I am a proponent of bigger baits, bigger fish. Last weekend I was throwing a medium sized swimbait for pike. On this lake we were told they were still holding in the shallows, chasing bait fish feeding in the new green shoots. We were about 35 yards off the reed beds casting into shore and reeling back to the boat. As soon as the lure hit the water my rod bent and line started spooling out. I slowly buttoned down on the drag and very quickly realized that I was not turning this fish's head and he was going where he wanted. I could feel the weight and thought I had a nice pike until the first time I got him to the boat. That was when I saw his head in the stained water and realized it was a carp. But still I was pretty amazed as he immediately took of again on another run than I could not turn. At some point both myself and co-angler saw a noticeable twang in the line and we both realized that one of the treble hooks had popped. On the second netting attempt I realized why he was such a brawler. He had been in the shallows, feeding or basking, when my swimbait landed on his back startling him. As soon as he bolted he hooked himself in the first 4 rays of his dorsal fin. The whole time he was trying to swim off, I was basically dragging him back by the scruff of his neck.
I haven't caught a carp on rod and reel in well over 30 years, and definitely not like this, so it was a complete surprise.
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