Icy guides and 'Eyes

[Skunk City]

Got out and about early with Redi on Sunday in search of deep water beasts. Launched at sunrise to a cold, empty lake and ice forming on the guides , fall is upon us my friends! Threw the usual assortment of jigs and were rewarded with a dozen Walleye to 25" and close to two dozen Crappie, most in the 11"-13" range with a couple nice dinner plates coming into the net.

Around 10 am something big and mean decided to take us for a ride. For about 15 minutes, I battled an unseen monster. Multiple powerful, drag peeling runs from a fish that totally outmatched my medium power St. Croix. Redi even got on the motor to chase this thing down, but it was to no avail that it popped the hook on my blade bait before we even saw it. I was a sobbing, wimpering mess laying in fetal position before Redi scraped me up, put the St. Croix back in my hands and got me focused again. Luckily, the action continued, but my dreams will be haunted for some time. We packed it in around 4pm, leaving the fish biting.