Fish Ohio 1996

1995 was another year without a Fish Ohio. That certainly isn't saying I wasn't catching a lot of fish. It just saying I didn't catch a qualifying fish.
1996 is a different story. I was fishing the aerator which I really enjoyed on August 17th. The aerator would draw in the fish because of the bait that comes to feed on the plankton and the fact that the pump would suck in bait and put it out on the bottom of the lake. I was casting minnows to a spot in front of the aerator that had a down draft in the water. I hooked into something a lot bigger then a crappie. I like to control my fish by keeping a tight drag and back reeling when I feel to much pressure on the pole. I was fishing ultralight so when the fish was hooked it really bent the pole. I was back reeling fast and thought I was in control. The fish must not have been hooked well and got off. The reason I told this story will become clear really soon. A little later in day I had a night crawler on the bottom and had a fish bite on that pole. I set the hook and realized I had another big fish on the line. It turned out to be a 27 1/2" 10# Carp that gave me a good fight. I fish with a heavier pole and 8# test line so the fish tested the equipment. I had it weighed and measured and released it back into the lake.

The very next week on August 24 I was set up in the same spot. I had been fishing since morning and thought I would try to cast to the same spot I had lost the fish the week before. Well here's a story that is just hard to believe, I hooked into another big fish. It was a similar cast at a similar time of day to the fish I lost last week. Do I think it was the same fish? You bet I do, fish are creatures of habit. It was obvious the fish had forgotten what happened last week when it tried to eat a minnow from that spot. Well guess what. It ran in the same direction as last week but this time I was able to control the fish. I tried hard to work the fish back to the boat. As I was bringing it in the fish suddenly decided it was going to jump. I guessed at that point it was a Large Mouth Bass because they have the habit of jumping to throw the hook. I was amazed when I saw the fish jump. It was the biggest Bass I had ever caught. It did another deep dive and I let it run. I started to work the fish toward the boat and to my surprise it was tired out. I got my net ready and with one swoop had the fish in the boat. I did a preliminary measurement and decided it would qualify as a Fish Ohio. I took it and had it measured and weighed. It was 21 1/2" long and weighed 5 1/2 #'s. It was the biggest Bass of my fishing life. I decided to have it mounted and it now resides in our family room. My wife is very understanding of my love of fishing and the family room actually has a fishing theme because of her decorating talents. I will take some pictures later on next week to show you what I mean . Here is a map of the Lake Hodgson in Ravenna, Ohio that I fish most weekends. It is 2 miles long and 1/2 mile wide with an eighty foot depth in the middle.