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This morning I slept in after a particularly long work week but decided that I might as well still try to get some fishing in. With blue skies and heat I figured my best bet was to go get on the gar at one of my favorite creeks. The creek is one of the many small, sluggish blackwater creeks that flows through southern Johnston County. Usually these creeks have good populations of panfish, some large crappie, monster gar and bowfin, and only the occasional dink bass. I started out throwing a beetle spin and on my first cast, caught a flier with gar teeth marks across his body. I took this as a good sign and cast him out whole, hoping that the owner of those teeth would come back. Several panfish later I got a good hit on my gar rod so I dropped my light action rod half way through the retrieve to check on it. The panfish had been bitten in half by a bowfin but he didn't stick around. I pu a small vintage spoon I bought off of ebay a while back on my heavy cover bass rod and targetted an overhanging branch hoping to snag a big ole crappie . As soon as it hit the water I felt a tug and set the hook. What I felt was a complete shock. It didn't jerk and run like a blackfish, and it had too much power for a gar, so I was at a loss as i felt my drag slip and saw my line rush downstream. After losing ground I decided to trust my 30lb PP braid and tighten the drag just a little tighter. After a while I managed to haul the beast to shore and was surprised at not only the size, but also the species. Last year I caught a 3lb bass out of this small creek and was excited. I never see or hear of people catching bass over a pound in water like this. But the bass I caught today weighed in at a massive 6 lbs. While it is not the biggest I have ever caught, it is one of the catches I am most proud of. She was twice as big as any other wild bass I have ever caught. No pond, manmade lake, or even managed river, she came from a pitch black swampy creek 15 miles from the river. I would rather catch her again then catch a 10lber from a pond or lake. There's just something about the wild water that gets to me. I didn't catch any gar or bowfin, though I did manage one more small bass when i reeled in the light action I had dropped earlier. This little creek has done me well as I can add the aptly named "Swamp Pig" (coined by Canoecat54) to the list of monsters that I have pulled from it's black depths.
