Posted By: Barn
Fork and “The One That Got Away” - 06/20/17 07:25 PM
My Lake Fork, “The One That Got Away” story.
So, I decided to “work” from the lake a couple of weeks ago. I snuck off to Fork on the Wednesday prior to the SOT.
I have only been to Fork one other time this year. That was a few weeks earlier. On that trip, I was catching a lot of fish on a swim jig around the grass up in Birch. I was expecting go back and fish around much of the same areas and grass. To my surprise, almost all the grass was gone this time. Not sure what happened to it.
I spent most of the day bouncing around from shallow to deep trying to find some fish. The other half of my time I was on phone calls for work. Anyway, it was better than sitting in my office.
I didn’t have much luck most of the day but I wanted to check out one last spot, that I can usually catch a couple of fish off, before I left the lake. I pulled up and made a cast with a football jig and immediately catch a 3# chunk. Felling pretty good, I fish around the area and only get one more nip and that’s it.
I troll around a little to see if I mark any fish or bait. I can see bait in the area so I moved around to the other side to make a few casts before I pack up.
I throw my jig a little shallower this time. I soon as I start to work it, it feels like I am hung into a log or limb. I start pulling pretty hard. At this point, I cannot tell if I am pulling the boat towards it or it’s coming to me. I have a heavy action rod with 50# braid and 20# leader, so I keep pulling. After a few pulls, it feels like I am dragging in a large limb. Then it sort of feels like it’s actually swimming. Now, I am think it’s a big catfish. I finally see a boil and a part of a dark tail. I am like oh yeah, big catfish...
I start horsing it in at this point. The whole time thinking, I don’t want the catfish slime in my net. I need to try to just grab it. It keeps digging and I keep pulling… When it gets about 20’ from the boat she decides to come up. That’s when a mouth that appeared as big as a 5-gallon bucket opens up and shakes out my jig. NOOOOOO!!!!!!
I never actually set the hook since I thought I was hung up to start. However, with all the pulling I would have thought that it was hooked well. I don’t know how big she was. But I think she was one of those mysterious Fork giants. She seemed to be every bit in the teens.
It’s not the first time I have lost a big bass by thinking it was a catfish only to have a giant bass jump off. You would think I would have learned after the first time.
So, I decided to “work” from the lake a couple of weeks ago. I snuck off to Fork on the Wednesday prior to the SOT.
I have only been to Fork one other time this year. That was a few weeks earlier. On that trip, I was catching a lot of fish on a swim jig around the grass up in Birch. I was expecting go back and fish around much of the same areas and grass. To my surprise, almost all the grass was gone this time. Not sure what happened to it.
I spent most of the day bouncing around from shallow to deep trying to find some fish. The other half of my time I was on phone calls for work. Anyway, it was better than sitting in my office.
I didn’t have much luck most of the day but I wanted to check out one last spot, that I can usually catch a couple of fish off, before I left the lake. I pulled up and made a cast with a football jig and immediately catch a 3# chunk. Felling pretty good, I fish around the area and only get one more nip and that’s it.
I troll around a little to see if I mark any fish or bait. I can see bait in the area so I moved around to the other side to make a few casts before I pack up.
I throw my jig a little shallower this time. I soon as I start to work it, it feels like I am hung into a log or limb. I start pulling pretty hard. At this point, I cannot tell if I am pulling the boat towards it or it’s coming to me. I have a heavy action rod with 50# braid and 20# leader, so I keep pulling. After a few pulls, it feels like I am dragging in a large limb. Then it sort of feels like it’s actually swimming. Now, I am think it’s a big catfish. I finally see a boil and a part of a dark tail. I am like oh yeah, big catfish...
I start horsing it in at this point. The whole time thinking, I don’t want the catfish slime in my net. I need to try to just grab it. It keeps digging and I keep pulling… When it gets about 20’ from the boat she decides to come up. That’s when a mouth that appeared as big as a 5-gallon bucket opens up and shakes out my jig. NOOOOOO!!!!!!
I never actually set the hook since I thought I was hung up to start. However, with all the pulling I would have thought that it was hooked well. I don’t know how big she was. But I think she was one of those mysterious Fork giants. She seemed to be every bit in the teens.
It’s not the first time I have lost a big bass by thinking it was a catfish only to have a giant bass jump off. You would think I would have learned after the first time.