Hey Scott! Here's a Nims Lake bass for ya!

[Mark Hofman]

I told you there were bigger fish in that lake than the ones we caught on the Special Needs weekend.



I was going through some old photos and found this one from two years ago. She went about six pounds, but most of it was the HEAD! I've got another one with my fist inside it's mouth, and one more showing how it ATE one of the other bass in our livewell. After the pictures were taken, I drove out into the lake about a fifty yards and turned her loose.



Anyway, they're in there!
http://stlhofman.com/Bass.jpg

 

[Mark Hofman]

Oops, I'll post the photo rather than just a link:

 

[Staci Matheis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah..... No background..... The picture is dark and fuzzy..... Looks to me like you pulled Billy Bass off his plaque, wet him down and took the picture. Had he been real, I woulda said "Nice fish, Mark!"



Anyone ever tell you that you looked a bit like Bill Dance?



:^)

me!

 

[Mark Hofman]

Not Bill Dance, but I'm beginning to feel like Rodney Dangerfield. "I don't get no respect!"



How 'bout I scan the one with me standing in the O-fficial Canoe Guide boat!



Oh, yeah, and I've got witnesses!!

 

[Staci Matheis]

I've got two words for you: "Bribery"!

 

[Mark Hofman]

Hmmmmm. I believe you've besmirched my character and good name, sir!

 

[Mark Hofman]

Billy Big Mouth indeed!

 

[Andrew Zuber]

Hey MO!

nice fish...despite what Scott says...hahaha

don't recognize that boat...is that a toilet you're standing next to?hahaha



az

 

[Mark Hofman]

Thanks, Andy!



The boat belongs to our local Boy Scout Council. We use it for lake patrols and fishing while Scouts are out canoeing around.



It's a center-console, all-welded modified V built by G3 boats (I think). The "toilet" you're looking at is actually the livewell, underneath a cushion that a passenger can sit on while the boat is running on plane. I'm in it because, at the time, this was the only boat available with a recirculating livewell. I put the fish in there while others went to get the camera and a scale. These photos were from a Kodak 110mm pocket camera. I've got another one (better lighting) that was taken with a Polaroid instant.



That's the front pedestal seat on the right. Its' big, wide, stable and deep for a jon boat.

 

[Mark Hofman]

Oh, and I'm not kidding about this fish eating another bass that was in our livewell (non-recirculating). My father-in-law and I had five small bass in the livewell of our jon boat. I put the big girl in there for the run back to the dock. When I opened up the lid to transfer her to the other boat's livewll, I noticed that there were only four bass left.



I looked insider her mouth, and saw the tail of the fifth bass sticking out of her gullet. We took a picture of that, too, but the cameraman was too far away. All you can see is a black spot against the inside white of her mouth. I guess she was still hungry! It added about 1/3 pound to her total weight.



My brother-in-law has a nine pounder from this lake hanging on his wall at home. Nice fish.

 

[Staci Matheis]

OK, Mark..... I'll conceed! No one could make up a story like that!!



GREAT catch!



me!

 

[Mark Hofman]

THANK YOU!!!



I know it's hard to believe, but this is a blow-up from that last picture.

 

[Mark Hofman]

Let's try that again.

 

[Bob G.]

Awesome!!!



Bob G.

 

[Mark Hofman]

Yeah, but I don't remember the exact weight. It wasn't more than 6.5; more like 6.2 or 6.3.



This fish was nearly all head. The lake that it came out of is way over-populated for the amount of food available. Some of the guys who were there speculated that, if this had been a normal bass, the size of the head would have put it closer to nine or ten pounds.

 

[Mark Hofman]

Oh, yeah, and here's one more zinger. I caught it on a five foot Cabela's IM7 Tourney Trail Rod, a Shimano Spirex 1000 spinning reel - and FOUR pound test line!



(She didn't fight very hard, and we used a net to bring her in to the boat.)

 

[Ken Neeley]

Hey, now I know what happened to our 5th fish at the Rally...it got eaten in thew livewell!!!!

 

[Andrew Zuber]

Nice Try...

hahahaha



az