river serpent
 

large shovel heads haven't been giving me much love so i pulled a page out of jdtuna's book and went on a quick serpent hunt. the water was surprisingly cool to the touch and i knew i had a good chance.

first cast gets hammered and whoops forgot to set the drag haha set the hook with no resistance and the fish never gets hooked...wondering why i'm so stupid, i tighten it up and flip it back out. luckily the fish was hungrier than I was stupid cause it came right back and this time got a hook buried in its' cheek.

It went berserk and we did a quick but violent battle in the trenches as i was standing in the water with it. he really fought hard but I had him over powered as i didn't want a long fight (although the water in that area was much cooler than i anticipated). it put a few scrapes on my hand as I hand too close too soon and tail smacked me in the balls once but ended up in my photo book anyway!

This thick and healthy guy was close to 35" and was missing pretty much all of it's tail could've been close to 37 with a full pinched tail. It swam off like a boss, almost like it was trying to save face cause it knew i beat it ;)

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...CIMG1911-1.jpg

tried a few other spots with no signs of life. One fish, but all you need when it's a serpent!

Re: river serpent
 

Thats a beast!

Re: river serpent
 

nice pike, good thing he was missing half his tail or that " ball check" would've really hurt.well done bro.

Re: river serpent
 

hahahahaha, good point!

Re: river serpent
 

Great catch!

Re: river serpent
 

Great looking pike !! The photo is magazine quality :)

Re: river serpent
 

Re: river serpent
 

Really great fish !! Nice going, and yes, and amazing picture too !

I took my son in law on Monday to the river...he has gone a few times with no luck, so I blindfolded him and took him to one of my better spots.

He landed 3 pike in the first 45 minutes and added one more after that. All solid fish, except the last one, but a great trip for him as I played "guide" !!

Beautiful pike !!! Great going !

Danny V

Re: river serpent
 

Nice fat belly on that pike! It's always that one time you forget to set the drag that you get a real nice first-cast-hit, aint it? Glad this serpent gave you a second shot.

Re: river serpent
 

That is a hearty looking pike! Great job man!!! Do you and JD ever sleep between trips?!?😜