Working Up an Appetite

Posted by MNAngler On July - 11 - 2012

After I had gotten back from float tubing, everyone was pretty much out of the water. Ken and George were now ready to take the pontoon out and hit some spots before dinner.

We decided to Kloek channel because it had some shady areas for fish to hide from the cloudless sky. Having been successful with KVD’s worm earlier that morning and afternoon, I tossed it out again and got a hit in short order. Ken asked if I needed a net, but it was small enough that I could handle it. It turned out to be a nice 13″ smallie.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture because Mrs. MNAngler got a hold of my camera and deleted what she thought were pictures of the same fish. “They all look the same,” she exclaimed. After expressing my unhappiness, I don’t think she’ll do that again.

About 15 minutes later, I got hit again. When it jumped out of the water, Ken told George to get the net. It didn’t look that big to me, but when it made a couple of runs close to the boat, I started to believe that Ken may be right. After an extended fight, George helped me land this nice 17″ smallie.

Species: Smallmouth bass
Size: 17″
Lure used: Strike King KVD Big Tex Ocho worm in coffee scent, texas-rigged

Nice fish, but 1″ short to qualify for Bass Pundit’s 2012 Minnesocold Bass Derby. That was a disappointment.

[UPDATE: BP stopped by and left a comment that the minimum size is actually 17″. So I’m on the board!]

Confirming that I was using a worm, George switched to a stick bait as well, but surprised me when he rigged it wacky style. I switched to a jig and pig. George didn’t have a lot of experience with wacky rigs, so I gave him some pointers. Not more than a few minutes later, he had a fishing tugging his line. Unfortunately, it made a run and successfully escaped.

With no bites on the jig and pig, I switched back to a stick bait and took George’s cue. I wacky rigged a watermelon worm on an octopus hook. A bunch of casts with that I pulled in another 14″.

[Picture deleted from camera by Mrs. MNAngler]

George switched to another lure while I landed my 4th of the outing. It was a small 12″ that swallowed my octopus hook. Instead of trying to yank my hook out, I cut the line to give the guy a chance to survive. The funny thing is, I was using my teeth to severe the hook and if anyone was looking, it probably looked like I was trying to kiss it.

I sat down at the back of the boat to tie on a new lure. I new it was getting late and having landed 4 fish in 60 minutes, I took my time not thinking I would get my line back in the water.

I encouraged George to go back to a wacky worm and it paid off for him. He finally landed this little guy, his first fish of the week.

With that, we headed in for dinner.

Week tally: Smallmouth bass: 8

5 Responses to “Working Up an Appetite”

  1. Bass Pundit says:

    Actually 17″ inches is the minimum size, so you have at least one fish this year.

    • MNAngler says:

      Woohoo! Thanx, BassPaastor. I hope to get more than one in the bag this year. I’ll have to remember to bring a scale around with me this year because some of the fish I’ve caught < 17" seem to be quite hefty.

  2. MSPbass says:

    That’s an awesome smallie dude!

    And “Deleted from camera by Mrs. MNAngler” is pretty funny. Although I wouldn’t have been laughing when I realized what happened either.

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