There comes a time in man's life when everything he has worked for, finally comes together. Mine occurred 5:45 AM the morning of June 9th, 2013. I had finally moved into the house my wife and I can only describe as, 'the last house we'll ever need.' It is a humble little house on the outskirts of Heaven; or more commonly called, Lake Mohawk, NJ. I have heard rumors about the fishing in Lake Mohawk, how 'the lake is private, only lake residents can fish it' and 'it's all catch and release.'. In the short time I have had to fish, given the packing, moving, unpacking, staging previous home and staging the new home, I only managed 15 minutes the prior day (Saturday) and landed a beautiful 18-inch largemouth. As I carved another 15 minutes Sunday morning, I remember telling myself, "What am I doing? I am not going to catch anything bigger than the 18-incher I had caught the previous day. Boy, was I wrong.
When I fish for largemouth, I fish a little differently. I fish my plastic real slow and I like to fish deep water. Not having my kayak registered for Lake Mohawk yet, I was forced to fish from the docks. Like the previous day, I went to the furthest point out from the docks so I could fish my 7-inch power worm in the deepest water available to me. After a couple of cast, I finally got 'the take' I was hoping for. Taking extra precaution with my hook-set, I immediately knew I had a big hog on the line. It is an odd feeling to feel something sooo heavy moving around under the water. When it was all said and done, I measured her with my tape measure at 21.25 inches. Using the weight conversion chart she could have been 5 3/4 pounds; given the enormous size of her belly, she might have been about 6 1/4 pounds.
This is a day and a catch I will never forget.
Beautiful bass. I've had Lake Mohawk in mind for years. Pretty close to my favorite, Lake Hopatcong. Have never caught a bass that big in Hopatcong--or anywhere.
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