Surprise Strike!

In early August, I was fishing one of my favorite lakes outside of Durham, NC. I mainly troll crankbaits on medium light tackle for crappie from my kayak. It takes getting to the deeper water basin of that lake before getting into the bigger schools of suspended summertime crappie and shad. As I got toward the deeper water, I set out one medium light action rod with a smaller crankbait on 6 pound test in the right rod holder. The other rod was spooled with 12 pound test with a bigger crank since this lake is also known for having some hefty bass. That rod went in the left holder. I pulled towards the deeper water mid-lake where my depthfinder said the bottom was 47 feet below. There were a few small pods of shad showing up on the screen, but nothing bigger underneath them.

As I paddled towards a steep rocky bank, a savage strike bowed the heavier rod deeply, the drag screamed, and the rod holder spun towards the back of the boat. The momentum of the kayak stopped moving forward, and started turning the boat to the left. About 100 feet behind me, the water exploded in a heavy, loud splash. Whatever kind of fish it was definitely weighed a lot and was extremely powerful. Visions of a double digit bass were flashing through my mind's eye. I turned in time to see a wide tan & black striped tail slip back under the water, not a bass. I reached to grab the rod from the holder and the fish erupted from the water shaking it's head violently. It was a Longnose Gar between 4 & 5 feet long. That Gar must have weighed 25+ pounds and had the power of a Barracuda. The rod felt like it was hooked to a runaway freight train as the drag steadily buzzed. The splash of the fish's jump sounded like a log had fallen in the water. Just that quick, the hooks pulled loose, the crankbait flipped lazily through the air, and in a few seconds everything went back to quiet, almost like nothing had happened. It tore my nerves up and my hands were shaking as I reeled the lure in to check it. There were heavy scratches furrowed down the lure that made the plastic curl on the edges. I checked the line for dings, then retied, and went back to fishing for crappie. What a surprise strike! I would have liked to had him on longer, for the fight, because it was very intense for the short time he was hooked up. I ended up catching a nice mess of crappie and a few small bass, but you could put all of them together and not equal the power of that gar.

Jim

Great story, glad you ended up catching some.

Good read! Thanks!

Very informative read [emoji106]


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