Revenge

Since moving to Lake Mohawk, I have been casting a 7-inch power worm.  It has been extremely convenient and I had actually grown attached to my little 7-inch power worm.  So much so, I had named him Charlie.  Last week I was driving down East Shore Drive and saw a little stream dumping some fresh water into Lake Mohawk around Beach #5.  On a whim, I elected to throw my 7-inch power worm from the boat launch dock.  For whatever reason, I was satisfied with fishing the drop, this time I retrieved the worm with a   'flick & drop'.  I would flick the worm and then let it settle.  No expectations.  All of sudden, halfway between the boat docks and the boat ramp docks, "BAM!", I got a strong hit!  And when I set the hook, nothin.  In fact, not even the worm; clearly what I had hooked was a pickerel and he took 'Charlie' on a little ride.

So this week, on my way to get a haircut, I thought I would hook up my perch patterned Rat-L-Trap and give it a couple casts.  I over estimated the number of casts, because on the first retrieve, "BAM!", I got the strike I was looking for!  Let me tell, I was quickly reminded why I love fishing for pickerel because the fight between myself and this 22-inch pickerel was epic on my light tackle.  I eventually landed him and I had to ask him a question, "Mr. Picks, you know anything about a green 7-inch power worm who disappeared around these parts about a week ago?"

 Mr. Picks, "HA, HA, HA!"

"Setting the Hook"

This weekend I landed an 18 inch Largemouth on Saturday and then a 21 1/4 inch Largemouth on Sunday.  Both of them were hooked with a green 7-inch power worm on a Texas rig.  I am fairly certain of two things which enable me consistently catch really big fish; 1) Fishing deep water 2) Using a big bait.  

But today I wanted to share my knowledge on how I set the hook on these big fish.  

The first thing I do when I feel a fish pick up my worm is to point the rod tip at the fish and slowly reel in any slack.  Once I feel I have taken up all the slack, I know I have pressure on the line.  The next step takes a bit of imagination, but at this point I imagine the bass' mouth is shut and he is swimming around with my plastic worm and hook inside his closed mouth.  I will then raise my pole from the 9:00 position to about the 10:30 position, or until I feel the weight of the fish.  What I am trying to do here is bring that worm and hook to the front of the bass' mouth.  For an analogy, imagine somebody pulling a spaghetti noodle out of your mouth and all you can do to try and stop it is to hold the noodle with your lips; unless at the end of that noodle there was a big meatball you could hold on to.  This is how I imagine the fishing line coming out of the bass' mouth.  At this time the eye of the hook is at the front of the bass' mouth (with the worm) and the pointy side of the hook is resting against the inside of  the bass' mouth, lined up like a surgeon resting the head of a needle against your skin.  When I bring my rod from the 10:30 position to the 12:00 position, I simultaneous give a the line a quick jerk by flipping my wrist to "pop" the hook quickly through the bass' mouth (hopefully, the top).

 In all, it is a little exhaustive process but I feel it gives me the strongest hook-set without without "ripping" the fish's mouth, gutting him with the hook or poking his eye out.

Here is the 18 inch Largemouth I caught Saturday using this hook set technique.

Texas Rigging in Early Spring

Last year I was really turned on to the Wacky-Rig 4" and 5" Senkos for fishing the Delaware.  And I learned what kind of awesome tool the Senko is in the river.  However, this Spring I am back to lake fishing and there is no greater setup then the 7" Power Worm on a Texas Rig.  My color of choice is dark green with black flecks.  I also like to put 3 or 4 red beads on my line as I feel their 'clacking' together resembles the Largemouth Bass' #1 predator during spawning season, the crawdad.

I usually put the Texas Rig worm weight on as it gives me more range and accuracy when I am fishing from my kayak.  However, given my new home at Lake Mohawk and my fishing from the docks, I suspect I'll do more flipping and will go with the natural fall of the worm.

My First Lake Mohawk Larry

It has been a crazy 2013 so far as I have had many big milestones to tackle; a destination wedding in Cozumel, MX, bachelor party in Las Vegas, a visit with Dad and taking the family to Disney.  The last of milestone I had was closing on a new home in Lake Mohawk, moving all my furniture and now renovating the old home for rental.  However, this past Friday we had a 3-family BBQ at Lake Mohawk and I got to make about a dozen cast with a green & pumpkin seed senko around sunset to nab my first Lake Mohawk Larry.

I have really grown fond of the Senko and almost exclusively rig it Jersey style.  Could be a good summer.