Daybreak Posted June 17, 2012 Posted June 17, 2012 With the forcast yeasterday calling for increasing winds after noon, we decided an early start was in order. Left the dock just after 3 a.m. Saturday and headed North with a crew of great fisherman and friends to cause some carnage...and carnage they would cause! Fished for about an hour before the sun came up near the Lighthouse, and then went hunting. With a Northeast breeze to start the day, then straight East for a couple hours, then to the Southeast for the ride home, I think it may have effected the bite some. We still boated about 25-30 fish in 6 hours, but for the amounts we were marking in some spots, we should have had twice that many. But the cooler came home clean, as we only kept 1 fish. Kinda nice not cleaning any fish after a Stannard Rock trip! Then all hell broke loose when we heard Josh and Bo start screamin! Ill let Josh tell that story! Though it ended with the biggest Laker ever aboard the RELENTLESS! Over a dozen fish on my boat in the last couple years between 30-32ish, but its tough to break that number for me....until today. I give Josh all the credit in the world. From the time we netted this fish, he intended to release it as soon as possible. We snapped a few quick pics and got him back in the water within a minute. With the surface temps still about 45 degrees, we really thought he had a good chance. Josh spent over 25 minutes bent over the side of the boat trying to revive the fish. He just wouldn't come around. After his hands went totally numb from the cold water and the fish showed no sign of getting better, he decided to bring him back onboard and put him on the wall. The good thing was, now we could get an exact weight on him and a few more good pics before we wrapped him up in Borax and prepped him for the taxidermist. This is what the graph looked like when Josh hooked his fish... :rock: Though we didnt measure him, he made my 140qt. cooler look kinda small... 34 lbs! Thankfully, we also captured most of the fight on video! Here is a true testament to the strength of a Gander Mountain Guide Series fishing rod! Pretty sure it was bending all the way down inside the cork handle! The entire fight took about a half hour, and when the fish bit there was less than 20' of line between the rod tip and the spoon! Without someone on the rod like Josh with patience and knowledge to just let the fish go, and dont try to stop him, this fish would have never made it to the boat. Enjoy! And Congrats Josh on the Fish of a Lifetime!
Sly Selea Posted June 17, 2012 Posted June 17, 2012 How were you running the spinning reel? Were you trolling with it?
Daybreak Posted June 17, 2012 Author Posted June 17, 2012 How were you running the spinning reel? Were you trolling with it? Negitive, John. We are drifting over structure out there, while either jigging or casting spoons. It's a mid-lake reef, nearly 50 miles offshore from Marquette. This fish actually followed another fish to the surface that was hooked, about a 10lber. Josh dropped the spoon off the bow, and before he even locked the bail, the monster turned his attention to the spoon and smoked it! The video link above will tell the rest of the story! Yes...sight fishing for 30+lb lakers, 50 miles from port, on the most beautiful(and most dangerous) of the Great Lakes I can't say my life sucks! Michigainiacs live in a pretty special place!
Grant Sadler Posted June 18, 2012 Posted June 18, 2012 That is AWSOME John you are the man for them big cold water trout:cool:
Forester Posted June 18, 2012 Posted June 18, 2012 great fish. You can always tell a stannard rock fish, they have a tint of brown. I love seeing those lakers.
Rascal Trophy Fishing Posted June 18, 2012 Posted June 18, 2012 Outstanding job finding that fish John, and a big congrats to Josh for the fintastic catch, great job of persistence and patience combined. Last time I saw a Laker down in Lk. Michigan that big was over 22 years ago, again, great job and fantastic fish for a lifetime memory. It deserves a wall mount for sure.
CAC Posted June 18, 2012 Posted June 18, 2012 WOW! Great job getting Josh over the fish Capt and great job getting that behemoth into the boat Josh!The maker of the spinning reel might like to get one of your pics for advertising.
KJ pluggin Posted June 21, 2012 Posted June 21, 2012 That's an awesome fish John! What did he end up weighing?
DonMcJr Posted July 10, 2012 Posted July 10, 2012 Sweet! We have a cabin in Gwinn and I was just up there and looking into Standard Rock Fishing. Now I know who to call next time I am up there!Awesome!
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