When it's March 20 on Lake Lanier in Georgia, with a water temperature averaging about 50 or 52 degrees, anglers usually aren't diving headfirst off their bass boats to retrieve a fish that just broke off close to the boat.
Evidently, though, Lee Sandt of Braselton, GA, didn't get that memo, or, more likely, he's just at that young and invincible stage of life when anything and everything seems possible. And, too, the fish in question here just happened to have his favorite spinnerbait still hanging in its mouth.
According to the avid angler, it was a split-second decision that he doesn't regret.
He described his actions in the water like this: "The fish put its head back out of the water, and I put my right hand in its mouth, then pinned it against my face. I know that because I had a scratch on the side of my face. I didn't let go of the fish until I knew I had a good grip, and I knew I was starting to come up," he added.
In rapid succession, Sandt emerged from the lake with his prize in one hand and his hat in the other. He put both in the boat, then pulled himself back onto the bow.
"When you have a chunker on the line, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to get it in the boat," he said.
The angler noted that, since his video hit the social media, he has taken a fair amount of heat from other anglers for having tried to boat-flip a fish this size with 10-lb. test line, but his response is that he just moments earlier had boat-flipped a bigger one. Of course, that earlier incident could have weakened his line somewhat. In any event, the bottom line is that neither fish got away, and that's all that really matters.
To see the video of Sandt's headfirst dive into Lake Lanier, just click on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqQ6kq-owZE.
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