8/8/15 good night on the river...

[Jigman13]

Hit the river at midnight last night. Water settled quite a bit since last time out--clarity was much better. Started off throwing soft plastics as per usual. Saw quite a few glowing sets of eyes in this stretch and could only get them to sniff and bump my offerings. I changed colors and sizes various times but they just wouldnt commit. Perhaps they were full or water temps are just too high for them to strike aggressively. Either way, it was good to see them in numbers on a different stretch of water. One of the eyes I saw was HUGH. Sitting right on the bank in 6-8" of water. She came up towards the surface, turned broadside and slowly swam away. her size gave me chills and had me wishing it was fall already! LoL... She wanted nothing to do with my swim bait.

Anyhow, let's get to the catching, shall we? Had a large channel that taped out at 26" inhale my soft plastic in some very fast water--led to a fun, running battle downstream as she peeled away. CPR. Hooked into a freight train about 30 min later that I could not stop. Easily dumped 3/4 of my spool then the hook popped. My guess is either a huge catfish or a foul hooked carp. Whatever it was, it was mongo!

About an hour after all of this JimmyLiveBait joined me. We casted for a few more hours. I had a smaller 4-5 lb channel bang the hard plug I switched to. Then Jimmy says "I calling it, bud". I say, "I'm gonna take like 3 more casts."

First cast, BOOM! Big bronze @ 3am... Fish goes totally ape sh*t. Jumping all over the place and shooting all over the river. My drag was singing that sweet, sweet tune. Up, then down, then up, then back down... Head thrashes and somersaults--just awesome as we're watching this with our headlamps on. Then she darts to my left, hard, and beaches herself in a thick mat of weeds and branches. I reach down and lip her. Nice river boss! Over 20" and THICK--prob 4.5+ lbs. Beat the pb river smallie I had last wknd! Didnt make another cast after that and headed home. Good night... Pics below. Catch em' up!