Originally posted by: mr bill on 9/12/2007 7:48:51 AM

most likely a northern, but is there muskies in these waters?

which story would you like to here. the one about the northern, or the bass or even the laker. i am speaking about my personal best maybe records.

over the years i have caught 4 state records, never persude, 1 was verified but season was closed. the 4 fish are; the verified 1 was a bass, my first 1 i caught was a yellow bullhead, my biggest was a king salmon and the last 1 was a bowfin/dogfish.

i have many years of fishing, lots of experence and many many tails i can tell. so i will only give 1 here and 1 there and let others share their tails too <!--graemlin::D-->



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Originally posted by: Andrew46 on 9/11/2007 11:51:42 PM

I Always like hearing the stories from fishermen that had that record on but lost it. I know that everyone who fishs has their own story and I would like to here them.
I resently had an encounter with my record. I was fishing off my boat right on the edge of the deepest hole in the lake, where the weeds stop growing. This past winter my uncle pulled three EYES out of the curved drop off. This spot also produced many northerns. It was a windy day and no one was on the lake so i decided to drop the anchor which is rare for me to do. My fisrt cast I casted out my glow in the dark spoon out into the drop off which was probably 35 to 45 feet deep. I let it sink and kept the bail open and set the pole down to help my girlfriend put on a shiner. After helping her i picked my pull up and closed the bail and reeled the line taunt then jerked it off the bottom. It felt like I was hooked to the bottom of the Lake but was alowing me to slowly real it in. As I was realing I'm just thinking i hooked a branch or somthing like that. Then suddenly it tuged. MY Eyes Opened big and heart raced I new this was the one ive been fishing for. It wasn't really fighting, it was just so heavy I could barrely reel it in. Then a few more tugs came and it was finally to the side of the boat. It was still down about 15 ft and I couldn't see it. As I tried pulling it up as I was walking it to the frount of the boat. As soon as i got to the front I relized the anchor line was running out the side the fish was on.The fish bulted right under the rope and before i could even think the line snapped. I almost jumped in after it with the net, with the hope of scooping it up.
Im really interested to here everyones stories I hope someone writes back. I would also like to here what people think it was because I never got to see it.

Originally posted by: Andrew46 on 9/12/2007 11:19:19 PM

Im recently been fishing for a monster northern so i would like to hear that. I would also like some advise on catcing the giant.

Originally posted by: mr bill on 9/13/2007 8:44:26 AM

first i would like to give some advice. look on the bb in clubhouse under pike/musky there is a lot of info there.

now if you are talking fall season, i would get a big 6"-10" minnow under a slip bobber and cast it out along that deep edge you were talking about. since you can fish with 2 rods here in michigan, i would rig the other rod for casting, my faverate is a mag. rapala or huskey jerk, bucktail spinners would be next and then the big spoons.
bring your lures close to the minnow that you have down close to the boat and any follows you have will at least look at the live bait that is there and most likely will take it, most add not always but will up your odds.


my biggest northern i hooked and did not land was in the spring of the year on the back waters of tippy dam 30 yrs ago. openning day of bass season, i was checking back bays for spawning bass and finding a few. found a pattern on some perch in one area and was getting a couple meals worth.

i went into this one back bay about noon on sat. and found some northerns in ther all running about 18"-28" and had a ball for about 2 hours. the next morning my buddy and i decided to go to this bay first thing sunday morning and found northerns all over the place just laying on the surface, some of these fish were just huge.

started casting surface lures, nothing. throw rapala's on the surface just under the surface and all we did was push these fish down. we left the area for a couple hrs. and chased some more perch and then came back for some pike.

i started to catch some fish on a mepps#4 silver bladed bucktail, most fish were about 20" long. to get a bite we had to throw our baits close to the logs that littered the bottom in this bay. i casted along one set of logs that criss-crossed in about 8' of water. my first cast had a small pike strike at but missed the lure. second cast to the same spot produced nothing. on the third cast, as my lure came past the spot that had the follow, i stoped realing and let lure sink under the first log and started to real in again. i saw a small pike start to come out, but turned away when it got about half way to the lure and then i watch the bottom log move up and grab my lure.

i set the hook and the fight was on. this fish ran about 70 yards of line out in about 2 seconds. when it hit my bait, this fish came straight out of the water and soaked my buddy. we had to change places in the boat and give chase to this fis. he went straight out of the bay into a deep channel and went straight to the bottom. the fight lasted about 20 minutes before lossing it. my buddy laughed at me for letting this fish break my line. the fish didn't break my line the lures hooks pulled out/straightened out that is. have know idea how big this fish really was, i just know it was very big.



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Originally posted by: Frogfish on 9/13/2007 5:17:53 PM

I have a couple stories. I was fishing Ft. Myers Beach, FL , off an abandoned restaurant that's over the water. It's a fish HOTSPOT, so I was fishing when the tide was going out. I dropped a live shrimp, and something too it before it even hit the bottom! Line started peeling out of the open bail, but I closed it and the fight was on! I managed to get it out and away from the pillings, but it made one last dash into the pillings, and cut the line on the razor-sharp barnacles. A local watched me fight, and decribed it either as a manostrous Crevalle jack, or a tarpon! We never did see that fish.

My other story came from fishing the PM river a few years back. I was out around 4 AM fishing a "secret" hole that I share with a friend who lives up there. We were both fishing, and my drift stopped. I set the hook onto a MONSTROUS king! The fish jumped in the darkness, and by the sounds of the splashes, it was HUGE! It made a peeling run, then turned back towards me. As it swam by, it swam through a shallow area where my headlamp shone it. It WAS huge! It the upper 30s! It dissappeared downstream, and ater about 30 seconds, my line went limped. My fly hook was bent straight.

Originally posted by: Andrew46 on 9/20/2007 7:34:07 PM

Thnx for the tip MR bill. and thnx for the replies.

Originally posted by: mr bill on 9/21/2007 7:35:41 AM

frogfish, that seems to happen alot with big fishies and little hooks. it has happened a couple times to me <!--graemlin:;)-->

andrew, thats what we are here for. i do know there are others out there that know more then me. i am just useing my age and experents that has been shown to me from some one older or what i have seen myself.



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Originally posted by: mr bill on 10/20/2007 8:31:09 AM

i've a tail to tell about a fish[?????] i lost a few years ago fishing for panfish in one of my faverate lakes. a buddy and i were fishing in the back bay of this lake catching some really nice gills and perch. the action had slowed a bit so i rigged a second rod with a berkley powerbait salomander in watermelon/punkinseed. because this lake has some really big bass in it. i was snaking the bass rig throw the lilly pads and i saw my bobber go under and i get a nice gill as i was unhooking this gill i noticed the line tightening up on the bass rig. i picked that rig up and waited for the line to tighten and then i crossed this fishes eyes. there was a very hard pull back and the spot that my bait was in. a huge hole opened up from this thing swerling in the pads. it about yank my rod out of my hand and pulled and pulled until my 40lb. spiderwire broke. it sounded like a 30-30 going off. i think this was a big snapper turtle and not a fish.

it was fun why'll it lasted.



life member nahc, nafc, nra/ila
life scriber in-fisherman mag.
rapala field tester
member of Eaton Rapids Conservation Club