Memorial Day Weekend

Here's the one that didn't get away!

This past weekend, we ended up at Conover for a few days of fishing and fun. Sunday night Katherine, Austin, Dave, Mary and I were on the boat and were catching lots of bass. We were mainly casting to the shore, but occasionally would throw a line deeper. One of my tricks of the trade is to let the line sink a long time. Usually, when I start to reel it back in, I jerk it a little to see if anything is on the line. If I don't have a fish at that point, I usually won't catch one with that cast. I think the fish like to bite at the sinking lure more than the running lure, but that's just a theory.

So I was up at the front of the boat and the sun had just dipped below the tree line and it was getting a bit more chilly. I cast my line towards the center of the lake, knowing it was a lot deeper, and then put my pole in one of the boat's holders. Then I went and put on my sweater and picked up my pole again.

Immediately I could feel a weight on the end and I knew this was not a bass. I called to Dave, telling him that if I can get it to the boat, I think I had a big one. The problem was, I was using a tiny little hook and a six pound test line, which typically equates to a broken line with any kind of struggle, especially if it was going to be a Northern Pike with all their razor sharp teeth.

Well, I got the fish up to about three feet below the surface of the water and it was then I knew exactly what I was dealing with! No one had come to my side yet, but at that point I must have hollered because everyone came a runnin' and the fish took one look at who was on the other end of the pole and started to dive. Of course, no one saw the Pike, so now it was a matter of integrity for me to get the fish back up to the surface so that all could see. I didn't think my line would hold but if I could just bring him back to the surface for proof of what was down there...

Long story short...it took about twenty minutes and a lot of hooting and hollering, but we got it in! Dave was the rock star, risking life and limb to hang over the boat's edge and scoop it up with the net! If he was holding the pole, I don't know if I could have gotten it in the boat as easily as Dave did with the net.



We are having the Pike mounted, because the emotional trauma of swimming in a lake with a fish that size was too much for any of us! We don't think there are any more that size, so we're all safe for the time being. And if you really want a good story, ask me about how we made the decision to keep the fish...

We weighed it and it was just a bit over 19 pounds. We didn't have a tape measure, but Dave thinks it's over forty inches. In six months, we'll know (that's how long it takes to mount a Pike...).

The next day, the Andersons came out for a cook out, and we got a picture of Dave and Brian's adventure at the grill...



Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!