3 Catfish, 1 Nice Bass, A bunch of little white Bass, and A Dang Crab!

It was a beautiful morning. I met my dad at the boat ramp at sunrise. It was a cloudy but still morning and the sunrise over the river was beautiful.

          We put the boat in the water and made our way up into the Appomattox River. We ran way up the river to a place we had been showed by a guy when we were fishing the Appomattox a few months earlier.

          There was a ton of great wood and cover on this bank. With a bunch of little indentations where a fish could get out of the tide. We threw buzz baits and spinner baits all around them with no luck.

          Then we made our way to a creek where we have had some success in the past. Towards the end of the creek we started getting bites from small fish that just weren’t getting the hook.

          We assumed they were crappie and I said I’m going to tie on one of these small spinners and catch these fish. My goal is always to catch largemouth bass on the river. But there are few things more fun than just catching fish no matter what it is.

          I also commented to my dad “watch I’m going to tie this little spinner on and catch a huge bass on it”. That didn’t come to fruition early. But these little fish were biting and biting hard. Everyone felt bigger than they really were.

          It turned out they weren’t crappie but white bass. But I didn’t care I was happy to be catching fish. It also seemed like I was catching one every third cast or so. They all felt good and fought hard enough to make me think they were bigger than they were. I caught two or three that were barely the size of a goldfish cracker. But they weren’t any less fun to catch.

          Coming down one bank I had a fish on that was clearly bigger than a white bass. The fight was on and wasn’t easy. It made a couple moves to go under the boat and as I finally got it to the surface it spun. It was a catfish.

          Catfish make for a fun fight but I do not like them. They are not easy to unhook, they get slime on your line, and are a bit of a nuisance. My dad and I have been catching a lot of them on the river though.

          We joke if we were trying to catch catfish we would be great at it. But unfortunately we are bass fishing and keep catching them on baits a bass should be hitting and in spots where a bass should be. I caught three of them on the day on this little spinner. Everyone I was hoping was a bass but wasn’t.

          Then down one bank I cast into a little indention with some wood around it. I felt a bite and had a fish on. I could feel the weight and it definitely wasn’t a little white bass. I was just hoping for not another catfish.

          I took my time and kept the pressure on. When I got the fish to the side of the boat I saw green and breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn’t another catfish. It was a good sized fish too. We actually had to use the net for this one. Probably 3 and a half pounds or so.

          I said to my dad “what did I tell you, I said I was going to catch a largemouth on this little spinner”. While I was having a lot of fun catching little fish it is always good to get one of the ones you came looking for.

          We fished from about 6 to 11:30 I probably caught 20 of those little white bass. They all made me smile and I had a lot of fun.

          At around 11 we made our way to an old railroad trestle. It is an old wooden structure that is still functional. But it has a bunch of wooden pillars that the fish can get behind and several other wooden stickups in between each pole.

          It was at one of the first gaps that we fished that I caught the biggest catfish of the day but again it wasn’t the kind of fish I was after.

We kept fishing every hole in between this trestle and had a couple other fish bite. I had one other fish on and fought him all the way to the boat. Another largemouth bass that came off right when I was about to get him into the boat. He came all the way out of the water but unfortunately, I have strict rules that if you don’t get the fish al

l the way in the boat it doesn’t count.

          Then only a few casts later I felt something. I had been catching small fish all day so it not being that heavy didn’t draw much suspicion. I set the hook and started fighting the fish but very quickly I thought it must have got off. As I reeled it in I was looking at my bait and it didn’t feel heavy but there was something on it that I thought it might just be a stick. Then my dad said “you caught a crab”.

I pulled him up and my dad took a picture then grabbed the pliers and got him off the hook and threw him back. It just kind of made me laugh. You never know what is happening under the water. You just cast a lure out there and hope for the best. Then you get the fish or whatever kind of wildlife and find out what was really going on.

One of the joys of fishing I suppose is you never really know until you know.