Howdy Hall of Fame Family,
I wanted to share a story about a great day I had on the water last Saturday. I just got back from a weekend camping trip with my family for Father's Day at our family's lake lot property. This is a place that's very special to me, called Wildwood. It's where I first fell in love with the outdoors and where I cut my teeth as a bass angler, learning to hone my craft. I hadn't been there in quite some time, so I was stoked to be back and just spend time with my dad, uncle, family friend, and cousin.
There are several lakes at this property, the largest being about 20 acres. Early Saturday morning at the boat ramp of the biggest lake, we launched three of our johnboats that we keep at our lot. I was in a boat with my cousin, Jordan, while my dad and uncle were in another boat, and our other family friend was fishing solo in the third boat. Jordan and I left the ramp last, and decided we didn't want to go the same way as the other two boats. They had opted to fish the shaded, eastern side of the lake. Therefore, Jordan and I chose to cut across the lake and fish the sunny, western side. This side has a lot of standing timber, especially until about 30 feet from the shore. Since the sun had already risen, Jordan and I started fishing the deeper edge of the standing timber, in about 35 feet of water. I was throwing a Strike King Cutter Worm on a jig head, just letting it sink to the bottom and then doing a straight retrieve. I got snagged on about the 5th cast, and had to steer the boat over to the tree I was stuck on. I worked the bait free, and it got absolutely hammered as soon as I did. I set the hook, but my line had severed from the snag and it broke soon into the fight. Bummed out but not defeated, I picked up the oversized creature bait I had tied on a different rod. I made a cast right along where I could see the edge of the deep tree cover. I let the Texas rig sink to the bottom, and bounced it one time... "Great, I'm snagged again" I said. As I reached backwards for the trolling motor, I felt the tension in my line start moving out to the deeper water. It wasn't a snag! I set the hook (since I initially thought it was another log), and this bass took off! It leapt three feet clear out of the water, and Jordan quickly yelled and grabbed the net. I fought this fish in to the boat, and Jordan doing an excellent job as the net man. We landed it, feeling on top of the world! This was easily my biggest bass of the year, weighing in at 3 lb 10 oz. It was amazing to land a chunk like that at my home lake, something I had not done in a long while. We released the bass, and kept fishing. We threw a big variety of lures, from spooks, to creature baits, to worms, to crankbaits, to poppers, to jerkbaits, catching fish on just about everything we threw. We stayed on the water until noon, but the fishing never slowed. Most of the other fish we caught were about 1 lb or less, but we still had fun catching a lot of numbers. My dad caught a near 4 lb bass on the shaded side of the lake around the same time as I caught mine. Near the time of when we left the lake, I caught another decent bass on a big swimbait. It had already been among the better days of bass fishing I've had all year.
We ate a glizzy lunch back at the lot, and Jordan and I took the boat back out to another lake. It was 1 pm, and 92 degrees outside. We put our boat on the smallest lake at Wildwood, but ended up catching 4 bass and 2 crappie in about 40 minutes. Nothing huge, but fun to catch. We couldn't believe the fish were biting in the heat. Because of the heat, though, we called it a morning and went back to the lot for a nap, planning to go fishing again later in the evening.
After a good hammock nap and a filling meal of porksteak and veggies, Jordan and I headed to yet another different lake at Wildwood. We decided to only throw topwater lures, he was using a Googan Squad Revolver and I was throwing a Lobina Rico. We each caught 3 or 4 in about 30 minutes. Unfortunately, Jordan was still tired so I took him back to the lot, then met my dad and uncles who were fishing at the biggest lake from the boat dock, targeting crappie. I brought a pack of night crawlers down to the dock with my small dock rod, hoping to hook into some catfish. I caught a few bluegill and sunfish on the live worms on a small jigjead before trying another spot on the dock. Our family friend Charlie had set up a green, underwater light on the dock, which attracts zooplankton, which then attracts fish. I dropped my small jighead straight down to the bottom, and pulled up about 1 foot. Not long after, a weight all of a sudden spawned on the end of my rod. I set the hook gingerly, as it's a 3 foot rod and I had 4 lb test line spooled up. I thought I hooked a nice catfish, until it jumped. Right in front of Charlie and I. We went crazy, and I fought the fish to the dock where I landed it. This bass went 4 lbs, 6 oz, even bigger than the one earlier in the day! I couldn't believe it. Before last Saturday, my five largest bass this year in total didn't weigh 8 lbs, but I caught two in one day equaling 8 lbs. I instantly thought of my grandpa, who loved fishing from that lake before he passed, wishing I could show him the two big bass I caught that day. But I knew he already saw.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post. I had a great day of fishing at a place that I hold near and dear last Saturday, and I cannot wait to go back.
Tight lines,
Erik Hoffman, Hall of Fame Outdoor Co