Sorry,it wasn't a secret. It's called Lake Chabot in Castro Valley. It's more of a park than a great fishing spot, and I just got lucky.
I had been watching some fishing shows and wanted to try bass fishing. My buddy talkes teh talk, so I asked him to take me. He said they had been spawning at the lake and were biting.
We walked along the paved trail on the East side until he spoted some bass along the shore. They were not very far out at all, but didn't look very big to me. In fact, I thought they were small looking and wanted to go to a better spot, but he said they were big and we should fish there.
I put a black rubber worm on a hook and tossed it in over them and reeled it in. On the third cast she bit. The reel started spinning when the fish took off. It jumped a few times and really gave me a show!!!
I half reeled it in, half draged it in until she was on the shore. My buddy grabbed her and brought her out. He was totally freaked out at the size of her. I didn't know if it was big or just a decent one, but by his reactions, I started to realize it was a really good fish.
He had a scale in his tackle box and we weighed her at 12 pounds, or just a hair over. I can't swear the scale is 100% accurate, just that's what it showed.
Since I'm so into taxidermy, I already knew I wanted to get it mounted, but didn't want a skin mount. I've seen way too many skin mounts and all of them have oil issues. You just can't tan a fish skin.
I could have brought her in and had my taxidermist make a mold of her, or I could take measurements and have him order one already made. I chose to measure her, take allot of pics and throw her back.
She swam away just fine, so hopefuly she lived.
Eddie
