Revisited my boss' pond (pic)

[Fishnngolfn]

I revisited my boss' pond last night to see if I could catch a few since I have had a small dry spell at the other private pond. I started out with a 5 inch dink. Then I caught a nice little 1.5 lbr. I then moved over to the turtle trap where I caught the 6.5 lbr last year to break 5 lbs for the first time. Sure enough she was still there. Only she was a little longer but not quite as fat. She measured 21" in length and 19" in girth (~7.22 lbs). I caught her on a baby brush hog (bullfrog color). Last year, I caught her on a 4 inch finesse worm (bullfrog color). Here is last evening's pic.



I was about to call it an evening. When I decided to throw a very large spinnerbait (black and blue with a colorado blade). I didn't bring that extra rod for nothing. I didn't expect to catch anything since the luer was so large and I have absolutely no confidence in a spinnerbait. After my third cast, I felt something on the end so I set the hook. The line took off to the left and the fight was on. As I pulled her close the jonboat, she rolled near the surface and I about had a cow. She was a beast. She took off again and pulled out about 50 feet of drag. I reeled her back in and it seems she was done fighting. Unusually it was not a long fight. Her mouth was wide open at the boat and I literally good put my balled up fist completely in her mouth with room to spare. But I was more amazed at how long she was. I got a good visual of her length compared to the side of the boat.

As I reached for her mouth, I missed and grabbed the line. I had my other hand under her belly and could tell she was at least the same girth (if not more) than the one pictured above. I then totally forgot that I was using 10 lb mono instead of my 20 lb braid on my other rod. I tried to lift her out of the water using the line and hand under her belly. Stupid stupid stupid. The line broke at the lure and she was gone. Judging by the length of her compared to the side of the boat, I used a tape measure and would say she was 26 inches long. Now if she was the same girth as the other fish (which would not be farfetched with her length), then she weighed just shy of 9 lbs!!! I really wished I could have landed her to get true measurements and a weight. I personally believed that I missed my first 10 lbr. I was excited and upset at the same time. Last night made me want to take off the rest of the week and spend it fishing. I will definitely be back every night this week trying to actually land her. But I think I will stop at BPS for a net first.