Labman, Chick, Bass/Stripers, 1/5/2012, Solo - A nearly 3 hour fight

[FishNews]

Put in about 10:30 to try a little Bass/Striper fishing. I marked a lot of bait and couple good bunches of fish, but no takers at my first stop. Headed out to check out a few other spots and didn't find any working fish. Came back to the creek channel that I started on and immediately marked some fish. After a lot of casts and different baits I finally got a light hit. Medium White Bass. Moved around looking over the creek channel on the downscan/sonar and was marking plenty of fish, but not getting bit.<br /><br /> About 2:35 I saw a large fish swirl on the surface and cast on top of the swirl, nothing. Reel in and cast again past the swirl and let it sink. Big time hit and immediate burning run. Figured Striper!! Yipee. <br /><br />The fish was basically doing what it wanted, I could not turn it or raise it off the bottom. Using 7' mh spinning rod with 8# flourocarbon line. This was a heavy fish and I was pretty sure it was a Striper. After not making any headway, and having to follow the fish on runs 3 times, I was starting to get tired, the fish felt as strong as ever. I had the drag set light and was putting a little extra pressure on the fish with a finger on the spool. Afraid to put too much pressure.<br /><br />Roger Brown and his Dad stopped by a minute to see what was going on, they had been crappie fishing and caught a 22# striper on a crappie jig and 4# line, so I should be good with 8#, lol. A while later cast4bass and Sam came back into the creek. They had been up river and Sam nailed a couple nice stripers. By 5:00 everyone had to leave and I am still fighting this fish. I finally got it up and had a good look at a large Striper. It immediately sounded and we started all over again. I had the fish up 4 times before I finally got it in the net about 5:45. I have no idea why it took so long to land this fish. I just could not move it. This was my personal best Striper. Please excuse the poor picture quality, I was just too exhausted to hold the fish any higher. Had a very hard time getting her out of the boat and back swimming. <br /><br />36# 10ozs. emoDance <br /><br />Regards, Labman