the green bastard

today was the day marked on my calender where i planned to spend part of the day at the cannon. ive had nearly no days off from work in the past month so my fishing time is limited. i got out for 4 hours tonight and fished a few slack pools on the river. the first spot i hit is known for having loads of smallmouth bass and white bass so i was casting a small white wolly bugger. suddenly on my third cast my line instantly tightened and i feared my rod was going to snap i was almost convinced i tail hooked a big carp. i managed to get it in a little closer and got a look at it. to my surprise it was a giant pike. i had to let it run all over the place for a good 10 minutes so the fish didn't snap the line. i was only using 10lb mono for leader line. i finally got the fish close enough to where i could grab it. my thumb got slightly mangled in its mouth but i dont mind one bit. i landed a pike tied with my personal best at 40" i only caught one other fish all day another pike only much much smaller. even though i didn't catch a large number of fish today it was still very satisfying to have caught one like that. this fish put up such a great fight i nicknamed it "the green bastard."

smaller pike