19-Sep-1995 - 34.5" Purebred

This particular year, the regs changed such that no form of motor trolling was legal on the Chippewa Flowage. This made moot all the previous speculations on just exactly what the old regs were, and now we could proceed with confidence knowing that the only legal way to troll was by human powered rowing or paddling. As is happened, Mike's boat was not ideally set up for human propulsion, but it did come equipped with a sort of spoon sized emergency paddle, and after some practice and a lot of "J" stroking, we found we could move the boat about decently even in the river.

One day during a week long trip, we had paddled the boat the entire day with me doing most of the paddling and Mike throwing lumber. My rod was rigged up with a dual treble quick strike rig and a pan fish and a float which trailed behind us some 20 or 30 yards as we made our way down then up the river. Nothing happened and kept not happening.

FInally, just before sun down, we had just paddled past a good ambush point where a narrow part of the river opened out into a wider, shallower lake, with a deep hole at the mouth. I was relaxing when the clicker went "tick... tick... tick tick... tick tick tick..." and suddenly I was awake. I took up the slack and waited to feel what was happening, but at this point there was something like 50 yards of line out. I readied myself and then abruptly leaned back with the rod trying to absorb all that stretch. The fish was hooked and summarily cranked up to the boat. With a minimum of fuss the fish was hauled aboard for pictures and measurements, and then released with little harm done.