Takahiro Omori caught a 4 1/2-pound smallmouth bass this morning that put on quite an aerial display as seen on Bassmaster LIVE.
“It’s crazy,” Omori said as he reeled-in the fish. “That’s what a smallmouth does.”
Yes, that’s what a smallmouth does. And these Wheeler Lake smallmouths have been a thrill of victory/agony of defeat deal for anglers this week. Randy Howell weighed 18-11 on Day 2, but could have had an estimated 22 pounds if he’d landed more than just two of the five 4-pound smallmouth bass he hooked.
“These smallmouths are so mean and crazy,” Howell said. “Sometimes they’re frustrating.”
But Howell was thankful that one smallmouth threw his hook, saying, “I hooked one that was about 4, 4 1/2 pounds that jumped about three feet high and came unhooked. I threw right back in his splash and hooked that six-pound largemouth (the big bass of the day for the tournament). That’s the first time I’ve ever thanked the Lord that I lost a four-pound smallmouth. I’d have still been fighting him, so I probably wouldn’t have caught that largemouth.”
Finally, David Walker had a Day 1 crazy smallmouth bass story as well, saying, “I lost a couple of big smallmouths, but they’re prone to do that. As soon as they feel that hook they just go ballistic. One came off and I was looking him eye-to-eye he was so high in the air. It looked like one of those tarpon leaps, where they’re just shaking they’re just shaking their head so hard.”