I'm not a huge Bon Jovi fan, but this song came to mind today as we reached the half-way mark in a BIG way. Fish #15 was 52 inches and my personal best!
Hedrik and I arrived at the ramp to a flat-calm river, warm, humid air, and a light drizzle. PERFECT fishing conditions! Yesterday we did a bit of trolling and found a small bay with superb tobacco cabbage. This was a spot we had not fished and since we have begun to hit our other spots fairly hard, we decided it would be a good idea to fish here.
My first pass went too shallow and on the inside of the thickest part of the tobacco cabbage. I circled the end of the weedbed and made a pass on the outside edge. Hedrik was casting toward deep water (milfoil patches) while I casted toward shore (cabbage).
I was using a bucktail for a while, but these conditions SCREAMED topwater and my Top Raider seemed too loud for the occasion. I picked up my Pacemaker (for those not familiar, it has a metail propeller that spins and hits the center hook to make a high pitched "clicking" sound) for a slightly more subtle presentation (versus the deep pitched "PLOP" of the Top Raider).
As the bait approached the boat maybe 20 feet out a dinosaur head appeared from the murky waters and T-boned the Pacemaker. This big muskie did not jump nor dive deep; it simply stayed on top and wallowed back and forth. The Pacemaker looked like a tiny toothpick lodged cross-ways in its mouth.
The fight was a short 40 seconds. The entire sampling process went very smoothly for an extremely large fish (she gave us excellent blood). I'm looking forward to tracking her and seeing where she goes!
That pic of the fish in the cradle while you're taking blood is awesome!!
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