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Congrats Tonyb


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Thanks for posting this Chris.

 

My hat is off to you Tony, You have definitely put your time in for this. Maybe not this year like you said with work commitments, but it certainly made up for the other years.

 

Congrats!

 

Cheers, Ron...

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Thanks a lot guys! I plan on having Advanced Taxidermy do another replica, I may even incorporate both derby fish into 1 mount :Gonefishing:

 

As for details of the catch, I was off Bluffers Park and for the first hour I had lines down I wouldn't even call it fishing, it was more like navigating traffic on the 401! Amazing how many boats don't consider the space needed behind other boats, especially if you hook into a big fish that can take 700 feet of line out!

 

Anyway, I had enough and slid out beyond the pack of boats into deeper water, and before long I marked a big hook about 50 feet shallower than my downrigger running at 140 feet down with 11" HotSpot Flasher and cut-bait. I quickly brought it up above that hook on sonar, and as the line settled sure enough the rod fired.

 

Although it's my biggest officially weighed salmon, it sure wasn't the hardest fighter. the fight wasn't very hard in terms of punishing runs or anything, It initially took about 200 feet of line or so then stayed deep and wouldn't budge with those big lazy headshakes. So for most of the fight, I didn't think it was anything monstrous...little did I know

That's not to say it wasn't a challenge by any means...It got wrapped up in my wire dipsy setup when I was clearing it, and I had to put the rod with the fish on in the riggers rod holder, hand retrieve the dipsy/flasher/fly close enough to un-clip the flasher, then close the swivel, and luckily it all un-spun neatly off the rigger rod's mono.

I stepped toward the bow of the boat with the line and rod in my hand to pickup the slack that formed, and then gingerly reeled the damaged mono onto the reel, and thankfully the beast didn't make any more runs after that.

Also, because I was having a hard time gaining line on the fish, I was engaging the engine in and out of gear, and that may have been a bad decision in hindsight, because when I got it close to the boat on the first one armed net attempt, it swerved at the last second and charged right under the boat!

I had to pitch the net out into the bottom of the boat, then quickly lean over the side and shove the whole rod into the water to prevent it knicking the line on the prop or rivets on the hull! Luckily it circled out from under the boat, and the second net attempt I made count!

I hoisted it into the boat, popped the net hoop off the handle and got a quick weight in the net. It went to 38-39-39.5 on my digital, and knowing the hoop weighs about 2lbs or so, instantly the hair on the back of my neck raised at the realization of a potential leader, and I did a bunch of fist pumps and woohooos! I'm sure the other boats nearby were amused...or maybe not lol :w00t:

Placed the fish into the live well, and started clearing gear for the run in to the scale. The rest of the week was torture waiting to see if the fish would hold, but she did!

 

Here are a couple of pictures...The fish measured 43" x 27"

 

20130706_080841.jpg

 

20130706_083248.jpg

 

When I met Walter Oster the following Saturday to verify the catch, answer skill testing question, etc little did I know that David Fyfe was weighing in a 40.15lb BEAST out in Port Hope! So my overall lead was quickly bumped, but I am just glad he waited until Saturday, the start of week 2, to catch his beast! He has a serious shot of winning the overall derby with that tank...unless I get another one bigger :P

 

Tony

Edited by tonyb
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