Bass fishing can lead to many stories of success and conquest. Today, however, it is time to reprise a story with a series of events that happened a few years ago.
It was a wonderful fall day at Santee Cooper Lake. The squarebill crank bait bite was on, and we were having one of our best catching days of the season. The bass at Santee tend to be a bit on the chunky side, and even a small fish represents a formidable fight. As our fishing day was winding down, we decided to fish a tree-covered shoreline one more time before heading back to the ramp. We were in Taw Caw Creek in an area of about eight feet of water and casting up and under the trees as close to the shoreline as possible. The water at the shoreline is only about a foot deep but on this day the bass were feeding there.
Let me continue this story by saying my casting skill is not the best in the world and errant casts are all too familiar. On my next cast, my squarebill was sent to the shoreline but, unfortunately, was intercepted by a tree. Deciding to go after the lure, I headed the trolling motor that direction. As I neared the shore, the water was just too shallow and had to pull up the troller. At that moment, I was able to grab a tree branch fairly close to the lure. However, this maneuver caused the line at the rod’s tip to wrap around some other branches thus complicating the lure retrieval. Now I had a twisted mess, and no matter what I tried the branches would not break. I had to cut some of the branches with my trusty case knife. While hacking away at the bundle of branches, the branch retaining my lure snapped with a twang sending the lure back towards the boat where it got caught in the flap covering the zipper on my jeans.
Crazy Things Happen And Continue
With the lure recovered and stuck in my fly, I inched the boat back into the deeper water so I could get to a safe location and remove the hazard from my pants. It did not take long to realize it was hooked very well, and the only thing that could be done was to cut a little slice on the zipper flap to release the lure. All of this took a bit of time and quite frankly was starting to irritate me. I cut the lure free and at that moment I accidently dropped the knife. I watched as it hit the front deck, bounced towards the trolling motor mount and then tumbled into the lake to be lost forever. This recovery of a $2.99 H20 squarebill has now cost me a $40.00 knife. Still being irritated, I tossed the lure onto the deck of the boat but unfortunately right into my net. Now it was hung up in the net. Unfortunately, I did use some inappropriate language and was scolded a bit by my fishing partner wife.
That was the last straw. I decide to heck with it and just wanted to head for the ramp and call it a day. I stowed the rods, cleared a bunch of tree branches from the deck, put on the PFDS and climbed in behind the helm for the short trip to the ramp. Alas, the motor would not start. Again after a few more colorful words the Mrs. looked over at me with a scowl and let me know the kill switch had come unhooked during my tirade. Embarrassed by my actions, I turned the key and the motor started and we headed home for the day.
This confession is a true story of one of the many adventures that have befallen this angler. Although I am not proud of my performance, I can’t help but laugh about this particular day and how messed up things can get when you are upset.
Bud Kennedy
FISH ON !
Crazy Things Happen
