20 May on Centennial

[Platypus]

I was going to fish Severn yesterday but with Jonas Green being closed and all the traffic that I thought would be there from the Blue Angel Flying, I decided to go do some freshwater fishing in Lake Centennial. I haven't ever had great luck there, but I figured I would give it another shot, and I am glad I did! I put a weightless/texas watermelon senko on my line. I have had good luck this year with senkos so I figured I would stick with what I know, back to the basics, right? On my third cast of the day, I felt a little tug on the line and then nothing. I tightened my line a bit and waited. I felt another tiny tug, and for some reason, decided not to set the hook. I couldn't tell what exactly was going on so when I felt the line move again, I set the hook hard. As soon as I did, line was pulling off my reel. For the sake of integrity, my drag wasn't set too stiff, but it was pulling line more than I had expected. The fish surfaced and jumped and it looked to be decent sized, but with all the water splashing, I couldn't really tell. I finally got it to the side of my yak and realized it was a good fish (i will have to attach the picture later). I also realized that I hooked the fish really deep in the throat so I had my work ahead of me to get it out without killing the fish. After working it with my pliers, I measured it and it measured about 18 inches, and it was fat, I just don't know how fat because I left my scale at home...D'oh. The bite slowed down for a long time after that. I met a fellow snagged line member on his Kayak out there as well and he must have passed some good juju my way. I changed the worm to a kreature bait on the same hook and the bite picked back up. I ended up with 5-6 fish after the big one in the morning, but nothing was close to the size of it. I also missed a few fish as well, but don't we all? All in all, it was the BEST day I have ever had out on that lake with the great weather and great fishing. I am interested to go back there and do some top water fishing later on in the year.

[PrimePower2002]

Just to give you a heads up for the next time on Centennial.... Try a real small jig on a bobber about 2 feet down and you will catch more Crappie and Blue gill then you will know what to do with...Good luck and fun fishin

[DanMarino]

Nice report. Can't wait to see the photos. Switching to Owner Light MUTU circle hooks when fishing senko worms has pretty much eliminated hooking bass deep in their throat.

[Platypus]

I didn't know that you could rig a worm weedless with a circle hook. I will have to look into that. It is the second time I have done that in the last few weeks. I killed the first one by the time that I got the hook out. I think the one yesterday survived though.

[DanMarino]

It's not weedless. I hook it through the middle wacky style or hook it through the nose of one end.

[mepps3]

There is also a technique of cutting the line, feeding the line out the gills and pulling. This turns the hook around in the throat, so you can then grab the bend of the hook and pull it straight out of the gut and it pops free. I have done this many times with great success.

http://www.in-fisherman.com/2014/04/...-hook-removal/