Wiper (Bass) in Nebraska

[Gary_C]

Another old fishing trip, but another one I thought you may enjoy. (Can you tell I found an old SD card from a camera?)

This was on Mother's Day 2007 and here is the story.

We were living in Omaha, Nebraska and had just recently bought our boat; an 18' SeaRay 186 Bowrider that my wife had fallen in love with.

As it was Mother's day and late spring, we decided to start out the day early and cook breakfast out on the boat so we left Omaha around 6am to get to a lake named Branched Oak. We puttered around in the boat for awhile and I cooked up a breakfast of bacon and eggs, then we decided to drop a few lines in the water and relax. After no action, but a fun time, we decided to do a bit of trolling along the rock wall of the dam because at that time of year the water is still much too cold for watersports.

The water was very high and we were aware that we were getting quite close to some fully upright, but submerged, trees when my wife asked if she should move us away. I agreed with her that we were getting too close and brought in the line from my ultralight rig while she fired up the motor. Just as she puts the boat in gear and starts us moving, I see my light rig (8 lb test) bend almost double and I think it is snagged in the rocks for sure.

I give the pole a quick tug and the reel starts screaming!!! (see my profile picture). My wife manages to get the boat away from the rocks while I am fighting the fish and it keeps taking line. Now she has watched me on my ultralight loosen the drag to ridiculous levels to play with trout at the mandatory keep lake so she thinks I am doing the same thing here

That's when she gets a load of this

After coming up for a quick vanity shot, it shoots away again! That's when my wife says "I thought you were just screwing around with it, that thing is big!" (Yeah, that's what she said :ohmy: )

A few more runs and I manage to bring it into the boat.

In case you are wondering, a wiper is a crossbreed between White Bass and Striped Bass. Sadly, they are infertile.