Slow Day, Big Fish Night

14.25" Glow Demon w/minnow

4:00-11:00PM Bulldog, Jenny's, Rock, Bulldog, Rock, Bulldog, GOMH

Conditions: Cloudy to mostly cloudy, WINDY out of the SSE turning calm after sunset, 78-67 degrees

First thing I did tonight was check the GOMH.  The wind was howling in on the South side and people were fishing the North side and not getting anything.  I elected to move on to Bulldog.  Access was covered up so I went to Holy Family Access.  Much to my delight I got a bite there along the cattails.  Not to my delight the bass hooked me on a weed and I had the wade in to get him.

12" THE Jig w/leftover maggie

After a few more casts I came to my senses.  In the wind I was just asking to lose my Rocket Bobber and Jig.  Next I headed to Jenny's, no wind but to high of a risk as well, so I headed to Rock.  There was one trailer in the lot.  I fished for about an hour then the boat came in; A guy with his two sons on a maiden voyage with an older Starcraft.  I helped them get it and decided to give Bulldog a look.  The access was open so I fished there for half an hour getting nothing.  Dang wind.  I then went back to Rock.  Same results.  I headed back to Bulldog at 7:45 PM.  The wind was quickly diminishing then turned calm.  Fish were there and in a biting mood.  I had rough go hooking and keeping them buttoned because it was a long cast to reach them.  I did catch some eventually.

4.5"THE Jig w/maggie

7.75" Same

17.5"  Same

I didn't know Bulldog had any sunfish that size.  The bass was a pleasant surprise.  It got to dark for me to tell what was going on with the bobber, so I headed to the GOMH.

I was surprised that no one was fishing the South side and a couple of families were fishing bullheads on the NE side.  All they had gotten was a dogfish that they said went 2 to 3lbs.  Naturally that perked my ears up.  I set up on the SW side and tried for doggies for a little bit.  No luck so I switched to the lighted bobber and Glow Demon.  A couple of bullhead fishermen showed up with a lantern and took up the SE side just before 10PM.

Hay Hay Ho Ho

I got me a silver bullhead.

10.5" Glow Demon w/minnow

About 5 minutes later I got another good one (10.75").  Then Slabber Bullhead Rex Hit.

14.25"

Before I even laid a finger on her I new it was a new personal best.  I said to the bullead fishermen I thought it was at least 14 inches.  Turned out I was right.  At long last I now have a 14 Plus inch slab.  I took the pictures and quickly released her.  I can't help but wonder if this was one of the several 13" fish I have released over the last few years.

I was sitting on the concrete when my bobber went through the same area I had been getting bites and I got a 12" silver, which I kept.  I was just thinking I was getting dialed in.  As I went to grab another minnow I felt something slip in my lower back. I immediately stood up expecting to be in excruciating pain, but that didn't happen fortunately.  No doubt in large part due to the Tramadol I took about 15 minutes prior because my upper back was giving me some grief.  It's now 7 hours later as I write this and it hurts, but manageable.

I managed to get 9.5, 10.75", miss one, and a 8" before they moved or shut off.  They wanted the Glow Demon glowing with a good sized active minnow or stickleback.  The bullhead fishermen left at a quarter to 11 and I left at 11pm.