Fishing with Pop Pop

[jalawson]

No, not the GON Pop Pop. He's great too. But my kid's Pop Pop. Our Pop Pop is really my father-in-law, Terry Russell. For those of you who don't know him, he is quite the outdoorsman. Hunting. Fishing. You name it. If it walks, crawls, jumps, flies, swims, slithers, or runs; he has probably gone after it. And he really knows his stuff. He helps manage a beautiful place in middle Georgia called Big Sandy. Oftentimes, he has been asked to guide hunting and fishing trips there. He even killed a monster 16 point buck there with an atypical rack. But that's for all you hunters. Look at this guy. He is as serious as they come.

And that couldn't be farther from the truth. Pop Pop is a card. He can have a whole room in tears telling some of his tails. He is hilarious. My personal quest to catch the world record large mouth began last Spring when Pop Pop invited me and a partner to fish "The Big Sandy Bass Classic". Never one to pass on a challenge from my father-in-law, I accepted. To make a long story short, my partner Frank and I came in last place. We were actually awarded a trophy that is ..... well its....... I always have trouble describing this thing. It's a horses behind. And when I say behind, I mean behind. It has no head or neck. Just the rear end of the horse.

Ever since the Big Sandy Classic, I have endured alot of ribbing from Pop Pop. So I have tried to up my bass game. And, as many of you know, this has resulted in many trips to the Ocmulgee PFA. Well today I finally convinced my father-in-law to yank the silver spoon from his mouth at Big Sandy and do some REAL fishing with me at the Ocmulgee PFA; the people's fishing spot. None of this high falootin' stocked lake crap. Just tough bass fishing.

We set out early this morning and arrived around 9:00 a.m. or so. Pop Pop is also a retired forester and fire fighter. I imagine he knows most of the rangers that have worked in the area. And he seems to know everyone else in middle Georgia as well. He was impressed with the Ocmulgee. And it really didn't disappoint. After about two hours of fishing, Pop Pop hooked a nice one on a crank bait. We laughed about the fact that we were fishing with lures that cost about $1.99 and a recent post on GON about lures designed to catch fishermen instead of fish (a great line from Chris S).

We let a couple of more get off and then I landed a pretty nice 5.8 pounder.

Finally, Pop Pop had a nice one snap his line. I told him I thought that was actually pretty good for the Ocmulgee. We ran into a couple of other fishermen that "hadn't had a bite all day". If you haven't noticed, there is no picture of Pop Pop's bass posted here. That's because he never actually lipped the bass and put it in the boat. No, Pop Pop was "showing me how it was done" when the F1 bass threw his lure back to him from about five feet out. Now, Pop Pop considers this a catch. But I have to disagree. From where I sit, if it isn't in the boat, its not a catch (right Big Nate?). Anyway, I can now announce that rule from the safety of my home as I sit behind my computer. Did I also mention he just shot a buck from 245 yards away and hit the target within an inch of where he wanted?


Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!!

[pop pop jones]

You can tell him for me, if he thinks he caught it, it counts.
You know us pop pop's gotta stick together.

[jalawson]

Can you guys see the inserted image of Pop Pop in this thread? It will pull up on one of my computers, but not on my portable. You should be seeing a picture of him with a big deer in front of a sign?

[Bugpac]

Originally Posted by jalawson

Can you guys see the inserted image of Pop Pop in this thread? It will pull up on one of my computers, but not on my portable. You should be seeing a picture of him with a big deer in front of a sign?

Nope...

[Hunterrs]

I'm with you. If yu don't touch it, you can't count it.

[jalawson]

Originally Posted by Bugpac

Nope...

How about now? For some reason, I can't attach the photo's within the story like I want to. I can only upload them and include them at the end.

[Bugpac]

Yup, you can only IMG code pics in the story, You have to host that pic elsewere to do so, Photobucket is a good place for that... I can see it now, I quoted your post before and i didnt see an img code for the pic in it...

[Chris S.]

Sounds like you wound up with a ringer for a FIL....Thats a big buck he got and a good fish you stuck Allan...............glad I could bring some laughs to your excursion as well....Well worth that 2 dollar bill and 13 cents huh?



Come to think of it,that buck looks real familiar(odd Rack)........is that recent or an older photo.

[jalawson]

Originally Posted by Chris S.

Sounds like you wound up with a ringer for a FIL....Thats a big buck he got and a good fish you stuck Allan...............glad I could bring some laughs to your excursion as well....Well worth that 2 dollar bill and 13 cents huh?



Come to think of it,that buck looks real familiar(odd Rack)........is that recent or an older photo.

The photo is older. He shot the one in the pic last year. He made the 245 yard shot last year too. I think the folks at Big Sandy put the picture of that odd racked buck in a couple of magazines. They also have their own website. I'm sure it's on there somewhere. The mount of the odd racked buck is at the lodge at Big Sandy along with a really nice feral buck he shot about two years ago.

[Chris S.]

Do you mean a feral hog/boar?...........................I think I saw pics in a mag. or on here last year with that deer.anyways Merry Christmas to you and your Fam. Alan.

[jalawson]

Originally Posted by Chris S.

Do you mean a feral hog/boar?...........................I think I saw pics in a mag. or on here last year with that deer.anyways Merry Christmas to you and your Fam. Alan.

No, I think he meant a feral deer. He received some sort of special permit to hunt them on Little St. Simons Island. I don't know if that one is on the website or in the mags or not.

I just know that the one I posted was on some other sites and I believe it was posted in a mag.

I hope you and your family had a Merry Christmas too.

[Georgia Slab Masters]

Hey, I know Mr. Terry ,he is a fine a fellow as they come , a great sportsman and if he says he hooked a ten lber at the PFA, I believe him!!!!!

[jalawson]

By the way. For the first time ever, I pulled a bass from the Ocmulgee PFA that looked horrible. Her size and weight were O.K. But she was covered with some sort of fungus. You can see in the picture that she has some spots at the bottom of her tail. I had her turned so you couldn't see her bad side. The other ones we saw weren't like this. But it looked really bad. It looked like she had little anemones growing out of her side. I wonder if they are putting salt blocks out there for the parasites?

[Chris S.]

Looks like the same stuff from earlier this year at T-haw J.L.....all the rain is causing it I believe.water chemistry/ ph is not right or something in the lakes due to new water.