Fishing Rods

I had a vacation day today and decided to try the course. Got there at 7:00 A.M. under very cloudy skies and 65dgree temps. I caught 9 total on the day. Bobu decided to sleep in and didn't get there till about 11:00 A.M. (he caught 5). Considering the weather, it was a great day. Note in the last pic my pants are wet, lol here is how that happened. Bobu and I were fishing a pretty deep pond and having no luck. In the back of the pond there are a lot of weeds and a few lanes to cast in. The problem with throwing in the back end of the pond, if you hang a "goodun" you have to either drag him out over the weeds and dead lily pads or go in after him.
The water temp today was 52 degree. Anyhoo we had fished the pond for about 40 minutes with not a single hit. We had thrown everything at them...Senkos, Traps, Shad Raps, Tubes, etc. Bob noticed a fish in the back end of the pond chasing shad( big swirl). I tied on a Booyah Finesse jig Blk/blu with a Zoom Saphire trailer and headed for the weeds. Bob said, "you know if you get a good one you gotta go swimmin". I said, "I'll probably just spook them" and continued toward the "jungle". I surveyed the weeds and found what I figured would be the shortest route across the weeds if I got on a good fish. I made a cast across the pond and began slowly twitching the jig back in. About 30 feet from the edge of the weeds I felt a very light tick as the jig fell. On a whim, set the hook and my rod doubled and the fish headed for deep water.....hard!!! The drag was having trouble holding him and I was afraid to thumb the spool, had no idea how big he was. I pulled back on the fish and started reeling on him. Bob is on the other side of the pond and shouted, "good fish?" Before I could say a word, the fish blew throught the edge of the weeds and tail walked back out into the pond. He dropped his rig and began running back around the pond. I had the fish at the edge of the weeds and was afraid to try and horse him through. The line was snapping and pinging on the guides already. I looked at the water and back at the fish....nothing else to do. Sploosh, I stepped out into the water and it instantly took my breath. Four steps and it was at mid-thigh but I could reach the fish. I lipped him and tried to drag him over the weeds and almost lost my balance....GOOD FISH!!! Got my feet under me turned to the bank and began sloggin back out of the water. Bob is standing there with this look on his face like " I cannot believe you just did that".
Then,as I turn the fish sideways and began coming up out of the water the fish just keeps getting longer and longer. He says with this big ole grin, "dude I woulda went in after that too."

The first pic is a 6.8 pounder and the bulk of the above story.

The second pic is a 4pounder caught on a 1/4oz. trap. The rig same as above.

The last pic is a 2.5 pounder caght on a 1/4 oz trap. The rig: Kistler Helium HE69 APC/ Daiwa Alpha/ Seaguar CarbonPro 12#.


Thanks for looking.