Good Luck &
Take a kid fishin’!
Bob King
In 1989 I was doing a TV show with Tony Bean on SML. He caught a nice
small-mouth, and I cast my line behind him, hoping to catch a trailing
small-mouth, and it worked. I could tell right away that this was a strong
fish, and hopefully a big one. I was fishing a worm on the bottom in
about 15 feet of water. When the fish hit, he started pulling drag right
away, and the line was pulling straight down.
I figured he could not have been going down, since I hooked him on the
bottom. That told me he must have gone under structure (a log or limb),
and was swimming
away from the boat. We re-positioned the boat several times to try to get
this fish. I had about given-up, and was thinking of breaking the line,
when the fish broke the surface and tail-walked to the boat -- right into
the view of the camera lens.
If you are fishing a point (another site that may have structures: brush,
trees, or rocks), position your boat off the point and start casting to
about 5 ft of water, and work your way back toward deeper water until
you find the fish. Work that area very slowly and carefully. Fishing
around structure is really a test of a fisherman’s skills and patience, but
it can be very productive, both in terms of big fish and numbers of fish!
If you have the urge and the patience and want to hone your skills try it!
And remember: take a kid fishing!
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