Does Size Matter?

[paumanok]

Well, my buddy and I are out on Brandt Lake up in the lower Adirondacks targeting largemouth bass. We're getting ready to pack it in and are trying to decide where we're going to go to eat, drink and merrily brag about our day's outing. He's out fished me, easy, 6-1. I can see where this is going.

We decide to run up a channel and make one last pass before trailering up. We do a slow drift, backwards (neither of us is much of a sailor), towards the boat ramp. Right where a huge willow droops its branches out over the water, we stall a bit. My friend tosses a white leaf-blade spinner just shy of the drooping branches, pauses to let it sink, then pulses a slow retrieve back to the boat. Damn! He's hooking up again. 14-16' fish. Again. And again.

We drift a bit and now I'm at the overhang. I see I've got one shot at this. To fish the channel, I tied on a 6" pumpkin-seed curly-tailed plastic worm--hook, no sinker (sometimes I'll use a torpedo head at the hook-eye or a split shot up the line). With the tip of my spinning rod low to the surface, I flick the worm under the tips of the willow. Slup, slup, ploop. Right up on the shoreline. Fish or no fish, I am pleased with THAT cast; even pause a while to admire it.

Then, take up the slack, a half crank and flick of my wrist . . . Swoosh . . . in a swirl my line draws off into deeper water. I was so startled, I forgot to set the hook. I hear the whir of my drag. Lean back and drive the hook home.

My heart was thumping. The boat was rocking. My buddy was gawking. And I knew this big boy was mine.

With a grin that ached, I leaned over the side and lipped it into the boat.

7 lbs. 6 oz.

That was my third fish of the day. The other two could have fit into this one, neatly, with half their cousins, with room to spare.

My buddy hooked and boated close to twenty fish, several in the 4 lb. range.

The question is, who owns the bragging rights on this one?

I still can't decide.

[surfwalker]

Enjoyed that. Bragging rights? I don't know, you both had a good day-quantity vs. quality- hard to decide, but I'm sure the busting on each other was fun.

Happy Trails

[DarkSkies]

I first looked at this thread title and said, Damn another spammer got in with a viagra ad, gotta delete that one!

What surfwalker said. It's all good, and was a great read, felt like I was reading an excerpt from the old Field and Stream magazines I use to devour as a kid.

If I'm fishin with someone who's new to the sport, I go for quantity. I know they won't be happy getting skunked even if I said we're loookin for bigger fish. So I go for the low hanging fruit off the tree, the fish that are abundant in the usual freshwater or saltwater places.

By myself, I want the challenge of a bigger fish. I learned a lot in the last few yearsfrom guys who target them, so that's what I'd rather catch.

7lb6oz largemouth is a beautiful fish for the northern states,paumanok, I think my biggest was around 6.

[paumanok]

That was one of my favorite places to fish for largemouth when I was in the lower Adirondack area. Not at all a big lake, compared to the others: Champlain, Lake George, Schroon Lake. Very little fishing pressure, though--probably for that very reason. A couple of weeks before I took my fish, a ten year old kid had nailed an 8 pounder.

As to big fish, I've caught my share of stripers in the upper twenties and lower thirties. Not too bad for a fly rod. My largest on a fly stretched to just shy of thirty-five inches. New strategy for this year is to fore go the schoolies and spend more time hunting the big boys.

[blitzhunter]

What a great story! Felt as if I was right there in the action. I would say you get bragging rights on this one.

[Frankiesurf]

I think you win that one. What are you, or him for that matter, going to remember next year and the year after? The big fish, not his 18 2 pounders.

Nice job. That sounded like a perfect cast and there is no more perfect cast then when you land a nice one with it.

[paumanok]

Frankiesurf--

There are two sayings I keep in mind every time I go out to fish. One is: Ninety per-cent of the fish are in ten per-cent of the water. Thirty years of fishing have pretty much confirmed that adage as fact.

The other is this: Ten per-cent of fishermen catch ninety per-cent of the fish. Thirty years of fishing have taught me that I still have a ways to go before I join that elite class.

So, I appreciate your comment about making a "perfect cast". Thank you.

I've only started posting on stripersandangles most recently. But what I've found is a community of anglers who are both skillful and full of passion for the sport of fishing. That's what this angling game is all about: passion and skill.

[rockhopper]

X2 Very true paumanok.

[nitestrikes]

The other is this: Ten per-cent of fishermen catch ninety per-cent of the fish. Thirty years of fishing have taught me that I still have a ways to go before I join that elite class.


I've only started posting on stripersandangles most recently. But what I've found is a community of anglers who are both skillful and full of passion for the sport of fishing. That's what this angling game is all about: passion and skill.

I agree. Nice community here. None of the ego and bickering that I see elsewhere. I'm at work today and missing the fish. Read your thread and wanted to say nice writeup. The experience of fishing is often more important than the numbers or sizes. Sharing it with good friends is all the better.