first buffalo of the year

went to my all time favorite spot for multispecies fishing. the water looked high and kinda muddy so i didnt expect much, i threw on a heavy jig with a white twister tail and right off the bat i nailed a decent pike. that gave me hope that other species would be around. i tried crawler fishing for a while and caught one small carp after about an hour of trying so i switched back to the twister tail. after a few more casts a nice 17" smallmouth bass came to the net. the first of the year. i was pretty happy with that and kept casting the twister around. i missed something that felt much different. i only felt the weight of the fish for about 2 seconds before it took one big run and snapped the line. i figured it was a large pike at first and tied on a fresh twister tail. in a few more casts another big smallmouth was on the line. still curious as to what snapped me off i kept fishing the deep slack pool i missed the fish in. after a while i had another fairly similar fish on the line. it ran hard and i though i had snagged a carp. i raised it up a few times but didnt get a look. the whole time i was thinking carp till i got it a bit closer and saw a familiar gray color in the water. could it be? yes a buffalo and my jig was all the way in its mouth. not a giant by any means but i was pretty happy with it. i got it in and to the net. a few other guys down there had no idea what kind of fish it was and i explained to them what it was. impressed with the way it fought they decided to try throwing small plastics around. within 30 minutes one of them got the biggest buffalo ive seen in person 37 inches long and again it had the lure crammed deep in its mouth. an absolute tank. my phone had died so i had no camera to capture a picture of their behemoth buff. i kept fishing but did not get into any more buffalo. i did catch one really ugly trash fish though. 26 inches long gold in color with teeth and a white tip to its tail. one big disgusting fish. all in all it was a great day and i am more than content with only getting one of these awesome fish. i plan to try again tomorow and hopefully encounter a buffalo again. just this time i really hope i dont accidentally wipe my nose with my sleeve after handling one...