It was Tuesday, October 11, 2005. The weather man had promised that there would be no rain on this day. There was also no wind. It seemed like an ideal day to do a little fall bass fishing.
I headed for Mason County’s Lake Wooten. Fishing solo, I launched my small electrically powered boat. It was cool and overcast as I started fishing. I started towards the west -- the right side from the launch. I had 4 rods rigged with different enticements – two casting rods and two spinning rods. The casting rods were rigged with a quarter ounce black jig and a crawfish crankbait. On the spinning rods were a Rapala minnow and a Cabalas minnow. Actually, I wanted to compare the Cabalas minnow with the Rapala minnow.
On previous fishing trips, fishing buddy Mike C. had great success with the Cabalas minnow and I have been a loyal fan to the Rapala for decades. I started with the perch colored Cabalas minnow. Amazingly, on the 3rd and 4th casts I hooked bass. The first one was a chunky 10 ½ incher and the next one a little smaller.
As I continued down the shoreline I caught bass from both the Cabalas minnow and the Rapala. And, -- I caught 3 or 4 bass on the black jig in the deeper water off the ends of docks. I liked the quieter splash down of the Rapala a little better than the Cabalas minnow. Also the bass hit better on the surface with the more buoyant Rapala. However, they seemed to hit better on the retrieve on the Cabalas minnow. There is room in my tackle box for both lures.
I fished the entire shoreline and had probably hooked about 20 bass. None were over 12 inches. As I neared the extreme west end of the lake, only about a hundred yards from the public access, I made a long cast with the Cabalas minnow. There was a huge swirl on the surface and I tried to set the hooks. The line was streaking towards me so fast, I was having some difficulty catching up to the bass for another hook set.
She passed under the boat and floundered on the surface giving me a good look at her. She was huge!!!!! She appeared to be even larger than the nice 5 pound, 13 ounce fish I had hooked in this lake earlier in the spring on June 14th at the extreme east end of the lake. Of course, bass always look bigger in the water -- And, after they get away.
The behemoth bass passed back under the boat and headed back toward the shoreline. The old Mitchell 300 screamed as she peeled off line against a strong drag. I was glad she had hit this lure. I was using 15 pound test Power Pro line. It is a braided line with a diameter size of 4 pound mono and has near zero stretch for great feel and hook setting. I was confident that she would not break off.
At the shoreline, she again reversed directions and charged towards deeper water and back under the boat. Anyway, after nearly a full minute of very exciting action, she somehow shook the hooks. Nine needle sharp hooks on the lure and a double hook set and she still managed to shake them out. Big bass have very hard mouths and sometimes good hook sets are difficult to accomplish.
Of course I was disappointed that I couldn’t check her vital statistics but I tipped my hat to her. She had battled hard and earned her freedom. Of course, I would have released her anyway but she didn’t know or care about that. Nice fish! Great fight! Unforgettable! The kind of fish that keeps bass anglers casting. All in all it was a very nice day of fishing on one of the beautiful northwest lakes.
PS. Thanks for the lure Mike!

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