My wife’s Mom and Aunt came down this past weekend for a visit and wanted us to take them kayaking. Her Aunt had never been in a kayak. The weather was beautiful Saturday and we chose a tame section of river to take them out on a short float. We didn’t get on the water until about 10:00Am. I knew I wouldn’t be able to fish much, but I carried a couple of rods anyway. The first chance I had to make a few casts was near the base of a little shoal. I was throwing a small shad colored finesse SB hoping to catch a Redeye or small Spotted Bass. I threw across the current seam and something just hammered that little SB. I even saw the dark shadow of the fish as it hit. It was a big striper and it took off like a bullet downstream. It nearly spooled me on the first run and I couldn’t catch up quick enough. It made a second strong run and broke me off in some shallow rocks. I was a little disappointed but never expected to land that big striper on light spinning gear anyway. I retied and caught back up with the ladies. A little further upstream, I came to another small shoal with a big rock near one of the current seams. I made a cast right against the rock and my line took off to the side. I set the hook on what I thought was a decent Spot. It turned out to be my new PB Redeye Bass. It was a fat 12.25” that easily went over a pound. I know that’s not impressive to most, but catching a Redeye over a pound has been a goal of mine for a while. It will also qualify for a State Certificate. I’ve caught many Spotted Bass that also qualified for State recognition, but just never submitted any of them. I will definitely submit this one!
I didn’t catch any other Redeye's but I caught 5-6 small spotted bass before we called it a day after about 3-4 hours on the water. The ladies had a great time and I think we will be having company on some of our future float trips.
The Redeye.
The Spots were all about this size or smaller.
by BamaFan » Tue Jun 05, 2012 7:51 am 
