I headed out to American with my buddy LMBDave with hopes of getting into a bit fat smallmouth bass!
Everytime we have gone, at least one of us has hooked into what we like to call for fun, "a big fat fatty" and that was true for this trip as well!

I started out the day fishing with a Beetle Spin with the Beetle Shad attached instead of what comes with it.
And boy oh boy was this effective!
I was catching Rock Bass after Rock Bass After Rock Bass!
I was casting close to shore, around docks, around pads, and everywhere I casted this lure was putting Rock Bass in the boat!
I even caught a small Smallmouth Bass on this lure at the end of the day.

I was also using a drop shot rig with nightcrawlers and totally killing the Rock Bass.
I even got a couple Yellow Perch.
I wanted to use Berkley Gulp Minnows on my drop shot rig because I read a lot of reports for American where this was effective.
However, the Walmart in lakewood didn't have any so I just stuck to nightcrawlers.
Throughout the day, I couldn't keep count but I know that I caught over 50 Rock Bass.
During this entire time, I was just hoping that I would be able to find a dock holding a nice Smallmouth and that he would show interest in my nightcrawler and just take it!

Well.. IT HAPPENED!!
I casted next to this floating dock with my drop shot rig and let it sink until it hit bottom.
Depth wise, my guess would be that it was approximately 8 - 10 feet deep.
The water was clear that day and I could see the bottom at the particular part of the dock.
So anyways, after it hits bottom, I reel in a bit until I have tension in the line and give it a couple twitches.
Then I felt 2 good tugs and I set the hook!
At first I thought I had a huge Rock Bass on because I felt something big at the end of the line but it wasn't fighting like a smallie.
Then I saw the fish and I started freaking out and then he started fighting like a smallie!
He started ripping out line and making several runs.
I was freaking out with a huge adrenaline rush and did not want to lose this fish!
Main reason I was freaking out so much was because I was using the most ultra light of ultra light rods.
I was using a Pen Rod Goliath made by Pen Fishing Rods!

So anyways, after an intense fight, we finally get it into the boat!
The second my buddy netted the fish for me I let out a scream that would make Mike Iaconelli jealous! LOL!

The Smallmouth weighed in a 3 lbs and was a beauty!

I didn't take any pictures but I took some screen shots of the video I made and uploaded to my youtube channel.

Check it out if you want to see the second half of the fight!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h40SL7YRCXA

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