WOW! What a surprise!

[treepotato]

Went fishing on a northern Indiana lake today. I have had great luck on this lake in the past but as I was launching my boat I noticed there was a stiff cold breeze out of the east and the lake was really choppy. I decided to spider rig with minnows all day and use the breeze to my advantage. I spent all day fishing all different depths and felt like I covered the water well but still hadn't gotten the first bite. I was making my last drift along a shoreline in 12 feet of water when one of my 12ft poles gradually doubled over. Fiquring it was just caught in the weeds again I picked it up to pull it loose and to my surprise had an enormous tug fighting back. When I felt how huge this fish was I didn't think I would ever get to see it because I was only rigged with 4lb mono and a #1 Mr Crappie Eagle Claw. I set the drag loosely and had to use the trolling motor to try to keep me near the fish. Finally after a 20 minute ordeal I landed a 36" Musky that weighed 9lbs. I know this isn't a giant when it comes to muskies but on a 4lb crappie outfit it sure seemed like a monster . I can't believe he would waste his time on a 1 1/2 inch minnow! He really turned an uneventful day into a Great day!! After all the excitment was over I couldn't help but wonder if any of you have experienced similar excitement while spider rigging or trolling for crappie. If so , please share your stories with us all here while I try to calm down and quit shaking!!.........treepotato

[Moose1am]

When I hook into a big fish while using ultralight spinning gear and 4lb test line it usually goes something like this: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng snap and it happens so fast I can't adjust the drag. Fish on ..... fish gone! LOL

Went fishing on a northern Indiana lake today. I have had great luck on this lake in the past but as I was launching my boat I noticed there was a stiff cold breeze out of the east and the lake was really choppy. I decided to spider rig with minnows all day and use the breeze to my advantage. I spent all day fishing all different depths and felt like I covered the water well but still hadn't gotten the first bite. I was making my last drift along a shoreline in 12 feet of water when one of my 12ft poles gradually doubled over. Fiquring it was just caught in the weeds again I picked it up to pull it loose and to my surprise had an enormous tug fighting back. When I felt how huge this fish was I didn't think I would ever get to see it because I was only rigged with 4lb mono and a #1 Mr Crappie Eagle Claw. I set the drag loosely and had to use the trolling motor to try to keep me near the fish. Finally after a 20 minute ordeal I landed a 36" Musky that weighed 9lbs. I know this isn't a giant when it comes to muskies but on a 4lb crappie outfit it sure seemed like a monster . I can't believe he would waste his time on a 1 1/2 inch minnow! He really turned an uneventful day into a Great day!! After all the excitment was over I couldn't help but wonder if any of you have experienced similar excitement while spider rigging or trolling for crappie. If so , please share your stories with us all here while I try to calm down and quit shaking!!.........treepotato

[CrappiePappy]

....... I've told this story before - but, for those "unfortunate few" that haven't heard it (and want to ... ) here goes:

April 20th 1985 .... Green River Lake, Ky ... Crappie moving into shoreline cover: I'm using (don't laugh, it WAS a long time ago) a 6.5ft spinning rod/reel combo (Walmart blister pack special ) with 4lb test line (probably BPS Excel) and throwing a 1/16oz Chartreuse Roadrunner towards the bank, reeling it slowly back over the downed tree hulks. My fishing partner then, is my current fishing partner ... and we had been catching some slabs from these waters. As we were going along a stretch of bank, I cast my Roadrunner and began reeling in ... waiting on that telltale bend in this UL rod, that signalled a big ole Momma Slab had inhaled my offering. When it did happen, I set the hook ... and for an instance thought I had caught the TREE. Then the line started moving towards the boat, under the boat, and out towards the middle of the lake. I flipped the "lock" off and began to backwind the reel (it was an all PLASTIC reel, so I didn't have ANY faith in the drag system ). The fish turned and came back, turned and went back out deep ... 3 TIMES !! I had no idea what I had hooked ... but I really wanted to at least SEE what it was. I finally got the fish coming to the surface and close to the boat, on the 3rd run, so I told my Partner (Paul) to "GET THE NET". I instructed him to put the net in the water and I would lead the fish into the net ... THEN I saw what it was ! A MUSKIE !! And I have no steel leader on, and 4lb test line ... I knew I'd only get one shot at getting it in the net. I gently turned the fish towards the net and Partner Paul scooped it up and lifted it over the side of the boat. --- THEN all **** broke loose ... well, actually this is the scene: Paul lifts the net/fish out of the water and over the side of the boat - fish shakes head and dislodges Roadrunner from lip, while the gill flaps cut a nice big hole in the net webbing - fish drops to floor of boat and begins thrashing about, knocking rods/reels & tackle boxes about - Partner Paul backs away from the thrashing gills & teeth, while I pounce on the fish with both hands and one foot. After subduing the beast, we did a length measurement and weighed it. It was 32.5in long and weighed 12lbs. I'd never caught a Muskie before, let alone a legal sized one ... and certainly never figured I'd catch a very big fish on that "el cheapo" spinning outfit and light line. Had I caught it while Bass fishing, or on Bass fishing equipment ... I would probably have let it go. But, seeing as how I had caught it on such a "wimpy" outfit ... I decided to keep it and have it mounted. I turned in some scale samples to the KDFWR and they aged the fish and sent me a "Certificate of Achievement" with my name, date caught, length and weight (although, since my penmanship sucks, they read the weight as 10lbs, instead of the 12lbs that the scale said :rolleyes: ...whatever! ) They identified it as a TIGER MUSKIE .... a cross between a Silver Muskie and Northern Pike. I learned, many years later, that my fish was less than 2lbs shy of the State Record for a Tiger Muskie.
Anyway ... the fish was mounted on a large piece of drift wood, and it and the certificate hang on the living room wall....with that Roadrunner still hanging from it's jaw :D ...................cp

