Willow Beach 10/15 - 10lb'r

[BillyH]

Hit Willow on Saturday with my girl to do some exploring down river. Cruised down to mile marker 46 poking around looking for potential fishing holes. Saw a few, tested my luck and landed this 10lb (31 inch) guy in about 3 minutes of trolling. I would have entered him in the tourney but i didnt come prepared...and will catch a bigger one soon anyways. So thats the cool part....and of course its always nice to show off for the lady...

The ridiculous part is my new nick name is " captain forget-a-net". This is the second time i have landed a quality fish with no net....that equates to no fun. Long story short i had this guy next to the boat and decided to pull him out by hand when he bolted....LUCKILY the AC plug i caught him on sunk a good 1/4 inch into my index finger which kept him from going to far.... but then the real fight was on....and it hurt!!! Apparently I won....bastard fish LOL, he is now in my freezer ready to be smoked this afternoon but managed to sink the hook past the barb in the joint of my index finger.....OUCH! Lesson learned...bought a net on the way home and it will live in my boat.

Nothing better then having a cool moment with a girl you want to impress only to follow it up with a dumbass injury, got some sympathy love for it though so not so bad.

[inline PART_1318736502743.jpeg]

[inline PART_1318736502807.jpeg]
[signature]

[Erawk]

Woohoo and ouch. That's exactly why I hate lipping fish when they've got a mouth full of treble hooks. I carry a pair of lip grippers to avoid that scenario. They're great for quick C&R since the hooks won't catch in the net or my finger []
You got the girl and the fish.... a productive day on the water indeed.
[signature]

[vegaskid]

Nice Striper. [fishin]

Willow can be addicting. Nothin quite like those trophy stripers. I have a boga grip and love it. I have ruined several nets because of treble hooks. My brother buried a treble in his foot last year and I once got hooked in the head with a bucktail jig while chasing boils[sly]
[signature]

[BigE]

[cool]Nice fish. Sorry about the injury though. Last time I forgot the net I used pliers to lip the fish. Still had to be careful of his spines especially in the tube.
[signature]

[TheWhizzle]

Yeah, I messed up our net situation a couple weeks ago. Erawk and I were fishing, and when i put the net in the water to land the first fish, a gas slick formed on the water. I guess I spilled some on the net during a fill-up. That led to us lipping and swinging fish for the rest of the day.
[signature]

[EvilTyeDyeTwin]

Nice fish....glad the no net senario had a happy ending. I have tried to land 2 big fish now without a net and both times it ended in failure[:/]. Guess they get off when the tension goes from tight to loose?
[signature]

[Undurtow]

nice fish billly
[signature]

[Troylee]

Good stuff man I need to get my dose of willow soon haha... I'm 1 for 2 down there and more excited than ever to hit it up again... What plug where you using?? I caught mine on a original baby trout pattern... Last time no luck with the minnows or originals both in 9" and 12"... I wanna pick up the new magnum 15" and some fatties those stocker trout are pretty damn big down there last Friday...
[signature]

[striperdude]

Nice job and great looking fish!
[signature]