Darn! A new personal best and no camera

I finally caught a shellcracker over 14 inches long and I didn't have my camera with me. I usually have a camera with me to record any really nice fish but when I fish from my kayak, I like to keep things light so I left my camera at the house. I was using my three wt outfit and casting a size 12 black mohair leech. I ended up catching between 20 and 25 fish including several 15-16 inch bass, but the big shellcracker fought harder than any of the bass. Bream in the 10 to 12 inch range are not uncommon in this lake, but this one was a real beauty. Darn!

Jim Smith
Georgia

Jim,
You're starting to sound like me! Seems like every time I catch a fish of significance, I forget my camera.
That 14 incher would have been one I'd like to have seen.

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You can call me Mike & you can call me Mikey..Just remember that this site's about sharing!

Tough break, Jim. I, too, would have liked seeing a picture of a 14 inch shellcracker. I guess you'll always have that image in your mind and there's actually an advantage to not having a picture ..... in time the fish will grow larger and fatter than it really was. Shoot, 20 years from now you'll be telling the gang about the day you caught a 19 inch shellcracker that was fat as a football.

[This message has been edited by gqualls (edited 19 April 2006).]

Hey Jim,

If you make it down next month as planned
my goal will be to get a picture of an even
larger red ear (shellcracker) attached to
your tippet.*G* It's not guaranteed, but
it is well within the realm of possibilities.*G* Warm regards, Jim

You know...if you had taken the camera, you would have never caught that fish! http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/wink.gif

"ohiotuber
Jim, You're starting to sound like me! Seems like every time I catch a fish of significance, I forget my camera.
That 14 incher would have been one I'd like to have seen. "

Y'all are both starting to sound like fishermen to me... http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/wink.gif

J Castwell,

You sould like my son, only you're going in the wrong direction. I'm sure when I tell him about this fish, he'll say something like "Are you sure it was 14 inches long? That's a pretty big shellcracker and afterall, nobody else saw it and you didn't even take a picture." That's probably what I would say to him as well since we're fishing buddies and there is always just a little bit of competition between us in fishing as well as any other sport. Perhaps I should have called it 15 inches longs and then allowed myself to be talked down to 14 inches.

Jim Smith