[crappieseeker]

I have caught many 15 to 20 pound catfish while crappie fishing, but never caught a muskie, I guess a good reason being that we dont have them where I fish. The funniest thing I caught while fishing light line was pretty embarrassing. I was fishing some water with a current to it in a place where I had caught 2 bass over 6 1/2 lbs. Something thumped my line pretty hard and when I set the hook, the fight was on. I managed to work it in close to the boat several times, but every time I got where I thought I'd get it in, or atleast get to see the massive beast, it would make another run. After several times at doing this, my arm was getting tired. I thought I'd go for broke, so I told my partner to grab the net, I was gonna give all I had and get him in, even if it broke my line, I wasnt about to let him make another run. It was very embarrassing to see what I had my partner grab the net for. To my surprise, it was part of a big steel cable that I had snagged into. The current was making it run and sway just like a fish would do. I was just glad me and my partner were the only ones around to see it. Thought you all would get a kick out of that one

[Big Zig]

here is a surprise from Pa. - This fish was caught while crappie fishing w/4lb line (20 lb. female):

[blufloyd]

Hooked and landed 11 muskies all while crappie fishing. One actually fought. They don't impress me very much. 24 to 33 inch range. 4-6 lb line.

[Jerry Blake]

I caught this green carp this morning while crappie fishing with a 12-foot jig pole, 6-pound line and a 1/16th ounce Chartreuse/Silver/Chartreuse Slater's hair jig.

It was about 18-feet deep on a brush pile where we've been getting some nice crappie so I really thought it was a goodun when I started bringing it up.

Sure was disappointed when I saw what it was. Had my client hold it up for the picture.

[treepotato]

....... I've told this story before - but, for those "unfortunate few" that haven't heard it (and want to ... ) here goes:

