I'll get to the Dr. Bamaboy in a bit. But just wanted to stop in and say thanks to Bama for letting me hitch a ride with him today. It was really nice to meet and fish with you.

Short report is:
Hit the water around 6:30ish. Stopped at one crappie location and fished for a bit, but couldn't pick up anything but sandbass, a rockbass , and a couple of lmb's.

Moved over to fish the point at Murrell Park and marked a few fish. I don't remember if we caught antyhing there or not. But then we moved out to the hot spots out from Murrell Park and caught the majority, if not all, of our fish. Sat in one 100 yard stretch and slabbed up a whole bunches of fish.

We caught somewhere between 90 and 1000. Wasn't really keeping count today. We had a bunch of throw backs and managed to put 22 in the box with some real magnums thrown in. Checked the Rock Crusher and the ridge by the island and marked more fish, but couldn't entice another one in to the boat.

Thanks again for the ride and letting me tag along Michael (Dr. Bama.
Oh..for the first time ever today, I managed to get a hook stuck in me. Stuck a TNT Limit Gitter on the left side of my neck after a big fish decided he didn't want to come in to the boat and tossed the bait. Hurt pretty good. What didn't hurt - too much - was Michael applying his knowledge of the string trick to get it out. Barely a mark left on me.
Tied the slab back on and went back to work.

Ouch - - but way to play thru the pain and injury Sounds like you guys had a fun outing and glad you got into a mess of fish!

great report! How crowded was it out there? Also glad to hear hook incident wasn't serious.

It wasn't too bad really. It didn't start getting busy until probably 11:30 or a little before.

I forgot to mention that the fish were really on the move today. They were balled up pretty good, but they wouldn't stick in one specific location for very long.

thanks Jeff and that is what they were doing over by the dam earlier this week. Tons of fish but they were stacked up and moving around a bit so had to just keep checking the graph and troll around a bit to stay on them.

Glad to hear you didn't hit that ole bleeder tube in your neck.
Good job Bama. This stuff is important, let everybody know the details, just in case they need to do it too. I think it would have looked nice hanging there the rest of the trip, myself.

The really scary thing is that I'm currently taking blood thinners for a blood clot in my leg as a result of the broken ankle. So Bama is nice enough to let me get on the water with him and then I gotta go and do that.

I think he's fishing tonight too. Hopefully he'll check in some time tomorrow and give you all of the gory details.

I was lucky to be on his boat today, else I would have been in real trouble. It's a difficult preidcament for sure to have a slab's treble hook stuck in the side of your neck.

Glad you finally got to get out Jeff. What a guy Bamaboy!!!

First the foot, then the neck..... Might want to stay put until the boy is born, I'm sure he would like to see his papa....
Thanks for the report.....

Jigum

I was thinking the exact same thing.
This year has just been full of accidents for me and those around me...not all my fault.?.?.?

My boss and his wife had a terrible wreck. All should have been killed. Their 2 year old grandson may have to have lift altering neck surgery because of it.

I broke my ankle.
Got the clot.

My boss' wife was in yet another car accident (no injuries) as she got rear-ended in her two week old car.

Now this.

It's just one thing after another. I'm seriously considering just staying away from anything and everything right now.

You couldn't tell me this BEFORE we went fishing???

Well I'm not really a Dr. But I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express the night before the trip. I really enjoyed our trip Jeff, with the exception of your "Pain in the Neck."
I don't think you could have been much more happy than I was that it came out so easily, except for the fact that it was you in pain and not me. I learned the trick watching a Jimmy Houston fishing show a few years ago. Like Jimmy said, "It didn't hurt me a bit."
What really blew me away other than seeing the hook imbedded past the barb in you neck, was how calm cool, and collected you remained throughout the ordeal. I don't remember you even mentioning how much it hurt or saying any four letter words that I would have been saying that could have been heard in the next county. When you mentioned cutting off the hook I could just see me trying to cut it with my leatherman. Then the proverbial light bulb went off and I remembered the trick I saw on T.V. I said I know how to get it out, and you said do it. No pressure here, the artery is at least an inch away. I was so glad only one of the three hooks went in. I don't know if it would have worked with two.

