My Icanellie moment

[Tikimahn]

Woke up at 5:10, hit the water by 5:30am. Upon walking into the lake i realized i'd left my camera at home. Too late to turn back now. Get in and start working the spook. Got a strike in the first 5 minutes but failed to hook up. Moved around and tossed a trap, BANG! first cast got a shorty. Moved to another spot, got another shortie on the trap. Missed another strike on the spook, then hooked into a keeper fish and he shook loose. Nothing to big so i didn't let it bother me. Continued working the lake and things died down real quick as soon as the it got a bit warm. On my way back out I tossed the spook out for what would have been one of my lasts casts and then i get a nice strike, he doesn't blow up on it, but hit it on an angle and sucked it down. As i hook up, i KNOW this is a SOLID FISH. She jumps and i get real excited when i see how big she is. I get her all the way to shore and she makes a run for the cat tails, so i tighten her up a bit more and the second i start to bend over to grab her she shakes and off comes my spook and she winks at me and takes off ever so slowly, what a tease. Several curse words later I get my bearings together and continue to work my way back to the car with no luck. What a shame, I've been hunting for that 4+ pounder for several years now, ever since i caught my first big fish, and still haven't broken that 4 pound mark, let alone the 5 to tie my PB. Such a heart breaker, she was an easy 4, and now im devastated. After a week of absolutely pounding quality fish on the spook, i've had some real tough luck. Missing strikes alot, the good ones i do hook up on have been shaking me loose, it's tough to maintain that confidence when you know your doing everything right, the fish are just getting lucky. Man what a heart breaker.... I'll be nursing my wounds for a while. It's still early in the year though, hopefully i can hit my mark, maybe catch that pig again.

[2sac]

Promise us a break dancing video when you catch her

[GregK.]

close but no cigar. Just gives you more motivation, eh?

[Tikimahn]

I'll try Joe lol. I dunno man, it's more of a heart breaker to me. Going through all the dinks to get that one monster is really taking it's toll on me mentally, then i finally get the one i've been searching for and i lose her before i get a hand on her. I guess it coulda been worse, I could have had my camera. haha.

[Tussin33]

Yea i know that feeling my PB bass 5+ plus was a bitch to me too. i was using a popper with some feathers behind it, some bogus Jeff gordon popper! with the 24 on it and everything lol. He jumped up and slammed it 5 feet from shore snapped my line that i should have restrung and went out in the middle and jumped several times with the lure in its mouth... never seen him again just got to find that better pig

[hookthis]

we all know the feeling, I have lost a trophy even after landing... 2 flops and it hit the water before it could be stopped.

[localyokal]

Tough break. Keep after them and you'll get that big one to the thumb.

[Tikimahn]

Without a doubt, it's still early in the year. It's just tough cuz you come across those fish so few and far between out here that it's such a heart breaker. My PB came 5 years ago almost to the day too. She wasn't bigger, but still an extremely tough fish to lose at shore.

[hookthis]

my 3rd biggest bass actually came from a very small pond inside the city limits, the Audobon Nature Center at Pulaski/Peterson. We used to jump the fence years ago. If anyone has seen the place... I threw back a 6-6½lber about 23 years ago, it should be ready now!

My point is, the more places you look, the more unexpected big ones you will find. That pond is very small but held fish no one believed would be in there. It also held a 70lb snapping turtle that bit a hairbrush in half. Good times, good times.