I headed up to the lake after finishing work early and haven't been out much since my 21 lber but a few times.  I have been working very hard lately to get my brownbagger patch that I have been wanting my whole life from my dad.   

After trolling a couple hours with nothing in a few spots that I have had luck at, I went over to a place that I like to fish in the fall.  The weather was crappy once again with rain at times, wind and cool temps. 

As I was trolling a shoreline I noticed the bottom was coming up fast. I cleared my rigger as fast as I could.  My other rod on the inside with a hand made 5" AC Mag Shad (that my dad had just made for me) started to bounce the bottom.  My rod went down and I figured I was snagged. The only thing is it was coming in.  All of a sudden I feel a head shake.  This thing is coming in like dead weight and I have no idea what this is. The next thing I know it comes to the top.  I see this fish and my heart starts racing.  I cant believe it another big one! The fish then freaks out and realizes he is hooked (or so I think) and takes off under my boat.  My rod is pinned to the edge of my boat and he boils on the other side.  I'm thinking, this cant be good...  Then he takes another run around motor and wraps me around my prop!  So I have my line under my boat and around my prop.  Not good at all!  I'm just waiting for my line to break and ready to cry. Then a act of god happens. The fish comes up and lays on its side 10 ft away and sits there. Very gently, I pull my line with my hand slowly around the motor and hes coming in. I know that I have one chance at this because one burst of energy and the fish is gone.  I grab my net in one hand and pull the line with the other and reach out and net it!  I cant believe what just happened! I hear a nice couple in a boat fishing for kokanee who have been watching the whole time start cheering.  I told him that they have no idea what kind of stress I just went through.  They came by and took some pictures for me and we had a nice chat. I cannot believe how lucky I have been lately especially how I hooked this last fish and how I got it in.  But I will take all the luck I can get because soon I'm sure it will change and I will have a sad story to tell next time.