was a LOT I still hadn’t done and fishing jigs around docks was one of them but my buddy thought it was the move to make so I went along with it.
We start pitching our jigs at and around these docks when I get lucky and accidentally put my jig up under the dock for the first time ever. I think I even made some smart ass comment about how awesome I was. Immediately a giant LM comes out from under it…my buddy sees it at the same time as I do and he says, “that fish has a jig in its mouth”. I had seen the same thing as he was seeing when it occurred to me that jig sticking out of the fish’s mouth was MY jig. I muttered out loud, “that’s my jig” as I was reeling down to dot here eyes…mayhem ensued!
When she had swam out with my jig she had swam around a dock post so when I set the hook she was already wrapped around the post. Fortunately, I was fishing 50# braid but the fish was wallowing on the surface like a whale. My buddy is running for the net, I’m trying to talk the fish into staying buttoned up, it sounds like I’ve harpooned an alligator, somewhere along the line the trolling motor was bumped on high and the prop is grinding on rock, the fish is 3 feet from me but all I can do is keep pressure on the rod. It was an absolute goat rope that ended with me on my back and the fish in a bear hug. My partner immediately opened the live well lid and I rolled her in. I tried to stand up to hug him but my knees buckled. For the next 5 minutes I sat on the back deck shaking
. The fish turned out to weigh 7.42 pounds. We were in the 2nd flight and my fish was the big fish with only one team team left to weigh in. I’m starting to think about how much tackle I can buy with my half of 2K
. The last team steps to the scales and those A-holes flopped a pair of 8’s…not just one fish bigger than mine but 2 of them. In the end we squeaked into the top 10, made the cut, and earned the opportunity to fish for the big prize the next day. We finished in 7th place, made a little money and firmly set the hook on what I would be doing for the next decade of my life
.
Hem
Life of the Party
Given I only get a couple trips for tigers this year, I was pretty jacked just to see some follow my fly. The one that turned his head and stared me in the eye was in the 40" class. No telling what my response will be when I finally stick one.
Hem
Life of the Party
That's the thing, I have fished the salt a bunch. Just not recently.
It will happen. Wish my spot was a little closer though.
We were trolling back in on my 2nd and last (kinda slow) day offshore in Costa Rica last week. I had a 12 weight in hand with about 70 feet of sinking head line out with a 7 inch pink fly with twin 6/0 hooks out there, along with some assorted artificials on conventional gear, which included a massive plastic squid in close, maybe 30 feet back. The deckhand was fiddling with something, facing forward and I was gazing back thinking about how I was gonna get “home” since my wife had the rental car and had dropped her phone in the water, killing it, leaving us with no real efficient way to communicate. Basically, I had no more real expectations of any fishy action. That’s when I saw a dorsal sort of lolling around behind that squid. Tongue-tied and not yet recognizing what I was seeing, it being the first time, I said, “Ah, there’s something there.” Captain and deckhand sprang to life: “Sail! Sail! Put the fly! See it?!?” I stripped madly, reeled madly, and stripped some more until the fly was in front of the squid. “See it? See it?” I no longer saw it. I had brought my Costa sunglasses case on vacation—empty—and had $8 cheapies. Then I saw it again. It was still there. I twitched the fly repeatedly. The dorsal vanished. “See it?! See it?!” I didn’t see it. I dropped the fly back a bit. And the fish vanished for good.
“We are still working on it.”
That got me super pumped, more pumped fishing than I had been in a while.
“We are still working on it.”
That got me super pumped, more pumped fishing than I had been in a while.
In case anyone thinks I'm making this up, here's me after landing a nice chinook the other day.
I'm sleepless with excitement the night before any and all non-PS beach fishing trips, and giddy even when gearing up for the 5th PS beach trip of a week.
That said, the last time I was completely flabbergasted by a fish was landing this brute on a 3wt. Completely wrecked the hook on the #18 copper john. For reference, the hoop size on the net is 16" x 24.75" and the bag depth is 14" (fishpond mid-length boat net).
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Well here you go, then!
A few years ago I was throwing a thundercreek minnow at docks on a big local lake, from my tiny little Poke Boat. This is a 7ft long, very wide, 20 lb kayak, so it only draws maybe an inch or two and is easily pushed around by wind, and pulled around by fish.
I hook up to what's obviously a nice LM from maybe 20 ft away from an elevated dock with the deck around head height to me in my boat, just as three big dogs come running down the dock barking at me. The fish makes a hard run under the dock and my yak starts accelerating straight at the dock. My hands full of rod, line, and angry fish, I'm trying to paddle backwards with one hand holding the paddle and line, trying to use my elbow as a fulcrum as the dogs get more excited by my approach.
I'm laughing and swearing, but manage to finally reverse my momentum 3 ft from the dock and drag that mother back out with me.
Great fish, but took me afew minutes to pull myself back together!
Here she is:
JimTravers¤£a!!Travers
Steelhead
When the PIZZA CAME the other night I was PUMPSD!!!!! Ordered another one IMMEDIATELY
NFR - but seeing the Edinburgh Royal Tattoo, since wanting to see it since I was 12... was AWESOME!
(Wide angle shots, to try and take it all in)
(Wide angle shots, to try and take it all in)