Well in between racing home from darn near Milwaukee today, I found some time to squeeze in some open water fishing on a power plant lake. I was hoping to run into the first open water bass of the year but with limited time, I’ll say it was just great to be able to hurl some baits into open water! On the last cast of the day, a fish absolutely creamed my Rayburn Red Xcaliber XR50, and I was in for a battle. Early in the fight I had dreams of a 5 lb largemouth to kick off the season. It wasn’t long before I was pretty confident I was dealing with a whiskered critter 
. After some serious playing and pushing a new rod to the limits (first fish ever caught with new rapala MH 7 ft Rod) I was finally able to not only catch a glimpse of this massive fish, but also thrust a hand into it’s huge mouth and hoist it out of the water. The fish was by far the biggest flathead I’ve ever caught in my life. I didn’t have a tape measure or a scale, but I am guessing that this fish was over 30 lbs. Maybe I will be lambasted for that statement, but like I said I have no idea. All I know is curling a 30 lb dumbell isn’t much work but holding this fish steady while trying to prop a cell phone up in the crotch of a shoreline bush for a timed picture was tiresome! I only wish I could have seen what the strike looked like under water, as I was burning the trap like a guy would for pre spawn largemouth Hope you cat dudes enjoy a few of the pics. They were the best I could do!
February 7, 2011 at 5:00 am
#1222174
I should have known. 
