We Hooked The "Big One"…

by gunner

 

I have many, many memories of fishing trips I have been on over the years.  Some have been exciting, some have been humbling, and some have been funny.  Most of these have involved my best friend Dave…he and I are not brothers, but we might as well be.

 

Other than my grandfather, most of my fishing is now and has been with Dave.  We have been in tourneys together, fished in snowstorms and thunderstorms together, and been burnt like lobsters together.  There were times that others went with us for all night catfishing trips, and some that went bass fishing with us, but mostly it was just us.  I have seen two poles break just from his casting and I have seen him land a 7½ pound smallmouth bass out of the Ohio River at night from the bank while we were catfishing.  (Which I still to this day say was my fish!)

 

We have caught many, many things on the Ohio River.  One of the stranger things:

 

3 am…only a quarter of the moon out…and we are fighting the biggest thing we ever hooked on the river!  Drag was ripping off the reel, line was going everywhere in the water, the pole would bend and then bend more…go back to normal, then bend again…and this went on for over 30 minutes.  We would reel and look like we were gaining on it, and then RIPPPPPPP more drag…the current was very strong that night and that was working against us (more than we knew).  We took turns on the reel trying to get what we were sure was a 100-pound or more fish.  Then about the 40-minute mark it started coming in easy…

 

I grabbed the maglite and shined it on the water.  I couldn't wait to see this monster…we had fought it and won!!  Up it came, slowly out of the water…we saw the head first, the light was shining bright and reflecting…on the blonde hair…of a woman!  We got her to shore and found out she wasn't just any woman, but a woman of the inflatable species…someone had let her air out and just threw her in the water…we'd hooked her in the side and reeled her in.  Now, I'll tell you, after what we went through, that was quite a shock…we sat there for a minute, and then just packed up and went home…fishing for that night was over!

 

More memories on the way…

gunner

 

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