Lucky Lunch Break
Almost every day while working this summer I would fish my lunch breaks. Thats right.. I actually prioritized fishing above hunger. To be honest, most of the time, I would fish the senko off shore from various spots and come back skunked. Just not enough time to fish. A half hour break minus 10 minutes of total travel time.. How many casts do u thro in 20 minutes?
Every now in then I would hit a small LMB 2lbs or less.... had a 3.8 one day.. but the majority of the time, nothin.
Anyways.. the night before this trip I was out fishing till dark and caught what seemed like dozens of Larrys on a 5" green pumpkin/blk flake texas rigged (weedless) yamamoto senko with a 4/0 offset shank yamamoto hook.. While the fishing was good.. not one fish was over 1 1/2 lbs. kinda bored I decided to mix it up and think big. I dug in2 my tackle bag and found a used 9" senko (not a finesse) that I found on shore somwhere it was clear/white. Figuring I would miss the hookup texas rigging this thing cuz its soo damn long, I took a 5/0 hook and tied a 3/0 a few inches away from it and double texas rigged the biatch! ... Skunked for the rest off the night. grrrr....
The next day I took my lunch around 2:00 and I was 10 minutes late clocking back in.
I popped open my car door in a hurry to run to the lake, I grabbed my senko rod (cuz shore fishing with cranks or jigs in shallow water scares me!)
When I saw that Dbl rigged bastard that burned me the night b4, my heart kinda sunk. no confidence in the lure and no time to re-tie, I jetted over to the lake..
After numerous uneventful casts, I glanced at the cell, 2:33.. I was frustrated and late. Sometimes I just cant help it tho.... "JUST 1 MORE CAST" I said to myself.
So I chuck the monster frankensenko out there and let it flutter down. Nothin.. so I tap it a couple times.... (twitch*flutter*twich*twitch*flutter) nothin.
Feeling defeated, I cranked the reel and decided it was time to run back to work. Watching the line, I see the lure come up to the surface and start swimming its way back to me.........
The sound is what I processed first. It was like a beaver slapping the water followed by a thrashing sound. He dove under and I applied pressure and set the hook. I thought it was a pike.. fighting and taking out my line.
No scale on hand but I have seen my share of bass.. 3s 4s all summer long. I guessed his weight atleast 4 1/2 probably 5.
I was late getting back to work but couldnt stop smiling. My boss said.. "whats wrong with u? Ur late and u look like u just got laid or something." I said, "I kinda did." then he asked, "are you gonna see her again?" and I answered, "nah.. Im strictly catch and release!"