The Big One...

...that got away.

So for the holiday, Mike and I went up to Smithville Lake to do a little fishing, a little geocaching, and watch the fireworks spectacular. We got out there early afternoon and found a nice little cove not far from our first cache. We moored the boat and made quick work of our first find. We decided that the cove looked pretty good for fishing so we spent the first few hours in the cove. We didn't have bad luck (I caught a 1 pound crappie) and the storms that decided to roll through while we were there actually made it really nice.

We decided to move a little closer to the dam where we would have a better opportunity to see the fireworks show. On the way, we decided to stop at a couple of other caches. We moored the boat again and hiked back into the woods for a couple more quick finds. Lots of poison ivy but I think we managed to avoid it. After getting back to the boat, we went back into sailboat cove and dropped anchor for a while. We didn't have much luck in the cove and it was starting to get dark so we headed out to get a great spot for the show.

The spot we found was about 2 miles from the actual fireworks but it was a great spot for fishing. Mike caught an 18 pound carp within about 5 minutes of sitting there! Since we don't really care for carp, he went right back in the water but they are fun to catch. I wasn't far behind with a fairly nice sized one as well. The dark came and the fireworks show began. The fish were nice enough to hold off biting while the show was going on. It was alright. Maybe if we had been sitting right in front of the dam with the other 100's of boats, we would have had a better view. We just don't have the horse power to make that happen and expect to get back to the dock any time soon!

After the show and the boats all rolling through, we were able to refocus on the fish. We had caught a couple other carp and some keeper-catfish. Suddenly, one of Mike's bobbers went down. He began to reel it in and commented that he thought it was another carp. As he kept reeling, he made another comment that he didn't think it was a carp. Just at that moment, his other line went under as well. He grabbed it to at least keep it from going to far away. As he went back to the other line, he realized he was stuck. Luckily, this is a nice 10-foot pole with about 100 pound test line on it. There was very little chance that the line was going to break...which became part of the problem of what happens next.

He used the oar, he used another pole, he used a light that is suppose to attract fish; none of this was working. He was feeling along the bottom and kept saying that he didn't feel anything he could be caught on. After about an hour of playing with this line, and really thinking that this fish is long gone, he suddenly says that the fish is still on there. So again he started the attempt to pull this fish up out of the water. After another 30 minutes of trying, he suddenly pulls out his knife and says "You Win!" and cuts the line. If you know my husband AT ALL, you know this is not like him. Here is a man that lost a pole in the water after a fished pulled it over the edge of the boat and found it AND the fish after searching for over an hour. I asked him how big he thought this fish might be based on the pull and he figured it was twice the size of that carp he had caught earlier.

So, now we have a BIG FISH story...I wish we could have seen it...but I am sure we will have another opportunity!

Alright, I have to get some home work done so I best get to it.

C'ya!