Big 40 on the Gorge

[mackaddict]

My brother and I fished the Gorge 6-30 to 7-2. The fishing is still very tough. After the first 2 days, I was asking myself is this really worth driving 300 miles for? The third day I messed up 2 really good opportunities and frustration really set in. Then I was fortunate enough to get a third hook up and the fight was on. About forty five minutes of worrying about how I was going to screw this one up the fish came to the surface. My whole body started to shake and I felt light headed (i thought I was going to pass out) when it was finally in the net. The beast weighed in at 41 pounds even went to forty two when we weighed him a second time but I'm happy with 41.
He took a white tube at 100 feet. The rod is a 6ft medium action fenwick, the reel is a shamano curado and the line is 10lb. power pro with a 5ft mono leader.
We took a couple of quick picks and after some T.L.C. released him to make 50lbs. Nothing beats jigging for giant lakers.[]
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[lunkerhunter2]

What a toad! Looks like the fish left ya a little surprise on your left hand?[sly]
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[Wyobraz]

[font "Tempus Sans ITC"][#808000][size 3]Nice Hog!!![] I'm glad you were able to get him revived after that long of a battle, hopefully you can catch him again when he is 50 on the Gorge!!![/size][/#808000][/font][]
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[macscabin]

Nice fish congratulations. Way to stick with it and be patient. It paid off. I think next year I will spend some time trying to hook one of those pigs instead of just fishing for Kokes.
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[petty4life]

WOW!!! nice job Kevin.
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[utwalleye]

Nice Fish, glad to see you released a trophy fish. hopefully he will be 50 in a few years. later chuck
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[Old_Coot]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 2][#002850]Verry, verry NICE!!![/#002850][/font][/size]
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[Nica]

Very nice fish.....very nice!
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[DonInDenver]

What a great fish Mackaddict!! Thanks for the pic and report! Just gorgeous!

And thanks for giving the rest of us a shot at your 41. Beautiful!! Was it a difficult revival?
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[Flycasting]

Wow.... GREAT FISH! [cool]

And Brody... you are grossin me out.. LOL []
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[Theekillerbee]

What a sweet fish! I guess Tarponjim was right...they look like they are starving to death!
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[mackaddict]

We spent probably 15 minutes or so pulling him with the electric trolling motor. He seemed to be in pretty good shape when he decided to swim under his own power. I hope he makes it, he put up one hell of a fight.
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[DonInDenver]

That's a beast for sure!

When you revive them with the trolling motor, how do you hold them? Lip gripper?

Thanks again!
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[wiperhunter2]

Excellent mack, way to hang in there even when the catching was tough. Did you fish for anything else while there or was it three days of hard core fishing? Thanks for posting your report. WH2
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[Bigfishrule]

congrats on the fortyplus. Nice looking fish. Glad you released it so we all can have our chance at a photo with it.
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[Hellsangler69]

Very nice fish . Thanks for sharing .
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[mackaddict]

I fish strickly for the macks. I don't know much about trolling for the kokes, or trolling at all really. I can catch rainbow and bass 20 minutes from my house so I don't bother with them when I'm on water with lakers in it.

I use a lip gripper when I pull them with the troller. I also use it to weigh them in the net. It hooks into the webing real nice. Also another note, a forty pound fish will bend a tournament size stow-away net.[] I need a bigger net...
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[DonInDenver]

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[] I need a bigger net... [/reply]
That's a great problem to have!! [cool]
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[cadresults]

That is the best looking Mac I have seen on this site. What a great
fish!!!
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[fsh4fun05]

Nice fish, looks like both of you were excited. More than anything else I'm glad you put it back. I never realized how old those big fish were untill recently. You got to respect your elders [].
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