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It was a moonless summer night on Lake Fork. It was a beautiful night, with
almost no wind and the heat of the summer day had dissipated to the point that it was really comfortable to be out. I was
there again as I had been several times that summer to pursue Mr. (or Mrs.) Largemouth Bass. There were quite a few like me,
judging from the boat lights I could see in the distance, but certainly nowhere near the number of boats that daytime fishing
brings.
For my nighttime bass fishing, my overwhelming bait of choice
is a black ½ oz. spinner bait with a single #6 or #7 Colorado blade. I also use a black trailer to provide a larger, bulkier
silhouette.
I prefer to target long points that have good stands
of hydrilla along them, keeping the boat in six to eight feet of water and casting the big spinner bait toward the weed bed,
then retrieving slowly, feeling the thump, thump of the big Colorado blade.
About
midnight, I pulled up on one such point where I had had good success in the past, and began fishing. One pass down the weed
line and back yielded nothing, so I began a second pass. About this time, I began to hear what sounded like a really large
fish feeding aggressively in much shallower water. I dismissed this as something I probably couldn’t get to anyway since
the area it was coming from was really shallow, and continued my pass down the weed line - again nothing! Not to worry - the
fish move into and out of this area all the time; its just a matter of time!
Another
pass, same result! And another! And another! And another!
After that 6th
pass, I was feeling really frustrated with the lack of action and was contemplating a move, when once again I heard that large
fish feeding in the really shallow water further up on the point. At this point, I told myself there was nothing I could lose
by trying to get close enough to cast to this obviously aggressive fish, so engaging the trolling motor, I headed shallower,
in the direction that the sound had been coming from.
After reaching water that was only about 2 feet deep, I stopped,
afraid I would run aground. I then cast that big black spinner bait as far as I could, in the direction of the last sound.
Just as the bait hit the water, there was again the sound of a large fish striking something and that something was my
bait! I was hooked up with a really powerful fish that immediately headed
for the open water to the right of the boat.
That powerful fish
was making the drag on my reel literally scream! All I could do was hold the rod tip high and hope that pulling against the
drag would wear the fish down and it would turn before reaching the end of the line or finding one of the scattered clumps
of brush that exist further out on the point.
Thankfully, the drag did its job and the fish stopped its run and turned
back toward the boat. Now I was in a catch-up mode, trying to keep up with the fish as it sped back toward the boat. I managed to
keep up well enough that the fish never got too much slack, but then it crossed in front of the boat and began another powerful
run away from the boat. Rod tip up again, let the drag do its job again!
Thankfully
this run was not as long as the first and I soon had the fish headed back toward the boat; pump, reel, pump, reel!
This time I got the fish beside the boat for an instant, but because there was no moon,
couldn’t see it; just a vague shape in the water. Now, the fish decides it wants to go under the boat! Come-on drag,
do your job again!
This run was shorter than the last, so I shortly had the fish beside the boat again and this time
it was on its side on the surface. Good sign!
I still couldn’t see well enough to tell what it was, but was pretty sure it wasn’t a bass.
Maybe a big catfish, or maybe one of those toothy grinnels. Just in case it was a grinnel, I decided I had better use the
net, but the net was on the floor next to the passenger seat and I was standing on the front deck, so holding the rod up in
one hand, I bent down to grab the net. At the same time, that fish decided it was up to another drag-screaming run and took
off again, almost jerking the rod out of my hand!
Thankfully, I
was able to recover and get both hands back on the rod and fight the fish back to the boat again! Once again on its side beside
the boat, I reached down and got the net. I put the net down into the water and tried to lead the fish into it. Darn! It won’t
fit! Got the head in but there’s more hanging out of the net than is in it!
A
couple more tries with the net and I finally get enough of the fish in the net to be able to bring it in, although there’s
still a lot of it hanging outside the net.
Aha, a big bluecat! The
scale says 13.5 lb. Thank it for the fun time and let it go to grow bigger.
Not
a big bass tale, or even a big bass got away tale, but this catfish put up a fight that has etched the details in my memory
permanently. I wound up not catching any bass that night, but it was still a fun night!
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