Sore Thumbs Again

Nathaniel wasn't complaining when he told me yesterday that his thumb was sore again. Anyone who spends much time bass fishing knows that the "sore thumb condition" is a good thing. It means that you've been grabbing a lot of chunky fish by the lower lip and that their sandpaper-like teeth have worn the skin a little thin on the inside of your thumb.

We were returning from a visit to the King Fisher Society, where Nathaniel had enjoyed a day and a half of doing battle with some of the chunkiest bass on the planet. With neither of our thumbs quite recovered from fishing at Jimmy Houston's ranch a week or so ago, it didn't take many fish to start making them raw again, and Nathaniel was hauling in big bass at a pretty good pace yesterday.

King Fisher Society's Richmond Mill Lake is probably best known for the amazingly big coppernose bluegill that call its dark waters home, but Nathaniel had a hard time putting down the bass rod when he kept ending up with 3- to 5-pound largemouths at the end of his line. Of course, King fisher's bream are so big that they can work on your thumb a little, too. You almost have to lip some because you can't get a hand around them!