A Most Memorable Bass Strike

Do you have favorite fish strikes etched in your mind - ones you remember as if they occurred 10 minutes ago? One of my favorites recently came into my mind, although I'm not sure what triggered the memory of a fish I caught 25 years ago.

The setting was a small lake in Barnwell State Park in the South Carolina Lowcountry. I suppose I had found a bit of free time while traveling somewhere by car and had stopped by the park, which I'd never been to before, to rent a johnboat for a couple of hours and try fishing the lake. I'm pretty sure I only had one bite, but that's no complaint. The bass was a good one, but not a giant (maybe 6 pounds). The strike itself was the memorable part.

I cast a weightless worm through a gap between two clusters of reeds and line draped over a strong strand of spider web between reeds. As I started reeling, the web strand held strong, keeping the worm high so it was skimming the top. Suddenly the surface bulged, like a folded piece of paper, about 6 feet from the worm. The bulge surged toward the worm, and the worm disappeared in an eruption. I set the hook solidly and connected.

Since I was alone and this was long before the era of cameras that shoot good selfies, when I released the fish, only a memory. It was (and is) a good memory, though!