Ive been working out of town lately, and fishing this one place here and there whenever I get a chance in the evening. There is this young guy Im working with from New Jersey who is a big striper fisherman. So, of course, I get to telling him about swimbaits. He says he wants to go fishing with me. I agree, and just as we are leaving I ask him if he wants me to bring my worm rod. He says nope, I can worm fish at home, I want to go big and do the Cali thing. I say thats the attitude!

So we show up at the dock, I give him a few pointers, and away he goes. Hes throwing what has been my number one bait all year.

Heres where my brain starts working. Ive been to this lake enough times now that Im due for a big bite (you know how that works), hes throwing my best bait, odd things happen when swimbaiting, etc., etc., etc. Im thinking maybe I shouldnt have brought this guy, hes gonna stick the bite Ive worked so hard for!

Well, about that time I hear a KaaaaBaaaammm! I look over and there is water flying everywhere with a giant head in the middle of it. Rod is doubled and my co-workers eyes are huge. Plus hes struggling to turn the handle on the reel. I give him the coaching tips and he brings it to the dock at which point I lip the fish. As Im lifting it out of the water and standing up Im in the process of telling him that he just stuck his first fish over 10! Not bad considering the NJ state record is only 10-14!

This is where it goes wrong. The fish freaks out, flies out of my hands, bounces off the dock, my bait flies from its mouth, it lands in the water and swims off!! I stared into the water for 10 seconds, trying real hard to figure out a way to get that fish back in my hand, but it wasnt gonna happen. I turn around and my co-workers eyes are huge, and his mouth is wide open with sorta a grin/frown/wtf just happened thing going on. Only thing that came out of my mouth was "welcome to California"!! No weight, no picture, no nothing. He says thats the biggest f'in bass Ive ever seen!! (5 second pause) And you just dropped it back in the water!!

I cant believe that in his first 20 casts with a swimbait he catches a fish like that. Classic swimbait story. I just knew the odds where up that day, and I just knew he was gonna get the bite. Anyway, I can tell you that for the rest of the evening he didnt say much because he was seriously concentrating and paying attention on each and every cast. We never got bit again.