The "ONE" That Got Away.....

Hey fellow TTHers!

We were fortunate enough to get back to Crescent Lake just two weeks since our last visit. I was excited to see if the bite would change since it was very slow last time. The morning was cool, a bit breezy and overcast. Water temp was 53 degrees. We had rods in the water by 7am Sat morning and landed a pretty 3lb brown in front of the lodge in the first few minutes, but that was it as we made our way towards boy scout working the shallows. We let the pups have an early bathroom break on shore and then switched to some "deep sea" fishing

We started our first pass from Rainbow Point working our way towards Boy Scout in 110' water. Not too many minutes later the rod pops off, feels like a good one but hard to tell with macks sometimes. I handed the rod to my friend Tyler who was VERY new to fishing, he had only trout fished a bit in small rivers...he was loving it! That fish was working him over good, it was fun to watch. It took quite a while to bring this one in but I really wasn't thinking it was much bigger than anything we've caught before. It was hard to tell what Tyler was feeling because he doesn't have any experience, so I told him to enjoy it, be patient and take his time bringing her up. Boy was I wrong! It finally emerged from the depths...holy molely it's a BEAST!!! It was the biggest fish I had ever seen or caught by a country mile! It definitely wasn't ready to be netted and had lots of fight left. We were in shock but tried to stay calm and get the fish ready to net. We had the fish on it's side next to the boat several times but just couldn't land it, my net was literally too small! It's the largest rubber net I could find, but not deep enough for this bad boy. Tyler was new to this and I was trying to guide him, but he horsed it good one time breaking the line...the fish darted away strongly with the lure in it's mouth. I wasn't even upset. I was like "Cool! That was awesome!!!" We considered ourselves lucky to have just caught and seen this "Elder of Crescent" up close.

It's hard to estimate the weight, but we caught a 20 pounder just 20 minutes later so we had a good gage.

The 20 lber looked nothing like the first, the beast that got away was SOOOOO much bigger! The 20 pounder wasn't even in the same class of fish as the big one. The length, girth and size of the head were just unbelievable, what a site! It was darker colored too, very beautiful. I know...another fishing story with no proof! Roll Eyes (Sarcastic) Based on my salmon fishing experience, I think it's safe to say the fish was at least 30+ lbs, but who knows...doesn't matter, we enjoyed the heck out of playing and seeing this beauty.

Lesson learned...bring the salmon net! It would have been more humane to land the fish with a non-rubber net and possibly damage their coat rather than have it swim away with the lure in it's mouth. Brian Wildish gave me a recommendation on a large, deep "conservation series" net, I'll get that one instead of the knotted salmon net, thanks man!

I really hope it survives and is able to spit the hook. This fish will haunt my dreams for years to come. What an amazing experience for us and an incredible motivation to go back, fish on friends!

Dan & Carrie Lippis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdtO34T25Mo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCuT1QybMU8