April 20th 1985 .... Green River Lake, Ky ... Crappie moving into shoreline cover: I'm using (don't laugh, it WAS a long time ago) a 6.5ft spinning rod/reel combo (Walmart blister pack special ) with 4lb test line (probably BPS Excel) and throwing a 1/16oz Chartreuse Roadrunner towards the bank, reeling it slowly back over the downed tree hulks. My fishing partner then, is my current fishing partner ... and we had been catching some slabs from these waters. As we were going along a stretch of bank, I cast my Roadrunner and began reeling in ... waiting on that telltale bend in this UL rod, that signalled a big ole Momma Slab had inhaled my offering. When it did happen, I set the hook ... and for an instance thought I had caught the TREE. Then the line started moving towards the boat, under the boat, and out towards the middle of the lake. I flipped the "lock" off and began to backwind the reel (it was an all PLASTIC reel, so I didn't have ANY faith in the drag system ). The fish turned and came back, turned and went back out deep ... 3 TIMES !! I had no idea what I had hooked ... but I really wanted to at least SEE what it was. I finally got the fish coming to the surface and close to the boat, on the 3rd run, so I told my Partner (Paul) to "GET THE NET". I instructed him to put the net in the water and I would lead the fish into the net ... THEN I saw what it was ! A MUSKIE !! And I have no steel leader on, and 4lb test line ... I knew I'd only get one shot at getting it in the net. I gently turned the fish towards the net and Partner Paul scooped it up and lifted it over the side of the boat. --- THEN all **** broke loose ... well, actually this is the scene: Paul lifts the net/fish out of the water and over the side of the boat - fish shakes head and dislodges Roadrunner from lip, while the gill flaps cut a nice big hole in the net webbing - fish drops to floor of boat and begins thrashing about, knocking rods/reels & tackle boxes about - Partner Paul backs away from the thrashing gills & teeth, while I pounce on the fish with both hands and one foot. After subduing the beast, we did a length measurement and weighed it. It was 32.5in long and weighed 12lbs. I'd never caught a Muskie before, let alone a legal sized one ... and certainly never figured I'd catch a very big fish on that "el cheapo" spinning outfit and light line. Had I caught it while Bass fishing, or on Bass fishing equipment ... I would probably have let it go. But, seeing as how I had caught it on such a "wimpy" outfit ... I decided to keep it and have it mounted. I turned in some scale samples to the KDFWR and they aged the fish and sent me a "Certificate of Achievement" with my name, date caught, length and weight (although, since my penmanship sucks, they read the weight as 10lbs, instead of the 12lbs that the scale said :rolleyes: ...whatever! ) They identified it as a TIGER MUSKIE .... a cross between a Silver Muskie and Northern Pike. I learned, many years later, that my fish was less than 2lbs shy of the State Record for a Tiger Muskie.
Anyway ... the fish was mounted on a large piece of drift wood, and it and the certificate hang on the living room wall....with that Roadrunner still hanging from it's jaw :D ...................cp

Hi Pappy,
Congratulations on landing such a great fish! I have a new appreciation for anglers landing big fish on such light line. It's amazing to me how strong todays fishing lines are. I was using 4lb berkly vanish and it did a great job. Another thing that amazes me is the way these big muskies will hit such a small bait. Yours took a 1/16 oz roadrunner and mine took a crappie minnow! I wouldn't think they would even give such a small offering a second look. The certificate of achievment is really cool. You have probably re-lived that day hundreds of times when you look at the mount and certificate. I think the neatest thing of all though is probably the friendship that you have been blessed with in Paul. It isn't everybody who has a fishing partner that long and when you do, the memories that you share on the water over the years is truly something to be cherished. Take care and thanks for the storie, I enjoyed reading it............................treepotato

[jcass]

My biggest surprise was a 32" dog fish caught with minnow on 4lb Vanish with 12 foot rod. Took over 20 minutes. One Ugly Fish!

[robbor]

I used to fish alot with a crappie jig that had a small #8 or 10 hook and I was always hooking into bass and skin hooking them and having the hook pullout. It was so frustrating. My two big ones have both gotten off. I was fishing a few years back and got a good hit and thought I had a decent size bass on, I fought and fought this fish. I had the drag on my quantum micro under spincast reel set real tight and fought the fish with the 12' long pole(4# test) and when I got a bass on I would use the trolling motor and force the fish out to deep water to fight them. Well I had this fish on it came out of the brush imediately and I layed into it as hard as I could, there was weeds everywhere and I could see themdown about 15' wrapping the line, I was waiting to break off. My drag could not have been set better, I really lucked out as it would only pull drag here and there. I got the fish up in the water but still below sight level, I though she was getting tired and she was now directly below the boat. THen all of a sudden it lunged tward the opposite side of the boat and was going to snap my rod so all 12' got shoved straight down in the water, I was cringing(never done that before) . I got a glimpse of the fish and it was a cat, and really big about 10# or so, I started yelling for help, because I had no net and had always had trouble landing bigger fish with a 12' pole, I was all alone. I finally got the cat tired and she came to the surface headed away form the boat, so i leaned on here one more time and she turned and as she go pointed right at the boat the hook just poped right out, I started screaming like you wouldnt believe. No broken line no bent hook, the hook just lost the bone and tore out, I had done everything right but lost it, and worst of all no witness, man that sicked. I did the same thing later with a bass that went an honest 5# on another trip. For thise of you who are farmiliar with Bluefox foxee jigs both fish bit a 1/32 oz jig, really really small. Boy they were fun but no proof. I did have on trip where I landed 20+ bass between 1.5 and 2.5 pounds on this outfit and that was a blast.