Theo and I went back out for the late afternoon session and totally scored. We found honey hole that was on fuego. First 10 hours of the earlier session I caught 26, largest was 4.4. The next 3 hours for the afternoon session I also caught 26, including a 5.2, 4.8, 4.7, 4.3, and several over 3. Not by rocks or under green overhangs, but in the middle next to dead branches in about 10-12 feet. It was amazing and my thumbs were toast yesterday.
I also may have solved a mystery I’ve been trying to solve for. Like some other days recently, on Sunday I was fishing a large lure specifically thinking about quality over quantity. My 9 inch curly tail got slammed and the line snapped before I could even set the hook. I kept thinking that my knots were somehow weak, and by extension I was weak as well
But Sunday I caught the same fish that snapped my line just a few casts earlier. Peaking out of the fish’s stomach was the tail of my previous lure. I was stoked to be able to easily pull it out and make her comfortable again. 9 inches of the entire perfectly intact plastic worm came right out, complete with the hook — which somehow did not stick anywhere on the fish — and a bit of line broken just above the knot. The mystery that I think was solved is that I believe this fish swallowed this entire large lure in one bite, with her sharp teeth coming down on my line and immediately severing it. Knot was fine, lure was like new, and my thumb was bleeding. This type of thing has happened to me several times — I don’t know if I should be doing something different so that I can hook these larger fish without them severing my line. Is this a known thing?
Oh, and I broke my PB record by 12 fish Sunday and beat my son Theo by 3 fish (not that we’re counting). And throw in top water action with my dad’s old lure, catching a bunch of big ol’ fish, and solving a friggin mystery… damn fine day at Barrett!
