Trophy bass

[John Pensyl]

Left lake ontario trout and salmon alone today and hit the river to play with the smallies. We caught a bunch of fish on tubes and drop shot rigs and a bunch more casting twisters to the banks but the jerkbait bite on the flats was on fire. Then at about 9 am something grabbed my hj-10 and took off like a maniac and my instant reaction was "oh no". It's amazing how targeting these fish changes your mindset on things. What would have had my heart pumping with crazy excitement a few years ago or would be awesome in a month, now just had me hoping and preying I could get her in and free without hurting her. I mean who hooks a 45"+ musky and reacts "oh #$@!, it's a musky" and then is pissed at themselves for fishing there. She fought long and hard, jumping 4 times and taking a bunch of runs, but eventually let me tail her and get the hooks out. Maybe she'll come play again in june since I was so nice to her. She was spawned out and had some nice rock scrapes down her side but looked healthy overall. Hopefully that's my last encounter for a month or so up there.