POKE-A-DOTTY

 

 

Gather 'round me hearties, lemme tell ya a tale.  The tale of a wise ol' Bass.  A bass who came to be known as: POKE-A-DOTTY
 
POKE-A-DOTTY????  
 
Those of us who pursue Micropterus Salmoides Floridanus, (I threw that to impress my high school Latin teacher and the editor of Bassmaster magazine) (what I mean is, Largemouth Bass) are aware that these fish are kinda like people.  Some may move around a bit but most are fairly territorial.  They can be mean to things that trespass.  They like to travel from one place to another using the same highways and by-ways.  They like to set up house-keeping in one general area and stay pretty much at home.  The trick for us fishermen - is finding their addresses and their dinner tables or their highways.  Find the highways and "bend their fenders".  Or find their dining room and throw "things" that either look like sumpin to eat or ugly enough to piss them off to the point they bite it to kill the damned thing.
 
Which brings me to the "Saga of Poke-a-Dotty"
 
Several months ago, my neighbor Len and I fished a nearby lake.  We located a spot where three different types of "stuff" came together.  "Stuff" is where bass hide while they look for lunch.  Keen-eyed Len staked out "THE spot".   Len cast his Chug-Bug, a top-water bait, within 4 inches of the juncture of some rocks and weeds and other "stuff".  As soon as the bait landed the water exploded as a huge bass nailed it!!!  Len grunted as he set back on his rod.  The rod bent near double.  I dropped whatever I was doing, grabbed the net and stood by as he began to wench her toward the boat.  She dug her head down, ran sideways as she took drag.  Len kept crankin'.  Halfway to the boat she went airborne!  As she cleared the water, she rolled her belly towards us, flaired her gills, snapped her head away from the boat - - and threw the bait back at us.  She hit the water and was GONE!!!  Score: Fish 1, fisherman 0!!!  I cannot relate exactly what Len said since this will be read by a mixed audience but it was colorful, he being a navy veteran.  Trust me when I tell you he was NOT signing old Elvis tunes.  We both guessed her to be about 5 to 6 pounds.  That became Len's "one that got away" story.  A story that he retold for weeks.  And weeks.  And weeks.  Etc.  Etc.  Well, you get the idea.  
 
A few weeks later, Len and I again ventured forth to seek a memory on the water.  As expected, Len just could not finish the day without trying to catch "the one that got away".  We returned to the scene of the earlier crime.  Of course it is my boat.  And I fish from the front of the boat.  And I throw a 7.5 foot rod.  Which throws farther than Len's rod can throw.  Can you spell "front boated"?  TeeHee!!!  This next may sound familiar to those of you who have been receiving my earlier reports.  I threw a rattletrap (a fishy-lookin', rattlin'-thingy with 2 treble hooks danglin' down), across some logs within 20 feet of Len's earlier "Heartbreak Hotel".  And my bait just stopped.  Wat DA Hell?????  I was sure I had hooked into the log.  Then the "log" came screamin' out of the water and went airborne!  As she cleared the water, she rolled her belly towards us, flaired her gills, snapped her head away from the boat - - and threw the bait back at me.  She hit the water and was GONE!!!  Score: Fish 2, fishermen still 0!!!  I cannot recall what I said but, me being a old Air Force guy, I made Len blush.  Again Len and I guessed her to be 5 to 6 pounds.  And she then became a "one that got away" story for us both.  But now we knew, without a doubt, where she lived.  And a vendeta was borne.
 
Over the ensuing weeks, I revisited the parlor of that lady several times.  She was never home or had decided not to entertain.
 
A couple weeks ago my brother-in-law Bruce and nephew Wayne toured the same lake.  The vendeta grabbed me and I told them the the "Lady of the Lake" story.  We agreed to try her again.  We moved within several yards of her front porch and started chunkin' and windin'.  This time I was throwin' a red-eyed shad (See rattletrap above - same thing, different brand).  I fired it about a hundred feet north of her livin' room and started crankin' it back. BLAM !!!!!  Bait stopped and the rod started throbbin'.  Yeeee HAAAAA !!!!  I had her about halfway to the boat when she used her favorite "get out of my face" move.  She went airborne, she rolled her belly towards us, flaired her gills, snapped her head away from the boat - - and threw the bait back at me.  She hit the water and was GONE!!!  AGAIN!!!!  Score: Fish 3, fishermen still ZIP!!!  Again we all guessed her to be 5 to 6 pounds.  This was beginning to be a habit and not one I was content with.
 
On the way home we were discussing our inability to land this lady.  I commented that she had been hooked so many times that her face had to be poke-a-dotted with holes.  "That's it!" says I, "From now on she'll be known as Poke-a-Dotty." 
 
Today was the final chapter is this little novel.  Cody and I visited the home of the "Scarlet Lady".  I threw my favorite rattletrap and caught 3 nice fish in about 30 minutes.  Then no more bites.  The wind had died off.  The sun came out.  It started to get hot.  I changed baits.  Tied on a Texas-rigged, 10 inch, red shad plastic worm.  And cast it into her front porch.  Nothing.  Cast it about 12 inches to the right - still nothing.  Cast it a third time.  About 8 inches further right.  Felt nothing.  Started to move the bait and saw the line move toward deep water.  I may have been born yesterday but I stayed up all night studying for this test.  I quickly took up the slack and set the hook with a solid swing, straight up.  Don'cha love it when your line goes "twang"??  She immediately started taking drag.  Every time she quit pullin' I was crankin' keeping the rod bent.  She took drag 4 or 5 times.  I remembered her favorite exit strategy, every time she started up I stuck the rodtip into the water to keep her down.  Around the front of the boat and right at the side of the boat, under the boat twice.  Then, within inches of the net, she finally got out of the water and into the air!  NO!!!! Please don't spit me out!!!!  One jump, two jumps and then INTO THE NET!!!!!!!   I got "Poke-a-Dotty"!!!   I got "Poke-a-Dotty"!!!
 
We put her on the scale.  She was well past the spawn and had lost all that baby weight but still weighed in at healthy 4lbs,14ozs. 
 
Only 4.14 you say?  Yes, but the stalking, hookin' and losing for over 3 months finally paid off.  THAT was the reward.  Fish 3, Fisherman: WON !!!!
 
Her picture is attached.  Look closely at the corner of her mouth, she has a healing hook sore and had 2 other holes in her face.  We took her picture several times, I thanked her for the thrill, bid her farewell and placed her back in her comfort zone to thrill another fisherman some other day.  
 
I can't help it, I will always love "Poke-a-Dotty".
 
"The Old Hooker"
Bucky