The Granny

This one was a fighter. I was having a beer with my old man down by the lake and was about to go for a swim. That’s when I spotted a small largemouth under the dock. I quietly grabbed my flipping stick loaded with 17lbs test mono and simply attached a #4 bait hook straight to the line and pinched a small split shot on there for a little weight and control. I had some lively nightcrawlers in the boat so I hooked one once through the noose and just dropped him down beside the dock. As I expected, the little bass eagerly ate it and after a few brave jumps I had him lipped. I let him go. I figured, why not try the other end of the dock under the floating weeds while I’m at it. My worm slowly danced down into the darkness…the next thing I saw was this brute lunge, without hesitation, out from under the dock and weeds and just inhale my entire little rig. I made sure to get a good hookset and the battle was on. She really wanted to get back under that dock and that would spell disaster for me. There are way too many obstacles under there (including a boat lift) to hope to pull a fish of this magnitude back out to open water. So let me tell you I was glad I used 17lbs test line with my flipping stick at that point. No way would I have pulled this girl out with any of my spinning outfits. After a few jumps and 2 reel-ripping runs, she was in my hands. I put her in the livewell with the aeration on and ran to the house to grab the digital. The image quality is not the greatest because the lens fogged up in the intense humidity. Definitely the biggest largemouth I’ve seen personally. I’d say she cleared 5 and pushed 6. Just a guess though. Oh, and of course, she’s still growing as you read this…