With all the pressure the Eagle River has been getting I decided to isolate myself on the ice, and I'm glad I did! The day started out tough, but I persevered with a personal best Lake Trout. Filled with adversity, making modifications, and a straight up love of fishing made it a memorable catch. Here"s how it went down.
Today's angling adventure started horribly... missing strikes. First drop my bait was stolen. Then I missed a few strikes. After that, upon hooking into a nice one, somehow the knot slid through a gap in the eye of the hook! Crazy Weird Bad Luck. Time to go home right? No way, lets make some halftime adjustments! To catch Lake Trout cut bait is king, and I knew my pieces were cut too big. Go big or go home right! To fix the problem I tied on a new jig with a stinger hook to stop the bait stealing. Then It happened, Bang I set the hook on a good one. It's hard to explain, but anyone that fishes needs to be an optimist. This time there was no bluffing.
To start the battle this fish just sat there like a log... making me think I had a log. Then it just slowly wandered off like "hey, party's over". That's when I said "nope, you haven't danced with me yet"! Applying more pressure and adjusting drag, my opponent made several runs causing line to scream off the reel. When bubbles started coming through the hole I knew I was slowly gaining an edge, all the while praying my hooks would hold. Upon seeing leader it was time for me to seal the deal, trying to get a 36" fish through a 6" hole. Lord have mercy the lake just gave birth to my second child! After snapping a couple pics, dunking the fish back in the water in between, I sent that baby back to the bottom of the lake.
Pictures never do justice, besides my camera man had his hands full.
The stinger hook saved the day, just barely!
I also soak my cut bait in HOT SAUCE!!!
Cha Ching... Free Bee
Oh yeah, then there was this guy!
Thanks for reading. Have a great day.
Cha Ching... Free Bee
Thanks for reading. Have a great day.
