He followed it to mid-stream and took it from the surface not three feet from the canoe, with a savage flurry of foaming water, and he was hefty enough to take three feet of line against the drag. I saw him very well, a five-pound largemouth in my mind, with only the back hooks in the top jaw. He headed back toward my uncle and the hooks pulled loose. It was a briefm fight. Tell me how it is that a bass with a mouth the size of a softball can manage to only get one hook and a 12-incher can end up with all six of them solid ly embedded in both jaws.