My Biggest Bass of 2016 (so far)

 This Trip took place on July the 25.  I haven't  Bass fished much this year so this is my biggest of the year.  7.8 lbs .  2/10ths more and It would have been 8.  Here is the story.

I Got on the water  at 7am , and lasted until right at 9. Man is was hot at 9am! Caught maybe 15 crappie and 2 cats. Most of the Crappie were small but several were decent. The smallest crappie I caught had eyes bigger than its mouth. This little sucker hit a 1/2 oz Trap.

I also caught 2 catfish, 1 that was maybe a 1 1/2 lbs and another that may have went 4. The catfish hit an acid rain grub as well as most of the crappie hit the acid rain grub

I was thinking about leaving and was casting one of my last casts and BAM! Hard puller that stayed deep and strong. Really felt like a catfish as this fish never came up till the end and was digging deep. When I first got a look at this fish I was like . I got the fish in and it weighed 3.54 on the scale!!!!

 I was like thinking like there is no way this fish is not 7lbs  or more. re- zeroed the scale and it said 3.54. What? Then I looked at it and it was on Kilograms! Took a shot of the fish and released it. Then did the conversion and 3.54 KG converts to 7.8 lbs. Sorry guys, no smile as a fish has to weigh 8 plus for that.

Water Temp - 84 degrees
Air temp - 84 degrees
Reel- Shimano Citica
Rod - Shimano Compre 6'6'' MH
Line - 12 lb Stren
Lures Used  - 1/2 oz  trap, Kalins Acid Rain Grub, Monks 1/16 oz Chartreuse head

Roanoke River Float

Date  7/5/2016
Location- Roanoke River
Boats - 3 Old Town 119's
Lures-  White Spinnerbait, Pearl Fluke,  Shallow Shad Rap

***see videos at the bottom****

Last Monday Jeff called me and asked me could I fish Tuesday with him and Steve.
I reluctantly said I had to work . The more I thought about this and the location of the float had me itching to go. So, late that afternoon I starting calling employees to cover me and then called my DM and he gave me the ok.

I met Jeff and Steve at the takeout at aprox 9 am and off to the put in we went. Immediately we started catching Stripers. I caught 7 on Flukes and a White spinnerbait. Jeff and Steve caught that many or close to it as well. We had a Triple going one time as well and all 3 fish were landed almost simultaneously.   Pretty awesome!

A couple of nice fishermen we ran into on the river.

   We left the Stripers still biting and started targeting Largemouths. I probably caught 20 or so though none were lunkers. Most were caught on a White spinnerbait or a Pearl Fluke.   A few came on the shad rap but I was throwing the Shad Rap for Redbreast.   Several of the Redbreast were very nice and though the largemouth were only average size today they were fun.

I enjoy catching Redbreast just as much as the Stripers and Bass.   A couple of the Redbreast hit the big spinnerbait but most were caught on the Shallow Shad Rap.

 An awesome day on the water with some Good friends. Best lures today were a Zoom Pearl Fluke and a White spinnerbait.

Oh, can you say 3 Old Town 119's in the The same float? That's like Canoe overload.

Thanks for reading, Mack

#Roanokeriver

#weldon

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