OK, I've got a fish story for you.
We planned a trip to go fishing in Canada when Luke was 8. The trip was scheduled for August and all spring and summer Luke told everyone he met that he was going to catch a Musky in Canada in August. I kept telling him it wasn't that easy. But he would just say "Dad, I'm going to catch one."
The time finally came and we headed to Canada. We were going to be fishing for a week. We went out everyday and fished for Walleyes, Northern, and of course Luke was looking for the elusive Musky. We caught a ton of Walleye and Northern but had seen no Musky yet as we headed out on the last morning we were to be there. We ran several miles up to the other end of the lake and then walked back into a lake where they had told us there were lots of Musky. After a couple of hours of nothing we decided to head back.
When we got back to the boat we still had a couple of hours left for fishing so started hitting some of the better looking shoreline. As we went down the shore I was in front running the trolling motor and Luke was in the back on the deck. I cast around a large rock and drew nothing so was moving on when I heard "Whoooaaa! Daaddd!" I turned around and Luke had the rod buried in his stomach and was holding on for dear life. He kept saying "help me Dad" and I kept saying "nope, that is your fish not mine". After 5 or 6 jumps (each of which I waited for the hook to throw out) and a good fight the fish came by the boat. He was a little hot but I netted him anyway as my nerves could not take anymore.
I wish I had brought a video camera as Luke was jumping up and down on the rear deck shouting "Thank you Jesus! Thank you Jesus!" We measured the fish and it was 36 inches long. According to the regs I had with me it had to be 38 in order to keep it. (I would have retruned it regardless of the lenghth had I caught it but it was an 8 year olds first really big fish.) We spent quite awhile reviving the fish and finally he swam off rather slowly and wobbly toward the moss. I watched as he went worried about his chances but not much else I could do.
We got back to the camp and Luke was running around telling everyone about his Musky. The owner of the camp asked where he was and I told him we had to release him because he was only a little over 36 inches long. He got a rather pained look on his face and said "I hate to say it but in this chain of lakes you can keep them at 34 inches"
Oops...
I found Luke telling his Grandma about the Musky and told him what I had learned. Of course his face fell as I spoke. Then I told him to get in the boat we were going to just check things out. We ran back up the lake the 20 minutes or so it took to get to the other end and pulled into a bay we thought was the one we released the fish in. (At this point they all looked the same.) Looking around we saw nothing which is pretty much what I expected but Luke thought "maybe it was that one over there". Nope nothing again. "Can we just look in that one." We pulled in and nothing again, then I saw a small white spot near the point. Figuring it was just some trash or something else I pulled over to it and there was the Musky, trying to swim but belly up and not going to make it. We netted him and put him in the live well. Caught him twice in one day!
Honest. The above all took place. I would like to say I usually practice catch and release. Especially on the larger fish. I have realeased a lot of fish and was not very comforatable with the way this one was responding. I would guess netting him hot was the main problem with the release. In this case it turned out pretty well and he is now adorning the wall in Luke's room.
Hey, Peter asked for fish stories!
Now where are the photos of the 18?
CJ