November Giant

So I've been catching a few saugfish at night after work in the GMR. Up until tonight that is. I lost one right away then another. Well crap. Well you know there's fish here. It's 55 or 60 degrees and I'm staying till I catch one dammit. How many nights like this are left? So It's a long time with no action, probably pushing one or one thirty in the morning. Thump. I set the hook and this fish just moves off slow like it's not even hooked. Except that my spinning rod (with 8lb test) is bent double. The fish just kind of wanders around out there with me holding the rod. Sometimes taking line, sometimes me gaining line when the fish swims my way. Finally after a long time the fish seems to tire. (I know I am by then) I'm thinking I've snared a big carp or huge buffalo that's tail hooked so it's fighting harder than normal. I flip on my headlamp which flickers and goes off. I switch it on again and this huge shape swims by and the light goes out again. Okay, no chance of me ever landing this fish. Now I'm trying hard to get the headlamp to work. It flickers twice more then quits for good. The fish slowly swims off again. I put as much pressure as I dare and the fish turns. I'm thinking now of the old man and the sea where he keeps trying over and over to turn the fish. The fish powers out into the river and pulls me around for another four or five minutes then seems to tire again only to spook in the shallows and head out again. I'm nice and calm because after all there's no chance of landing this guy in the dark on 8lb test. Then after a while the unthinkable happens, the fish somehow stays on, the line holds, it wears out, and I grab a huge lower jaw and drag it out. Vic's swimbait is hooked deep in the roof of its mouth but there's plenty of room to get my hand in there to unhook it. I've got a tape measure the ODNR was giving out at the Columbus show, Just one problem, the tapes 40 inches long and this guys probably three inches longer than that. I take a few photos and lay the fish in the shallow to recuperate. It lays there while I gather all my stuff and get ready to leave. I lean down and touch the fish and it shoots away with a giant splash soaking me from head to toe. Now that was an adventure..