Right time right place

[harleywizard]

Last Summer, July 3rd to be exact, I was fishing with my riding and fishing buddy Minnesota Mike and we pulled up on a road bed/midlake hump. I made the first cast. WHAM I had on a 3lb Spot. A couple of casts later, same thing a 5 lb LM. It kept on and on, next fish was 8+lbs. It was one of those moments that you don't want to end, but you never will forget. Seems like for that instant everthing is right on, the fish are cooperating and hitting your bait, life is good. After it was over we had 6 keepers that would go about 25 lbs. I would like to read a good fish story, about being at the right place at the right time and showin out. ;D

[Ron288]

them kind of things don't happen often but when it does its great.

[bfriendly]

ME TOO!
I guess my favorite right time/place was when I took my wife fishing and she used a plastic worm for the first time(it was itty bitty jigheads with nightcrawlers until then). Anyway, first cast with a texas rigged finesse worm, and BAM, BASS ON! 2 or 3 casts later and BAM, BASS ON! 2 or 3 casts later and BAM, BASS ON! I think she ended up with another 2 or 3 hits after that(All in about an hour)..........to say the least, she is "hooked" on plastics! But after all that, on the way back to the ramp, I saw some "smashing" out of the corner of my eye.........we went to check it out and the hybrids/whites/strippers or whatever they were, were pushing bait and after I caught a quick 2 on a RtlTrap, she was bummed as the tex rig was not working. Even though she told me "just keep fishing", I stopped and said "we got time baby". I clipped the texas rig, letting the weight and hook hit the floor. As fast as I could, I tied on a straight plastic popper with 2 trebs. In just a few seconds, IT WAS ON! We EACH caught 12-15 fish and at least 5 times, they were DOUBLES! This lasted for about another hour and a half, so we were late getting home-but boy what an excuse!.............We have not had a day like that since and it was about 3 or 4 years ago.......

[harleywizard]

That's what I'm talking about. We have been so fortunate to have experienced a thrill like this. I think this is the reason some people never "Get it" or understand why we are so passionate about fishing. Once someone has experienced this they are hooked for life.

[Killian]

One night Shadowfax and I were fishing near the mouth of the Little River, and we noticed this guy in the distance just tearing the lake apart. We watched and watched, and finally scoped out a way to get near, but not pounce on him. For the next hour or so it seemed that the three of us couldn't cast without catching a fish. Then we see the other boat being towed around. When he finally landed the (I think)13lb striper, his scale was dead. So he called over, then came over to borrow ours. After asking him if he was going to post a picture online, we all exchanged screen names, and that's how we met hrus We've had a couple other days being in the middle of busting schools, but I don't think any numbers like that night.

[easton33]

