blackburnian
08-13-2007, 06:30 PM
I rented a pontoon boat with my girlfriend Monday late morning/afternoon and ended up with two big fish tales. I had been fishing for perch, panfish, channel cats and bonus fish with crawlers. Had to move the boat a few times because I wasn't finding the fish. I finally find a spot and landed a nice 18-inch Walleye. Moments later I hook into a huge fish that I couldn't pull in at all with my 6-8 pound line. After about 15 minutes I decided to tighten the drag a little and try to horse it up, the line broke.
Not long after this I hook another huge fish. This time I was careful not to tighten the drag too much. I would just let it tire and be patient. Well, once again, I could not move the fish towards the boat. So my girlfriend drove the boat to the fish and I was able to reel up some line. Well, we chased this fish about 8 times with the boat and as soon as we got the boat near the fish, it would run half of my line out before stopping. Abosultely could not pull the fish up. So after another 20 minutes I asked my girlfriend to drive fast towards the fish and I would just tighten and force the fish up, I was exhausted and feeling hopeless. We got the fish just under the boat and it came off of the #6 hook without us seeing what it was. The fish had been on at least 40 minutes.
When these fish were on I started thinking that they could have been huge Snapping Turtles, or huge Carp. A Carp would have tired in my opinion and would have let me pull it to the top of the water. Locals told me that there aren't many Snappers in the lake. Even a large catfish would have tired by then? If they were musky, they were well over 25 pounds.
Can anyone with experience in Pymatuning make a good guess? I will post pictures from the boat when I pick them up.
Scott
Not long after this I hook another huge fish. This time I was careful not to tighten the drag too much. I would just let it tire and be patient. Well, once again, I could not move the fish towards the boat. So my girlfriend drove the boat to the fish and I was able to reel up some line. Well, we chased this fish about 8 times with the boat and as soon as we got the boat near the fish, it would run half of my line out before stopping. Abosultely could not pull the fish up. So after another 20 minutes I asked my girlfriend to drive fast towards the fish and I would just tighten and force the fish up, I was exhausted and feeling hopeless. We got the fish just under the boat and it came off of the #6 hook without us seeing what it was. The fish had been on at least 40 minutes.
When these fish were on I started thinking that they could have been huge Snapping Turtles, or huge Carp. A Carp would have tired in my opinion and would have let me pull it to the top of the water. Locals told me that there aren't many Snappers in the lake. Even a large catfish would have tired by then? If they were musky, they were well over 25 pounds.
Can anyone with experience in Pymatuning make a good guess? I will post pictures from the boat when I pick them up.
Scott