I have told this story a million times on this and other forums. Here is what I posted on the calfishing forum on 3-11-02 after I caught my first swimbait fish:

I went to lake Amador on Sat. ready to catch on of the big girls, and hopefully join the 10lber club. I got to the lake around 7:30 and inflated my kick boat and got my rods rigged up. One rod was rigged with a 8' Castaic Swimbait, one with a jig, and one with a Carolina rig. Before I got into the water I wanted to make sure that I could I would be able to throw the big swim bait with out any problums, since I have never used it before. The first cast went nowhere,but after a readjustment on my reel the second cast went flying down the bank with no problem. On my retrieve of that cast WHAM, I get nailed. The fish immediately surfaces and I am thinking "hello ten pounder club". After a short but exciting fight (I had to jump down a steep bank to get into the water to land the big girl)I finally lip her. A boat that was trolling for trout saw the fight and I asked them if they had a scale (The first item I am buying on my next trip to fisherman warehouse)The fish went 10 lbs on the spring scale that they had in there boat.

Now comes the sad part of the story. The big girl COMPLETELY swallowed the swimbait and the Gammie that I put on as a trailer was stuck in her gills. I tried to remove the hooks but they were not coming out and I knew that there was no way that I would be able to release her alive. I have not killed a bass in almost ten years and it made me sick not to release her. After getting back up to my car I drove the fish over to the marina to put it on the scale they have there and get my picture taken.

On the certified scale she went 9.76lbs. and that was with the swimbait still in her, so I guess I will have to wait to join the 10 club. I want to thank all the guys who post here on this site for giving me the confidence to throw the big baits. The information that I have got off this site has been invaluable and I know that I wont be long before I catch my ten pounder. I will post a picture as soon as I get access to a scanner.

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7102-johnhumphreys.jpg

Well it has been almost seven years since that fish and I have still not broke the 10 pound mark, and not from lack of trying. This site is still the best fishing site on the Net in my opinion, and it is cool that I was able to look up my old post on the archives.

As I have said every year since I caught that fish, this will be my year to finally catch a 10 +

Lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what have-yous

Attachment #1, (.jpg file)