Gunpowder Surprise

Type: Nontidal
Region: Central
Location: Gunpowder River

On Sunday, 9/4/22, while fishing from a bridge on the NCR Trail over the Gunpowder River in Cockeysville I got an odd surprise. For most of the hour before sunset, I was having stress free fun just catching very small panfish (white perch, yellow perch & bluegills) using a slip bobber and pieces of nightcrawler on ultralight gear. But I also made several casts with various lures to the shoreline treefalls and submerged rocks in hopes of attracting a larger predator. With no strikes or follows and darkness soon falling, I decided to get back to the "guaranteed" action with worms, but this time using a high/low rig with 1/2 oz. sinker sent straight to the bottom directly below me on the bridge. I felt a big tug instantly! After a brief battle, I hand-hauled the line up for fear of snapping the rod to reveal this gorgeous, chunky Largemouth Bass. He went for a tiny worm instead of all those tasty fingerlings swimming around? Go figure!