You'll know you are a full fledged member of the luckiest man in the world club when you find yourself trolling for suspended spring lake trout… by order of your boss, no less.
It felt like Christmas morning all over again as Andrew, Jordan, and I hit the water in search of the Utik Lake unicorn, a lake trout! We concentrated our efforts by working the 30 to 40 feet region of water, off a series of islands that neighbored a deeper basin of the lake, while Andrew maintained a trolling speed between 1.5 to 2.5 miles per hour.
It felt like Christmas morning all over again as Andrew, Jordan, and I hit the water in search of the Utik Lake unicorn, a lake trout! We concentrated our efforts by working the 30 to 40 feet region of water, off a series of islands that neighbored a deeper basin of the lake, while Andrew maintained a trolling speed between 1.5 to 2.5 miles per hour.
Jordan and Andrew's Kwikfish aggressively chugged away, as we made note of an enormous school of tulibee that was hovering in the 10 to 15 foot section of the water column. Suddenly, SLAM!!!! My heavy action St.Croix, rigged with a 5 inch tulibee imitation crank bait, doubled over like a rubber band and I knew that it was time for battle! Lake trout… please be a massive lake trout!, I thought to myself. Suddenly my line made a direct B-line for the boat and it became apparent that we were facing an open lake water wolf; a worthy adversary and well known mythical creature of the depths.
"It's getting close to the boat guys! Get the net!", I said. "The net is FROZEN", Andrew replied. "Perrrrfect", I thought to myself. Upon arrival to the boat, she was able to get one good look at us three crusty fishing guides and decided to punch it into full throttle, making a deep run, down and under the boat. As the guys worked together to assemble the weather beaten trophy basket, time slowed to a stand still, and I mentally prepared myself for hand bombing the beast. As she rose to the surface I heard, CLICK! the net was taking form!!! SWOOSH!, with one fell swoop, Andrew had successfully landed my open water giant.
We giggled like school boys and dropped some massive high fives and BOO YEAHS! after revealing the 43 inch predator. Clean, mean, and rarely ever seen, the open water giant returned to the depths to continue her onslaught of tulibee terrorization….
I really have to say on this one, a great net man is worth their weight in gold. Here's a huge shout out and thanks to both these guys for pulling through with the net and a special thanks to Andrew Klassen for taking such phenomenal pictures. Thanks guys!
We giggled like school boys and dropped some massive high fives and BOO YEAHS! after revealing the 43 inch predator. Clean, mean, and rarely ever seen, the open water giant returned to the depths to continue her onslaught of tulibee terrorization….
I really have to say on this one, a great net man is worth their weight in gold. Here's a huge shout out and thanks to both these guys for pulling through with the net and a special thanks to Andrew Klassen for taking such phenomenal pictures. Thanks guys!