My wife always asks me why I fish so much. Here's the answer...

by Anthony Goins
(Olympia, WA USA)

I got off work at 3:30 pm and was on the lake (Long Lake in Lacey, Washington that is) by 4 pm. I motored around for about a hour before deciding on the perfect spot - about 20 feet from the shore there were two logs about 15 feet apart sticking out of the water.

I had my pole rigged with the oldest bait in the book, the night crawler. I made a cast at the nearest log. A few seconds later I got a nibble and decided to check my bait. Good thing I did because it was gone. I put a fresh bait on and used the worm blower with a 2 foot leader and a sliding bullet weight.

My second cast was out for about 2 minutes before I got the biggest strike of my life. After setting the hook I couldn't believe the tug I was feeling. After seeing my pole double over, my friend grabbed the camera and filmed me landing the biggest fresh water fish I ever caught... a 19 inch, 4.5 pounds large mouth bass.

After enjoying the fight he put up so much, I decided to release him - such a worthy opponent deserved a second chance... Fishing -- it's what I do.

I got another one

by Anthony Goins
(Olympia, WA)

Got to Offut Lake in Thurston County in Washington State at about 5 am.

Got two strikes on buzzbaits right away and lost both fish. I was so bummed about it I switched to worms.

Fished for hours catching a lot of bass 9 inches to 11 inches, 16 bass total.

Then me and my friend decided to go to the other side of the lake and fished the lilly pads for a bit with no luck.

We moved to the nearest dock and cast out. Got a big bite and set the hook, then I had the most awesome fight I've ever had from a freshwater fish. It had everything. A full on breach, the fish ran for the lilly pads... it ran again taking out line the first time my friend tried to net it.

All in all, the biggest largemouth bass I ever caught. Didn't think they got this big in Washington.