I was glad to finally get to meet you and my instincts were right, you can put people on the fish. I felt bad after we left because I realized I didn't ask you if you wanted any of the fish. I had a great time and hope we can do it again in the future. And thanks for sharing your guide secrets with me like......
1. It's true, its how you hold your mouth, and knowing how to hold your mouth.
2. It's not true, the fish don't just jump into the boat.
3. And what suprised me the most, sandys don't just hang out on structure.
Thanks so much for the opportunity to fish with you Jeff, I really did learn some things.

As for the hook removal technique, I knew I couldn't explain it well so I googled it and found this page that I believe will describe it a lot better than I can write it.
http://www.bishfish.co.nz/articles/general/hookout.htm

I had forgotten about the rock bass. I had never seen one before. I think Jeff was impressed with my lassoing skills. First I lassoed the rock bass then Jeff was good enough to untie me when I lassoed my left arm with with a slab . I had never realized I was a natural cowboy . Somehow I managed to do it without sticking myself . I'll never figure that one out.

Don't worry about the fish. I didn't want to clean any anyways.

Yep. Thats was some trick with the lassoing of the rock bass.

Thanks again for the ride. Next time I'll be more upfront about how my luck has been going.

I had forgotton to mention, the bite was one I had never experienced before with sandys, though I'm sure Jeff had. The sandys were swiping at the lures/slabs instead of taking them. This resulted in a lot of fowlhooked fish. If I had to guess I would say 15-20% of the fish we caught were fowl hooked. I think this would also account for the slabs letting loose when we would try to lift them into the boat. We also noticed several of the ones we got into the boat didn't have the slabs inside their mouths but on the outside. I knew the green trash fish did this at times but had never experienced it with sandys.
Jeff you are welcome in my boat anytime no matter what kind of luck you've been experienceing.
I had forgot to mention Jeff was good enough to give a short on-the-water class on the SI technology to some friends of mine fishing close to us, Bill and Pam, who had a brand new SI unit on their boat. Pam got it for Bill for his Birthday. Now thats what I call a Birthday present. I let Pam know right away when my birthday was.

WoW Pam is a keeper, box her

No problem on the SI instruction. The SI's are really fun to play with. If you talk to Bill, give him my email address (Jeff@Fishymemories.com) and have him send me an email so I can send him some pictures.

One thing I didn't mention about the fish letting loose at the boat and slapping at it down below. I've been thinking on this since the incident and I think I have an answer.

A couple of years ago, I was fishing for sandies with my dad and I was out-catching him at least 2:1. He was getting the bites, but not the hook-ups. Dad, being the smart feller he is, asked me what I was doing different. He switched baits. He mimicked my movements. Everything we could think of to help his catch ratio. What it eventually turned out to be was his rod selection.

He was using a stiffer rod than I was. My slab had a little more bounce to it and the slower action of the rod gave the fish a little more time to get the slab in their mouth before I yanked them outta the lake.

I mention that story because I think the same thing, basically, was happening on Saturday. When I got my gear ready, I just grabbed a rod off of my work bench without a thought to anything but having a stick with some string on it. It worked well enough. But it's one of the stiffer rods that I have.
Had I had with me a more limber rod, I think we could have alleviated the missed hook-ups and a lot of the foul hooked fish.

Also, the fish were hitting often on the up stroke. Put the slab on the bottom and lift it up and it doesn't sink when you let your rod back down. That can cause some less than stellar hook sets also.

Bad hook sets result in missed or completely lost fish. Or worse yet, a fish flopping around on the top of the water, throwing your bait, and then getting it stuck in your neck.

Never thought of it like that but now that you mention it, most of my rods are medium action, but one of the ones I was using Sat. was MH. That makes alot of sense. Taking notes. I had forgot to mention in the "Guide Secrets you shared with me,
4. When the slab don't sink, you have a fish on. I'll tell Bill to e-mail you. I'll see him tonight. I'm sure he is thirsting for knowledge on the SI right now .