She's a Beauty!

A 6.45 lb. Big Bass at the California BASS Nation
Open/State Team Qualifying event at Pine Flat.
cr. Tyler McCollum, CBN

     She's not the biggest California bass your going to see, but she's the biggest one I saw in two weekends at Pine Flat Lake, CA.  Fishing was a struggle for decent size and for some just to get a limit.

     The event was the California BASS Nation Open/State Team event at Pine Flat, January 27-28th, 2019.  I had come up two weeks prior for a Sat/Sun pre-fish and had only managed to get one bite per day.  Just prior to the event, I fished Thursday without getting a single bite and Friday only yielded one.  All were 2 lbs or less.  My hopes were not high at the start of tournament day, to say the least.

1.5-2# spots were the norm.
This is from day 1 weigh in.
cr. Tyler McCollum, CBN

     What changed?  Not much with the weather or conditions.  Lake was slowly rising about 6-12 inches per day, high bluebird skies and no wind to very light breeze.  I changed, slowed down, and fished deeper.  After doing so I had many more bites and realized I just didn't fish slow enough in practice.

     This Big Girl was my 3rd bite of the day.  Fishing a steep and extremely rocky bank, when I felt the weight and set the hook the drag let out line.  First thing through my mind was another snag, but as she slowly came up I realized it was far better than the 13-15-inch fish I had been catching.

Makes you happy to ask for that extra
weigh-in bag!
cr. Jeff Jones

     When I saw her the first thing I thought about was, 'When did I last check the line for nicks?'  Getting snagged all day, and usually being able to pop it off the snag, I was in the habit of checking the line regularly.  After she was netted, I thought, 'If I'd have lost that fish I would have been a wreck for the rest of the day.'  Thankfully, that didn't happen.

     She was caught on a dark 4" Hula Grub and 1/2 oz. football head, using 15# Berkley Trilene 100% Fluoro line on a Abu Garcia Revo Premier reel (6.6:1) and Abu Garcia Veritas MH rod. Important for her survival was the Bends Mender needle used to deflate the swim bladder.

     Due to the big bass I moved up to 5th overall and saved what would otherwise be an average finish.  You can be sure I fished that area for a long time after that bite, but no more bites were to be had.

I just couldn't stop looking at it.  It's been awhile...
cr. Tyler McCollum, CBN

     It was a struggle for us, my non-boater and I.  He was in 3rd or 4th going into the final day and was getting short bites but no keepers on the finesse worm.  We spent the last quarter of the day running around to different spots and managed to catch a few more.  

     Congrats to the Wells family; the Father and Son of the same name who tied for 1st Place boaters!  Dad won the tie-breaker.  And Andrew Sayles who won the co-angler side.

     The conversation on the water led to a statement that stuck with me.  While we struggled to find a bass that would bite we never stopped or gave up.  

     The statement was this: 

As fishermen, we inherently have eternal hope and faith that the next cast, or the next one after that, or the next one, will be the one that gets the bite, could be the Big Girl, and saves the day.

     Let's hear it for hope and faith.  I think it is a quality that all fishermen are either born with or learn along the way.  I have faith that that will never change.