DIAGNOSIS: BASS THUMB

Bed rest and time off from work...Not!

I just got back from the doctor's office and he told me I had a rare, especially for me, case of 'bass thumb'. Bass thumb can be caused by the repeated grabbing of the rough lower jaws of largemouth bass and can cause skin disorders and, in severe cases, can produce torn or abrated skin. Infections are rare, but proper care is needed to avert any serious consequences. I didn't like his script, which came with a set of orders to refrain from bass fishing altogether for the next several weeks. He ordered a follow-up in 10 days to see how things are progressing. I'm afraid I might not be a very good patient.

There are numerous reasons for this case of the thumb. They include the following participants...

Nice 17.5 incher on the first cast...cool!

Stepped up a bit with this 18.5 incher.

Barely hooked, this 4-pounder couldn't resist the 'Trap'.

Another cause to the thumb gig would be the addition of cold, blustery weather, coupled with the soft and feeble hands of an old, burnt-out bluegill fisherman...me! Toss in 46 degree water temps and I was surprised that I caught anything at all. But at the local Largemouth Mart, things were hoppin' and the fish were aggressive enough to chase down a 1/2 oz chrome Rat-L-Trap. I banked 10 fish in two brief, afternoon outings on April 4 and 5. Here are a few more thumb-busters...

BFOD was this 20-inch, near 5 pounder.

Another pre-spawn chubber full of eggs, released unharmed.

SFOD was this dinkish 15 incher...still fun!

I was actually astonished that these fish were chasing down this fast moving bait in mid-forty water. Funny bite, went like this...I would cast far out to the middle of the pond and start the brisk retrieve as soon as the trap hit the water, which means I was in the top 18 to 24 inches of the water column, over 5 to 6 feet of total depth. I couldn't let the lure go to the bottom for fear of glopping algae, which happened almost every cast anyway. ...

Cleaning algae off the lure was a constant hinderance.

So... the strikes would be a soft bump, followed by complete slack in the line, and I needed to strike quickly or the bass would exhale the lure. This tells me the fish were chasing the lure from behind and overtaking it, 'pushing' the lure towards me, creating that slack in the line. Most bass were snared by only one hook, which I believe denotes a soft bite despite their willingness to chase the lure in the cold water.

Purdy one!

BFOD on April 5 was another 20-inch class, near 5 pounder.

The lure that did all these fine fish in was a beat up, old and battle-scarred Rat-LTrap in chrome finish. Didn't look like much, but to hungry, pre-spawn bass coming out of hibernation, they were good as gold...the apple of their eye.

I put faith in the ugliest, beat-up lure in my box. It was gold!

But when you really stop to think of it, God looks at us in much the same way. I'm old, beat up, battle-scarred and don't have a very nice finish. Like that very lure, most of the folks in the fishing world would look at me and put me in the discard box, or the recycle bin. Some would even throw us away. God didn't do that with my life...nope...He pulled me out of the tackle box ' pulled me out of the muck an mirry pit, and gave me a firm place to stand' as it points out on Psalm 40. As it truthfully says in 2 Corinthians 5:17...' if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, all things old are past, the new has come'.

AT ANY AGE, YOU CAN BE A NEW CREATION. STOP BEING BEATEN UP AND BATTERED

                                              EMBRACE JESUS TODAY FOR A NEW LIFE!