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826,572 Shoalie
Casts Later and…WHAM!
Before I get into what
happened on my 826,573rd cast, I'd be remiss if I didn't
go back and give some credit to the shoalie beginning. It really
all began when I was a young boy and my dad would take me wading on
a small river close to home for bass and bream. He had caught some
nice bass out of it, but as a youngster I found the bass fishing to
be tough. However, after I came back from college I decided I was
again up for the challenge of figuring out those river bass in my
old local flow since I was a little older and wiser than I was when
I was a teenager.
One night in late 2003
I stumbled onto GRF while doing some research about my local
waters. Sometime in 2004, after lurking for a while, I decided to
register with this eclectic group of folks that included some GRF
originals such as Jim Nielson, Shoalieman, Braveswin, Kokosing
Lover, Altamaha Jones, Croaker, Gone2Seed, Intrepid Bob and of
course Sam the Creekstalker.
I had never heard of a
shoal bass and was just an average fisherman who enjoyed fishing
ponds, small lakes and rivers. After seeing some pictures and
stories of them my curiosity got the best of me and I decided to
make my first float trip and cast number 1 to these fish. It was a
little weird meeting up with a complete stranger to go fishing, but
that is exactly what my dad and I did when Braveswin offered to take
us on our first shoal bass adventure. We met at the Waffle House
(how fitting) where Braveswin was there waiting on us with a couple
gifts – 2 black Booyah buzzbaits. Whew, this guy wasn't a psycho,
and in fact he was one of the nicest guys I'd ever met.
For four years now I
have been fishing for these fish and every year, thanks to the many
tips and tactics I have learned from folks on this site, I have
gotten a little better at catching the bigger ones. Today,
approximately 826,572 shoalie casts later, I feel like I have hit
the shoal bass lottery. Ever since busting the six pound barrier
last year I have dreamt about surpassing the seven pound mark and
what the fight and fish would be like if it ever happened. Let me
tell you that this fish did not disappoint any of the scenarios in
those dreams.
On Friday, April 4th,
at approximately 5:45pm, I felt the thump of a lifetime on my soft
plastic bait. I was standing on a rock and I walked forward a step
to wind up every bit of slack in that line, then I did a
baseball-like reverse crow hop backwards and set the hook as hard as
I could. After setting a hook that hard with 50lb braided line you
would think whatever was on the end would move towards me, at least
a little. Nope, this green and gold thigh actually pulled me back
to it! It began to move downstream of me and get into some very
very swift current. Not to long ago on the message board we had
talked about ways we have lost big fish and one of the ways was
trying to bring a fish upstream. Well, I have never done that since
losing a big one that way and was not going to try it with this fish
- because it would have either broke the rod, the line (if there was
any frayed spots), pulled the hook out, or stretched the hook hole
out so much that when it jumped or got slack the hook would have
come out.
The only thing I could
do was chase this thing downstream because I wasn't in my kayak to
float down river with it. So, I just reacted and started sprinting
down river skipping rocks as fast as I could to catch up with it
(kind of like how in a motor boat they run the outboard to follow
and catch up to a big tarpon or marlin or whatever). I am very
fortunate I didn't fall and sprain my ankle, break something or fall
into a deep hole that could have filled my waders with water. I
knew the risks, but quite frankly after seeing the fish I didn't
care about the consequences. After holding the pressure tight on
the fish, watching it attempt to get airborne (which it simply could
not do due to its size), and catching up to it downstream I was able
to bring it onto the other side of the rock I was on.
The water was calm
there and I lied down on the rock and kept inching her closer to me
all while repeating these words over and over, "stay on, please stay
on...oh God please let her stay on…" Finally my right hand grabbed
her mouth and I put a vice grip on this fish so strong that my hand
almost started cramping! I lifted her up and let out a big "OH MY
GOODNESS, LOOK AT THIS THING!" If you have ever seen Mike Iaconelli
lip a fish and start yelling that is pretty much the scene you can
imagine in your head as I laid on this rock and raised the
shoaliezilla in the air. I skipped back over all the rocks as
quickly as I could and put her on a mechanical scale that I had. My
digital had gotten lost the weekend before but I had checked this
mechanical on a bag of sugar to make sure it was accurate – and it
was. I still had not even really looked at the fish in detail
either because I just wanted to quickly get back to my kayak, weigh
and picture her, and get it back in the water as soon as possible.
I knew she was big and probably over six but when the scale swung
all the way over to the seven I think my heart about came out of my
chest! I then looked at the fish and saw the belly and realized
that its gut is one main reason it went over seven.
I waved PawPaw and Seminole
Steve over so they could come see it and put her on some digital
scales to get a more accurate reading. The digital scale topped out
and held right at 7lbs and 2oz! A big thanks goes out to PawPaw for
weighing it and taking some great photos. Also, it was awesome to
have Seminole Steve there since he is a fisheries scientist who is
working on a project to restore these fish in their native waters
where they have been wiped out. Steve was able to measure its
length and girth for us since he carries a measuring tape with him
on all of his fishing and work expeditions. She measured just shy
of 24 inches and the girth was 16 ¼ inches. Steve did an excellent
job making sure she was ready to swim off before he let her go, and
just as soon as she swam into our lives, she moseyed right back into
the depths and was gone - hopefully to be caught by someone when she
is a state record!
It was truly a blessed day for me and I believe it was a good
example of how this site has inspired and helped many of us become
better anglers. Also, if you just started river fishing out of a
kayak and are finding it difficult, I hope this will encourage you
about where you could be in just a few years if you hang in there.
The next seven may just come on one of your next 826,572 casts!
Feeling very blessed, grateful and fortunate,
BasserDrew
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