'Thumbtimes' the Pain Is Worth It

Dave took big-fish honors with this Florida largemouth.

My thumb is scratched, raw, and even bruised. That’s a good thing.

As most bass anglers can tell you, thumb condition is one of the best ways of determining a fisherman’s success on the water.

While anglers are known to stretch the truth a bit, thumbs don’t lie.

When a bass is lipped for landing, its sandpaper teeth can damage flesh, especially if the fish carries some weight. And the more quality fish an angler lands, the more he and his thumb “suffer.”

Thus, my grievous injury from fishing with my friend Dave Burkhardt, owner of Trik Fish/Triple Fish fishing lines, and  guide Ed Grunloh on a chain of lakes near Orlando.

My largest bass was a bit smaller than Dave's catch of the day.

We all caught bass of 5 pounds and better, but I was the luckiest, taking a dozen or more 3- to 5-pounders by making long casts to grass edges with a Bass Pro Shops Swim Stik-O-Worm.

Dave took the day’s biggest bass with a Zoom Super Fluke soft jerkbait, while Ed took good numbers of smaller fish with a hard jerkbait fished in open water.

Sunday, Dave and I are heading down to Lake Okeechobee to fish with Florida legend Sam Griffin, who makes my favorite wooden topwater baits. Many of Sam’s secrets for catching bass on topwaters are revealed in my book, Better Bass Fishing.