My most memorable fish

My boyfriend and I were fishing in western Minnesota earlier this summer, and it started out less than ideal. It was an extremely hot day, and therefore fishing was extremely slow. We had spent about four hours in the boat, catching nothing but bullheads and a few small sun fish. The flies were terrible, and the deer flies were even worse. I was constantly swatting them away so they wouldn’t bite me (I’m allergic and swell up like a water balloon!) and not really paying attention to my bobber since we hadn’t caught much anyway. 

As I was following a particular deer fly around the boat, attempting to swat it, I felt a huge tug on my fishing pole. It seemed as though it got hit by a truck! I looked into the water and my bobber was nowhere to be found. I immediately set the hook as hard as I could and began reeling in the line. I instantly assumed it was a large northern judging by the weight at the end of my line, when about 20 feet away my fish became air born and made an effort to throw the hook. What I saw was a huge largemouth bass fighting to get away from the boat. I slowly kept reeling in the line until I got a good look at next to the boat. It looked even bigger than the glance I got at it when it came out of the water! It seemed as though another hour passed before I was able to land the fish, and I was worried the line was going to break or something, which is just my luck. Finally, my boyfriend reached in and grabbed it. I couldn’t believe how huge this bass was! It was by far the biggest bass I’d ever seen, let alone caught, and my boyfriend said the same. It measured 21.5” long, just 2 inches shy of the state record. It was great to rub it in my boyfriend’s face that I caught the biggest fish on his home turf – Minnesota! It was a day I definitely will never forget. 

I should also mention that the guide (my boyfriend) made the catch possible....!

Great story, that is a huge fish - and close to a state record - awesome!