Today at Wolf Lake I had the first hook ever stuck in me past the barb.  I was holding a small bass up by the line preparing to get a grip on it so I could take the hook out. It made one of those frenzied shakes and when it was over I was holding the fish up with a DT-10  hook in the back of my right ring finger. The hook was in past the barb and the point was trying to come back out through the skin.  First with my left hand I put a white knuckle grip on the fish to keep it from shaking again.  The hooks in the fish were not too complicated but without a hand they were difficult to unhook but I finally succeeded.  I thought about pushing the hook through and flattening the barb but that would cause more pain so out came the needle nose pliers. I got the pliers pointed in the right direction so the hook would come out. At this point my fear was the hook would not come out the first time I snatched.  I snatched just like I had been doing on the fish all afternoon and out it came on the first try. It bled like a stuck hog.  Out came the a paper towel and the first aid kit with a band aid and I was back fishing in short order.

The major feeding period was in the afternoon so I didn’t go to the lake until late and started fishing around 10:30. Things started off slowly but around 12 noon the bite started. An old 5500c was called into action to pull the DT-10 so I would not wear out one of my new reels. Here it is with one of the fish.

The fish were bunched up in the usual places. Caught 20 in one spot. The FOD was 3 – 11.  68 bass was the final tally, most on a DT-10, some on a DT-6, plus 3 catfish and a goo. One of the catfish was 16 1/2 pounds and was caught on a worm on 8 pound test Gamma copolymer.  After a long one sided fight it got into an old sunken treetop. I had given up and actually tried to break the line but the fish made another surge and cleared the tree top and finally  came into the boat.

I believe the catfish bit the worm because I had just applied some new scent to it. The scent comes in a tube much like a large chapstick and has about the same consistency.  I noticed that when the fish would start just bumping the DT-10 an application of the scent seemed to get back biting it enough to get caught. The scent does not wash right off. It will stay on a DT-10 for 20+ casts.