Olive Branch angler lands 10-pounder on Davis Lake

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Fishing buddies Sid McNeil and Len Killough had read some reports that big Davis Lake bass were starting to move up creeks in preparation for the spawn, so they took a day off of work yesterday (Feb. 9) and headed to the state lake south of Pontotoc.

“We went primarily to look for big fish,” McNeil said. “This time of he year is when it’s easiest to catch them: They’re going to be fattened up.” They were disappointed once they arrived because the water was well below the point needed to push bass out of the deep water.

But the 53-degree water didn’t stop Olive Branch’s McNeil from landing his personal best — a 10-pound, 11-ounce lunker.

When McNeil and Killough discovered the water temperatures had yet to warm up enough for fish to begin pre-spawn movements, they decided to move into deep water.

McNeil landed a 4 1/2-pounder; while that wasn’t what they were looking for, he was still happy.

“That was actually the first fish I’d caught this year, so I said, ‘This is a great way to start year,’” the angler who goes by sidmcneil on the MS-Sportsman.com forum.

But then it got tough. Really tough.

“We had been fishing about an hour without a bite,” McNeil said.

They finally decided to find a deep creek channel they could fish.

“We found a creek channel, and threw out a buoy,” McNeil said.

While mapping out the channel, McNeil’s depth finder picked up a tree in 20 feet of water about 100 yards form the actual creek. The angler decided to hit it before moving back to the channel.

He tossed out his Money Minnow, and let it sink as deep as possible. He then swam it very slowly back to the boat.

“I threw into the tree and nothing happened,” McNeil said.

His second cast was looking like it would come up empty, too.

“As soon as (the lure) got back to the boat, when it was coming up, he nailed it,” McNeil said. “It just about took the pole out of my hand.”

The angler set the hook, and knew instantly it was a big fish.

“As soon as I set the hook, I started yelling for the net,” McNeil said.

However, he really didn’t think it was a bass on the other end of his line.

“It pulled so hard, but it didn’t do that jerk bass do,” he said. “I actually thought I caught a catfish.”

McNeil wrestled the fish as it headed upward in the water column, and then his knees when weak as the fish boiled the surface of the lake.

“When it rolled, we both saw it and started yelling,” McNeil said.

Any uncertainty vanished with that brief view of the huge fish.

“He then went deep again,” McNeil said. “I had braid on, thank God, so I knew I didn’t have to rush it

“He went all the way around the boat; I didn’t horse him at all.”

Finally, Killough scooped the fish out of the water, and the celebration really began.

After calming down, the anglers hoisted the fish on a handheld scale – and the first reading stopped at 11 pounds, 1 ounce. Stunned, they weighed the fish again: 10-7.

So they decided to head to the bank so they could get off the rocking boat.

The scale settled at 10 pounds, 11 ounces. Several retries confirmed that weight.

“I tried to get it to go to 12 pounds,” McNeil laughed.

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