Big Mama’s Friend – Fishing Report 08-21-2007 Steel Lake

The gut feeling of mine that I have come to trust when it comes to knowing when to fish had created an overwhelming urge to go the a nearby lake this evening. I got all of the honey do items on my list done pronto!

The conditions lately have been a mild cooling from relatively warm temperatures and sunny to gray clouds and overcast skies.

My nephew, two-year-old son, and I arrived at the lake at about 8:00 PM made our way to the dock. Darkness was well set into motion. Not surprisingly, the fish were already active. They watched the small fish pursue even smaller fish as I prepped their rods with the lure of their choice.

Despite my recommendation of tying on a crankbait, both of them chose to use some homemade, hand-tied bucktail jigs. I had already decided to go with a crankbait, but since I already had a popper tied on from a previous trip, I thought I’d give it a few casts.

Even with all of the activity on the water, the popper failed to produce, but I didn’t think that it would. Many previous outings last year under similar conditions have yielded the same result.

Then, as I begin tying on the crankbait, my son tells me that he just dropped his Superman rod into the drink. I kept warning him not to slash at the water’s surface because he might drop it, but I guess some lessons and best learned the hard way. It was already dark and there was no way that I or any of the swimmers (bless them for trying to recover it in about 6’ of water) were going to be able to find it.

He was very upset gave a resounding, “No!” when I offered to have him fish with my rod, crossed arms and face! Oh well. He needed to cool off.

The first few casts were fruitless but they told me where the top of the grass line was. I tried to mimic the speed at which I thought the little ones were being chased. Then, I made one cast just in front of some pads and worked it over some grass, allowing the crankbait to touch the top of the grass so I could rip through it. The rip was followed with a pause and then a couple turns of the crank with another pause.

On that pause, I felt the take and it wasn’t subtle at all! This was not a drop shot nibble. This was an authoritative, “I want you, you tasty looking crankbait” type of strike. I started to reel up the remaining slack and the bass did the rest to make the line taut, essentially setting the hook on itself.

I was very excited because I knew it was a good-sized fish. I was also not fearful of losing it at all. In retrospect, I was actually quite calm until I realized that the line I had on the reel was 6# test and the rod in hand was rated for 8-17. I loosened my drag slightly to compensate. I called my nephew over and offered to have him take on the fight but he declined, even after I insisted. Bummer. I told my son to come and fight it and he told me he only catches little fish. Goodness gracious!! I’m going to need to have a talk with both of them!

She fought hard and tough and I can count two moments of stalemate in the fight. Her pull was reminiscent of a chum and her vigor that of a smallmouth. She was most impressive throughout the battle. I kept steady pressure throughout the bout and my patience was about to pay dividends. When she finally surfaced, I noticed immediately that her aggressive strike placed both trebles in her mouth. Yikes! With a three-beam guardrail in my way, I would be forced to reach for her under the lowest rail and risk a treble or two in my hand if she gave a last second shake for freedom. Fortunately, she played dead and that made it easier for me grab her.

I lipped her and I couldn’t believe I was “Iaconelli-ing” at the top of my lungs. I did not however run around the dock as if it were the deck of the boat. My nephew snapped a few photos. He also declined a picture with the bass so I placed her into the water with both hands to let her go. The swimmers in the water were close by and one of them jokingly asked, “You mean I’m swimming in this lake with something that big?”

Despite being stoked, I also felt a bit sad. My son lost his rod (next time he’s going to use the leash I devised) and try as I might I can’t seem to get them into bass. I guess there’s always next time.

One last thing to note: Right after the catch, the activity ceased. There might be something to the theory of fish releasing those panic chemicals to warn others. My nephew noticed it the same time I did. He’s well on his way to becoming a great and observant angler!


Conditions: Overcast, mild
Rod/Reel: 6’6” 2-piece MH Shimano Compre/Daiwa 1500
Line: 6# Stren Mono (first time fishing with this line. Thumbs up!)
Lure: Rapala DT6, Firetiger pattern (I knew this was the ticket tonight)

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