I was hoping for better results after a relative slow day on the water down by Wendover on Friday with the Brother-In-Law. We got a couple of smallies and a big ole pike that bit off my Tournament Frog at the boat.....
Today was a different story and after popping a couple of small largies on Senkos in shallow water I hit a long submerged island that I like to fish and got on to some serious large Northern action....
I released two fish both over 36" long and scrappy as hell. What happened next was crazy as old get out. I was tossing a spinner bait in a crazy color due to the fact that I lost the spinner bait that was producing the pike. I felt a nice solid hit.... set the hook and then..... monster headshakes ensues and my line starts stripping off..... it was all I could do to keep up to the fish. I was praying, "Let me at least see what it is before it breaks me off... " so I keep cranking away. Well did I get an eyefull..... 
Up from the depths comes this monster muskie.... and she peels out even more line and makes run after run with me doing all I can to keep it off of the motor and the electric up front. I look around for the net.... DOH! No net. I alreay knew from releasing the pike that I didn't have any pliers either.... Oh My God! How was I going to release this monster? I reach for my phone camera also.... crap it is dead as a door nail. The fish makes a couple of more runs... and is starting to tire. I know I need to get this fish released and pronto because I know that they weaken quickly. I try to get my hand in under her to grab her under a gill raker but she is still too green for me to try that. I look up and notice a couple fishing on a dock near me... so I jump on the electric and tow this monster over to the dock and ask for some help. 
Well the guy has this rubber bass net... and somehow manages to net this beamoth of a fish.... 40"plus now I see..... bigger than that other girl I got on the same stretch of the river last year. His wife almost runs off of the dock but is persuaded to get the pliers and a camera. I manage to hold the fish stable and eventually get the hook out and after a couple of pics with the camera, of which I am promised a copy via email and will post when I get em, I start the process of resusetating this fish. She is very tired and isn't showing alot of signs of wanting to take off and is beginning to belly up.
I have heard that some fish take a long time though so .... I am in this for the long run. What seemed like an hour working water through this fishes gills eventually allowed me the joy of watching her swim away from the dock back to the deep water to fight another day. Wow .... was I vibrating. 
I must say though that the river was willing today. The Ottawa has been a hard fish this summer so... maybe just maybe things are normalizing a bit. I know that many walleye anglers are bragging about the number of fish being caught. Personally this is my best day on the river this year.... and I'm hoping that this is a good sign for a very good fall of fishing. Great day... will post pics soon.
Come to think of it my 2 biggest muskies 
Some days I wonder if I should have left it on shore 
Isn't that always the way 
Now that would be bragging 
