I woke up yesterday about 8:00. I walked out into the front yard and became as giddy as a little school girl. Light winds, overcast, warm...IT'S TIME FOR SOME TOPWATER FISH!!!!!!

I ate breakfast with my girls, kissed my wife and daughter and headed out the door. When I arrived at my first spot I still had a Zoom speed craw tied on from my previous outing. Even though I had planned to break out the frogs I decided to make one cast. Just as it hit the water...BAM!!! Set the hook, 2.5 pounder. I got it to the bank and realized the fish had another hook firmly stuck in its jaw. After some minor surgery I removed both hooks and set the bass free. Shortly after that I switched over to a Zoom frog and started killing them. It was AWESOME!!! Well then the wind picked up. Now the conditions are overcast, warm, and breezy. What shall I throw? Everyone in unison now...SPINNERBAIT!! I tied on a 3/8 oz Stanley Wedge in a perch pattern and again on my first cast, BAM!!! Unfortunately the outcome was a little different. After I set the hook I saw a big bucket mouthed bass briefly break the surface sloshing around and then she dove again. I had her stuck good, so I thought. I had her almost to the bank and inexplicably the line went limp. I slouched over in defeat and slowly reeled in my line. This is what I saw:



I've had bass straighten out hooks on cheap spinnerbaits before but Stanley makes a great product in my opinion, and I have never had this happen with one of theirs. I can't even guess how big she was. Oh well, I killed 'em all day anyway, and she's still there for another day.

It was at least 18.5
That hook is rated for 18 by stress engineer gurus. :whistle:

Now you'll have dreams of that fish forever. Keep fishing for her, you never know what will hit your bait.

24.6lbs

that's awesome....


Broken hooks are the reason, we all keep going back

WOW

wow is right, thats impressive..bet you almost had a heart attack

if it makes you feel better....I have had carp as small as 15lbs straiten hooks ....either way this happend to me once a long time ago I was so upset I called the company that made the lure and sent it in to them and they sent me 24 baits in the mail...just a thought...

Great story....keep yer hook in the water and you can stick her again!

Still fishing your honey hole that supposedly doesn't have any fish?!?!

too bad you didnt have a trailer hook on

This is actually another spot in my neighborhood. Some of the neighborhood kids go there to catch perch but other than that I've only ever seen one other guy bass fishing and I'm there at least 3-4 days a week. I've had a lot of people pass me on the bike trail and strike up a conversation. A couple of weeks ago an older guy stopped and asked me if I was having any luck. I told him no. Little did he know, I had a 3 pounder free spooling while he was talking to me!!! He looked down and saw my rod move and he said, "Hey, I think you've got a bite." I told him that I was just hung up and he said, "Yeah there's a lot of trash in there." He went on to tell me that I was probably wasting my time because he thought the pond had been "fished out" years ago and then he went on his way. I reeled in my fish and returned it to the pond smiling the whole time.

i did the same thing to a crank bait a few weeks ago but i think it was the fact that i was using braid, got it caught in tree and wasn't going to cut the line.

I took your advice and sent an E-mail to Stanley with the picture attached. I have heard of companies having a bad batch of lures from time to time so I just wanted to let them know about it.

They responded to me in less than 10 minutes!!! They were very apologetic and offered to send me a replacement ASAP even though I hadn't asked for one. The lady said she had personally placed the e-mail and the picture in Mr. Stanley's hand and that he personally was going to look into it and contact me if he found a problem.

I have no affiliation to Stanley but I'm here to tell you that I am very impressed. I have always been more that satisfied with their products and now I know they have impeccable customer service as well. They just made a customer for life!!!

having fish stories makes you a real fisherman!!!LOL,,,,,rick