Drew Arvary doesn’t need any added convincing. Thirteen pounds of largemouth bass in twocasts sold this Florida fisherman on what his father had been telling him for months: Bass cannot resist YUM Zellamanders.
Arvary, who lives in Port St. Lucie, Fla., had just returned from a three-day business trip in icy New Jersey. His wife, sensing travel-wrought frustration, suggested Arvary take an hour and a half to relieve stress at their private golf course pond.
Arvary began fishing around 3:30, under cloudy skies and with falling barometric pressure – perfect conditions. He caught a couple fish on a jerkbait, but nothing bigger than 3 pounds, despite many well-placed casts.
Believing he should be having better success, Arvary eventually began wondering whether it was time to try something new. His father had given him a few packages of YUM baits during the summer, but he had never tried them. With 15 minutes of fishing time remaining, he finally pulled out a package of Carolina pumpkin Zellamanders. Not having most of his bass gear with him, he rigged the bait weightless.
Arvary cast out the twin-tailed lizard and waited 20 seconds for it to sink to the bottom. Then he worked the bait by slowly and meticulously by dragging it along the bottom, using his rod tip to move the bait, reeling up the slack and then giving it another 20 seconds before repeating the action.
"I caught a 4-pounder off the bank on that first cast," Arvary said. "Feeling more confident in the bait I launched it across the small section of the pond onto the opposite bank."
Seeing some movement in the water right below the bank, he carefully dragged the bait into the water, and left it there for a full minute, which certainly seemed more like an hour.
"I felt the bait being sucked in," Arvary said. "I opened my bail. The line began to peel. I closed the bail and the fish realized shortly thereafter that she was hooked. I then realized that this was a big fish."
Arvary had to quickly loosen his drag because his ultra-light spinning reel was spooled with 4-pound-test line. It was seven minutes before he even got a look at the fish.
By that time a foursome of golfers who had just teed off had gotten out of their carts and were watching the battle. A few minutes later, the next group of golfers also got out of their carts to watch. One of the golfers commented that Arvary must have had a gator hooked. After 13 minutes, Arvary finally wore out what was no gator, but a heavyweight largemouth bass.
Arvary brought the fish to "Billy Bones," a local tackle store, to have his trophy bass officially weighed. She tipped the scales 9 pounds, 1 ounce.
"Two casts; over 13 pounds of fish," Arvary said in a note to YUM Bait Company. "Thanks for such a great bait!
Also see:
Carolina Rigging - Zell Rowland Style
Arkansas Trophy bass