Fly Fishing Fodder For Friday – Noodling for Bass

Here is a video made last Sunday on Lake Ray Roberts. My editor said the original cut of this made little sense (it was a music video with no narration), and I had to agree. Especially since the last segment, where I go noodling, made no sense – at the time, or even now. Let me explain …

We were fishing a submerged stock tank, and I KNEW there would be a bass or three, somewhere in there. The one I hooked was very green, and obviously big and fat on the jump. So when it manhandled my six weight and ran under an obstruction, I wasn’t about to give up. I could feel the fish playing tug-of-war and still had a direct feel hindered only by the friction of the structure it had found. I handed the rod to CK, and went in.

Once I got off in the water (camera wasn’t rolling for this part), I immediately got caught up in a big root system that locked one of my feet in it, lost my balance and was off floating while I could feel my bone bending above my foot still locked in the maze. I got free of that and began feeling around to find a line wrapped around the roots, not mine, and another, not mine, and yet another – still not mine. This fish had a clear MO (method of operation). Just when I reached my line, and a direct feel of the fish (when I went underwater), he decided that was enough and broke my eight pound fluorocarbon. I’ll be buying a pair of goggles to carry as standard fly fishing gear.

You’ll have to excuse the haphazard narration, but what could I say?

So we have the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat, the elegance of fly fishing for carp, and the seedy side of noodling for largemouth bass – all in one video. Thanks for watching.