FLORIDA: Bass and a New Weird Species
Posted on October 18th, 2009
The bass can't resist the popper.
Going to high school reunions is a phenomenon we all must endure at some point, and so it was with my 20th down in Florida. I guess we had a hell of a class back in the day, as everyone who came back turned out to be pretty solid.
The fly ride.
I stayed at my buddy Z’s house out in horse country. When you live in horse country you can have cool wheels like a John Deere Gator that your friends can take to explore the resident fly water. Z also has a center console that he took offshore dolphin fishing on Friday morning. I didn’t get there until Friday evening. I had three phone calls from the boat by the time I landed. Which means they were catching fish. Fishing friends don’t call unless to mock you for their success in your absence. Thankfully I got to experience some of their seven boated 10-15 pound mahi on the grill.
A badass oscar that mauled a popper.
Bass fishing became my consolation prize. And because of it I added a new weird Florida invasive to my curriculum vitae. I’ve seen oscars act the badass bully in fish tanks and in the wilds of a Florida ditch it played the part. Rocked the popper and fought disproportionately hard for its size. Good times.
Raiding the fish tank are you? Another species for the list Pete. Excellent!
I wonder how much an exotic pet store would pay for that bad boy?
Call the IGFA – that’s gotta be a record for oscar on the fly!
Check out how chewed up that popper is in the first picture. Also excellent.
I wasn’t even thinking about tanking it for profit or weighing it, I was thinking WTF?
That popper has a lot of service time.
Good times. Wondering if the new pythons can feed on the new oscars…
Oscar? Awesome.
nice dude. way to go brother!
My Oscar has a first name …
A buddy of mine grew a big Oscar – he’d toss in 100 feeder goldfish at a time and then hold the lid of the aquarium shut. The Oscar would pound 50 in the first couple of rushs – completely oblivious to hitting the side of the tank or lighting.
That’s what most owners feed the big ones – you may want to try a large Orange & Gold streamer, it should bring back all those “Nom Nom” memories.
That’s an awesome Oscar. Next time you catch one, can you save it for me to put in my fish tank. I’ve heard so much about the canal’s in Florida, I hope to fish them someday. We don’t have any here in So. Cal.