XLDVee, Big G, Bass, 7/10/09, Bprice

[FishNews]

Hooked up with Brandon at Goose Pond yesterday morning at 5:30, and set out for a day on the lake with the "Guntersville Ace". We started the day off on some shallow hard bottoms, me throwing topwater and BP swimming plastics. 1st or 2nd cast of the morning, BP rares back and "SNAP"....breaks off on a good one right off the bat. We thought that was going to lead us into a great day, but we were somewhat wrong. Stayed in the area for a bit trying the same techniques, but just couldn't get anything to cooperate. So after a little while, we ran on down river a ways and started working some steep ledges that topped out in 10 ft or so and fell off to 30-35 quickly. We were throwing rigs and jigs up on top of the ledge and dragging them back to deeper water. Saw a lot of fish chasing bait, but just couldn't figure out what they wanted from us. So after an hour or so there, we focused on some submerged chunk rock in 10-12 ft and BP got on a roll with the C-rig. Had one rock pile that was producing small keepers for Brandon on nearly every cast. At one point, he reeled off 5 in a row, and would have been 6, but it came unbuttoned on him. So needless to say, he was "learning" me something yesterday. I struggled with more breakoffs than I have ever had in a single day of fishing. I think Brandon will agree that I should have had some better line emoDoh<br /><br />BP absolutely caught every fish in the area before we moved down river a mile or so to a long extended point that ran out to some deeper water. Marked all kinds of baitfish on the drop, but the bottom was a lot softer than we expected, so we didn't waste too much time in the area. Made another move to a main channel ledge just downriver and tried rigs, jigs, and big cranks to no avail. By now it was getting close to lunch, so we ran back up to Goose Pond and grabbed a burger and enjoyed the A/C for a bit. <br /><br />Set back out and focused on some under water springs, and I FINALLY got a fish to commit to my jig. Rared back and the rod loaded up. Good fish on! GOt it to the boat and it wasn't anything special for the G, but a solid 4.5+ with a bucket mouth on her. Snapped a quick pic on my phone just to prove I didn't get completely shut out by "The Ace", and got her back in the water. This particular spring was surrounded by 6-8 ft of water, and it was about a 15 square yd radius of a 10ft depression. Had some more fish chasing bait around us in the grass, but BP couldn't get any of them to take a Trap. So we ran back out towards the main river and focused on some shallow water humps. Fished around one up that topped out about 6 ft with swimming plastics and a chatterbait/swim jig. I threw the chatterbait out and WHAM! By far the strongest fish I have ever hooked up with. My 7' Heavy Nuclear rod loaded up and drag was BURNING! Lasted about 4 seconds and......SNAP! Possibly my new PB, and it was now swimming around with my swim jig as a lip ring.... emoBang I was shaken bad. Almost threw up. Brandon saw what that fish was doing to my rod and heard the drag. He knew it was a good one too. Took me a solid 5-10 minutes to regain my composure. It's not very often that I have a fish like that break me off. Shoot, it's not very often that I have a hook up like that period. <br /><br />Stayed in the area for a while longer with no luck, so decided to run back to our starting point for another try. Fished the area thoroughly for about an hour before I had to get headed back towards Georgia, but couldn't find any more takers. Definitely a frustrating day for both of us. We had more than our fair share of chances, but between me breaking off and BP losing fish on the hookup, we just couldn't make it work yesterday. All in all, Brandon boated 10-12 fish, all mostly in the 1.5-2.5 lb range. And I only boated the one 4 lber. Definitely not a typical Guntersville day. But we had a great time none the less. First time I've had the chance to get out with Bprice and I had a ball! I can only imagine how much fun I would have had if I could have hooked up with half the fish I broke off on. But I had an absolutely great day on the water with a great friend, and can't wait for the opportunity to rise for me to get back down there with him. Brandon just texted me, and him and Mike have already boated 31 this morning......Just my luck. I'm beginning to think that I am just bad luck anywhere I go. emoAngry<br /><br />Thanks for a great day on the water Brandon. I had a blast buddy! Hopefully we can do it again sometime soon! <br /><br />http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn56/dirtymax58/GBass-1.jpg