8 years paid off

well since my first trip to canada at the age of 12 my dad caught a massive 42 inch pike. i was in shock by the size and power of that fish. from then on ive been trying to get a 40" ive hit 39" 3 times but still no 40. today things changed. i met up with scott(river rat) dj and cyndie for a day of open water carp. it started off slow with nothing but an onslaught of tiny bluegill and one small largemouth. a little later things picked up with scott getting the first carp. i brought in a smaller one soon after. a little while later and a few heartbreaks from carp throwing hooks cyndie got a tap on her rod. she set the hook into a beautiful carp. her very first one. after the action died down for a bit i picked up dj's other rod that had a daredevil on it and started tossing casts around where he missed a fish earlier. on one cast i saw a bit of a shape in the water near the bait and yelled out to my friends that theres a musky right by me. the fish slowly cruised the drop off a few feet ahead of me. i brought the spoon past a few feet in front and there was suddenly a quick flash and my drag screamed. the fish hammered the spoon and took off down river. i chased it down the bank yelling for my net. i raised it up once to see it was a GIANT pike just to see it run back to the deep water again. a few more minutes of fighting it back to shore and she was in the net. we measured it and the fish was right at 40" a new personal best! and a goal ive been working very very hard for.