Well, where to start. This story really needs a little set up and I'll try to be brief.
As a teenager growing up as I did around here on Toona , and quite a bit on plant Bowens holding pond. I thought i knew quite a bit about bass fishing. Not until 1995 did i really realize that i didnt know squat! I had just moved to Arkansas via Hawaii. Now I'll admit at first the sight of those old cypress filled, duckweed having, backwater slough's didn't attract me too much . Man, Was I ever wrong. After a few twist and turns, and a couple of location changes (south to central and back south) I settled down in a little town called Crossett. Now ya'll probably haven't ever heard of this tucked away little bass fishing haven, but let me tell you . It was the birth place of an awakening. In that small little town of about 6000 people I was fortunate enough to find a couple of life long buddy's waiting to educate me. As i would find out, there was a migration that occured almost every year, that any living soul who loves to feel that powerful buzz that vibrates through your stick when a Toad rips through the water needed to be a part of. My house was about 3 miles from the sight of this location.
In this sleepy little papermill town there was a WMA , Felsenthal was the name . Two rivers converged here to make up a lake called Jack Lee. Now Jack Lee was a fine fishery year round , but in early spring it became phenominal. Now being so close to the Mississippi river flyway about October the DNR would start holding water so they could flood the surrounding river bottoms. See, in this part of southeastern Arkansas duck hunting was king, The first couple of years I was there ,I heard tales of this mythical migration. Now to these buddy's of mine I was an outsider, not saying they didnt like me , but just saying that somethings are passed down from grandfather to father to son. These places that they spoke of were special and to remain special that was just an unwritten rule so to speak. If you didnt want to have to fish with 75 knuckleheads you kept your mouth shut! After a few years of hunting and fishing with these guys things began to change and they relized that this ol' boy from cartersville , Georgia might just be O.K.. As the seasons past (deer in the fall, ducks in the winter,turkeys and bass in the spring , and last but not least hogs and frogs in the summer) I began to get invited on more and more trips , to the point that the six of us were unsepertable. Most of my time was in pursuit of some type of game.
Duck season was drawing to an end and ever morning waking up at 3 a.m. had began to take its toll. One mourning my buddy and i had over slept and these rest of the fellars had left us . When we finally rolled out of the sack we decided we would put on our waders and try to walk in to where they were hunting. The sun was already up and to be honest with you the route we used to walk in was quite a bit different from the route we would take by boat.
As we were walking in, we used an old train levee that had been done away with years and years before. My buddy's called this levee (the burnt out tram). We had walked this levee for some ways when we came upon a spot where there once was a tressel. Now the structure was no longer ther but the small gap in the levee was still there. When i say small i mean small , about 20 to 25 yards wide . There was a small amount of water (2" to maybe 3")
on the right side of the levee. See , they would hold this water in Jack Lee so they could flood the bottoms so folks could hunt in the green timber. As we passed my buddy tells me of the bass he had caught right there in that exact spot . Now i'm not the most gullable fellar, but I knew he was not one to embellish! He told me that when the river gague hit 73' and was rising that the water would began to push through that gap and you could catch all the bass you wanted . As i would soon find out , It happened most years in early spring when the spring rains came . I filed the info away and we went on about our business of blasting a few ducks . Duck season finally came to an end and the thoughts of those long beards were all that was on our minds. I watched the news paper every day watching that river gauge.
Now this was the first year i had ever heard of a lil' thing called El NINO. It had been unusally wet in our region so the water had to be held a little longer than usally , because they didnt want to flood La. Now this meant that some of the places i had become accustomed to turkey hunting was still under water, so i had to venture out and look for some new areas. My search eventually carried me back to this old levee . We had alot of rain during the last couple of weeks and i knew the gauge was getting close to being right . I was easing down that old levee walking and listining when i heard what i thought was a hen turkey up ahead. I eased on up to find an old man sitting on a bucket with a 10' jig pole sitting on the edge of that old tressel . That old black water made about a 6' eddy on each corner of the tressle and the water appeared to be about knee deep pouring through the cut . I began to talk to this gentleman and he exsplained to me that every year when the water "got right" he would come to this spot and wait on the CRAPPIE. I sat with this fellar and talked for quite sometime and he caught a few. As we talked i told him of how much i loved to bass fish and he exsplained to me how much he loved to eat crappie. By the end of our time there together he told me that i needed to go home and get my good flippin' stick spool it up with some 20lb. Trilene (flouro was not that popular around there at this time) , get a hand full of black bullet head weights 1/2 oz. ,some shaw grigsby G hooks , And all the black and blue Fatass Gitzits I could find . He told me to be there at daylight with my waders on and be ready for the unbelievable. He told me he would be there and not to tell a soul.
With that being said I took off home. I rounded up all the gear he had told me to get , and to be honest I didnt sleep a wink. I knew something special was going to happen. Finally the alarm clock granted me permission to get up and head out and i could not contain myself. When i arrived he was already there with his jig pole and was lifting an enormous slab up out of the eddy. He laughed to himself and muttered to me "its going to be a good day son" He told me to wade on out and get in the middle of the gap and face up current . Mind you the gap was only 20 to 25 yards wide , but it had a circular opening on each side that was about 40 yards wide. In the center was a giant cypress tree to the right of center there was strip of buck brush with about an 1/3 sticking up, to the left of center there was also almost a hedge row of this buck brush. The current split around that big ol' cypress and made an eddy . The two streams of current then pushed passed the buck brush funneling into the gap where i stood. He told me to make one of three cast. One to the cypress , one to the edge of the buck brush on the right and then one to the left. He told me to just repeat that casting pattern that "THEY" were on the way. As i stood there with that black water swirling around my legs i wondered if this old man was tellin me the truth. I had fished for around an hour when i made a cast(for the 500th time ) right up behind that big ol' cypress. As the tube fell down to the botom i began to slowly take up line as the current pushed the tube toward the funnel. I could feel the tube tumble along coming back to me when "tap", There it was. I rared back for the hookset and nothing, WHIFF! He laughed a little and told me to keep on trying , he said if i whiffed enuff i would eventually figure out how to catch them. This went on for a little while until i guess he felt sorry for me. He told me that the intial tap was the bass trying to kill the "DAD"...crawdad is what he meant. He told me if i would just wait a few more seconds that she would finally eat it and try to head back to the eddy to wait for another. Upon this exsplanation my AWAKENING began. I flipped that tube back up to the big ol' cypress and began to let it tumble back down . About a 1/3 of the way down i felt the tap, I waited for what seemed to be eternity when all of a sudden that big flippin' stick began to load up. I heaved back and felt that buzz that i reffered to earlier. At this point i would like to say at the end of my line there was a big ol' sow bellied 10 lber but it was just a run of the mill 3. I was thrilled to say the least. The old man looked at the fish an said "the gooduns had not made this far yet". I was floored . I mean lets face it a 3 lb chunck isnt exactly chump change . As the morning ticked on i landed bass after bass. I have no idea as to excatly how many bass i caught that day but i can tell you this . There were periods of time when i had to climb up outa' that cut so i could rest and replace the tape that the old man had brought to tape my thumb. After the first hour or two my thumb was pretty much a ragged piece of torn flesh. The kicker to all of this was about every fifth fish i would set the hook into a mammoth cypress trout, "grennell" to us city slickers. You talking about exciting , try having a 3' grennell with sharp tetth and a fat ass Gitzit hanging out of his mouth go ripping through the cut passing between your legs heading down river. Now that will get your attention.
The water stayed "right" for three days and i was there for every minute of it . For as long as i live i will never forget those three days . On the second day i had my best day for weight i caught 10 or 12 in 8 to 9 lb range , and untold numbers of 5 to 7's. I returned to that place for a number of years afterwards but just couldnt duplicate that first time. Yes they were some really good days there , but nothing like the first. On the third day , fatigue had really began to set in . Standing in that cut with the current racing past had began to wear me down. The water had slowly continued to rise each day and on the third and final day it was almost to my waist. As i fought the current my old friend had never left my side he had sat there for three days watching my catch bass after bass, grennell after grennell. He told me in all of his 71 years he had never saw someone get so much joy from a fish, and he was honored to be present.
Sadly he passed away a few short months later. As i sat at his funeral the memories of that day burned deep in my heart. I never got to tell him i was thankful , but i think he knew.
Those days were the beginning , the awakening had occured . Though i still pursue different game i always come back to the Bass . It is with out a dout a passion that burns in my soul!

