7/16/16 By the $kin of My Leader

On Saturday, I fished the Indiana Kayak Anglers 3rd Tournament of the season. The event was held on the three rivers in Fort Wayne (The St. Joe, St. Marys, and the Maumee). You could choose from 7 different launch points and fish wherever you wanted for the day. It was a bass tournament by length only. 3 longest bass (Smallmouth and/or Largemouth) would win. They also had an optional $5 buy-in for a 'River Monster' pot. Biggest fish of the day (any species) would win the 'River Monster' pot. It sounded like a large chunk of the field was going to fish the St. Joe so fellow WCO fishing team member Jameson and I opted to fish the Maumee instead. We met up at registration. From there we set our shuttle for a 4-mile float and we were on the water by about 6:30. There were only 3 other participants that chose to fish the Maumee to start the day. Less than five minutes into our trip, Mike (one of the other anglers) hooked and landed a nice 25" Flathead Catfish. He was understandably pretty excited. He had a nice fish and a crack at the 'River Monster' pot straight out of the gate. Before long I was into my first fish, a small drum. The next fish I caught was a very nice 20" Drum. It hit like a freight train and fought like hell. This fish deserves a better reputation. After that we were scratching to catch any fish for a while. I was fishing this neat little spot where a small stream of clear, cool water was coming into the river. I felt a strike and set the hook. Within seconds I got my first look at the fish. It was a Northern Pike and a nice one to boot. It had my crankbait entirely in it's mouth and my 12lb fluorocarbon leader was right through its jaws and teeth. I thought for sure that the fish was going to break me off on it's first run. When it did run, it somehow miraculously stayed on. I decided not to put any pressure on the fish and land it as quickly as possible if I had the chance. The fish took a few more runs and a big jump nearly completely out of the water. At this point I was in shock that the fish had not broken my line. Before long, It let me pull it to the kayak and with one quick motion I had it on my Lucid fish grips. It thrashed and thrashed but to no avail. I pulled it out of the water, got it unhooked, and got some pictures. The fish measured out at 28.5" and gave me hope that just maybe I would win the 'River Monster' pot. After releasing the Pike, I checked my leader. It was at this point that I realized just how incredibly lucky I was to even land this fish. There was a huge gouge in my leader just in front of the crankbait and my 12lb leader had a 1lb strand left holding it together. I grabbed onto both ends of my line and pulled my line apart with almost no pressure at all. I would almost call it miraculous that I landed that fish. Before long we were fishing the treated waste-water discharge channel and I managed to put a limit of smallish Bass on the board thanks in no small part to my fly rod and a small crayfish pattern I had tied up earlier in the week. After that we fished the rest of the day with minimal luck and only an occasional fish. I finished the day with 9 Bass, 2 Drum, and the Pike. The rivers in town continue to amaze me! The Pike was certainly the highlight of the day for me. Now to see how I would stack up to the other anglers! I think that Jameson and I were some of the last few anglers to arrive at the 'weigh-in'. My three biggest Bass only totaled up to 34 1/4" (12", 11 1/4", and 11") Surprisingly though, this put me into 8th place out of 32 anglers. Only 9 people had caught their 3 fish limit. The big question in my mind though was: How would the Pike stack up? I thought that surely someone had caught a big Flathead and the Pike would be a nice story and not a whole lot else. Jason asked for my 'River Monster' and I told him that I got a 28.5" Pike and much to my surprise, the next closest fish was the 25" Flathead I had seen caught earlier that morning. In addition to those fish, there was also a 24" Saugeye, a 23.5" Pike, quite a few Drum, and several other fish I can't remember caught during the course of the day. I won the $155 pot with a fish that by all rights should have broken my line. Fishing really can be rewarding some times but can just as easily be heartbreaking. Sometimes all that makes the difference between catching and losing a nice fish is one small sliver of fluorocarbon and a little bit of luck.