I would like to apoligize for being so long winded but i have been holding this in for around ten years and i needed to get it out

Tight Lines
Jason Mullinax

[acebarker]

Awesome story easton33, you got my heart racin'. I wanna go fishing right now.

[easton33]

Thank you ace.

[Skeeter Steve]

Great story!

I can remember my childhood and the folks who catered to my
fishing dreams.



Ranger Steve
<")))><

[Tokyo Lunker]

I am still waiting on my "big" fish story!!!

[easton33]

Thanks Steve , by the way I like that new ride of yours ....fo show!
Jason m

[harleywizard]

I really felt your joy. I am fortunate to have been blessed with several "Right Time Right Place" occurances in my life. The mutilated thumb reminds me of one in the mid 80's I was visiting friends near Guntersville, Al. Two of my buddies and I went fishing on G'ville Lake in the Spring just as the Millfoil was about 3 ft below the surface and we started burning chrome rattle traps over the grass. We caught over 50+ keepers, I had the largest LM I have ever seen get off right beside the boat. We stayed in one small cove all day and I doubt that we made a lap around it that we didn't catch at least one keeper fish from the weeds. I was so exhausted and couldn't quit grinning. My thumb was chewed up from lipping so many fish. the next day I could barely hold the steering wheel in my truck. Such sweet misery.