The day was slow except for the morning', so I'll only cover that, but its enough!!! I started throwin' a Berkley Hollow Belly swimbait with no bites, so I decide to change. Out comes the Rage Tail shad, rigged weightless on 30 pound braid, thrown on a 6'6" medium action baitcasting setup. We are s-l-o-w-l-y pass a weed bed, and I make several casts to it. Now the sun is up, so I can't expect to much. Around my 15th cast (guestamint), I get a huge blow-up around 12 feet from the weed bed. I figured the fish would miss the bait, as the blow up was huge. I set the hook and BAM!! Fish on!! I tell the other guys in trhe boat I got a fish, and one asks if its a big 'un. "I don't know," I said. Then the fish jumped. Until know I had expected a nice 5lber. Boy was I ever wrong. I caught a glimpse of a MUSKIE jumping three foot out of the water!!!!! I yell "ITS A MUSKIE!!!," and then settle into the fight. For some reason I just settled down inside, and started calmly fightin' the fish. Really. He fools around a bit and comes under the boat. One of my fishin' buddies says "Keep him away from the motor," but I tell him not to worry, I got it under control. The fish just kinda sulks under he boat, so I pump him as best I can, try to give him no time to rest. Suddenly that fish makes a hard run under the boat. Really just pullin' HARD. Then the fish jumps on the other side of the boat. THAT rattled me. But he came back under the boat, and I played him a bit more. He then netted nicely. Great. I just landed a WHALE of a 'ski, and I got nowhere NEAR what I need to deal with this thing. I set to un hookin' him with a pair of 8" needle nose, wonderin' how I can cast without a few digits. Every time I'd grab the hook and try to pop it out, the fish would thrash ALL over the boat. Interesting enough under ideal conditions, but very "exciting" in a boat with three people. I finally get the hook to pop out of its original spot, but now its lodged in another part of he mouth. AAAUUGH!!! I finally get this brute un-hooked, and then things get better!! I have no way to control this beast, its mad, hurt, outta water, and has a nice set of teeth. Yeah HAAA!!! Anyways, long story short, I take care of the fish and re-rig. My braids a little nicked, but not bad. I cut some off any way, put on my last shad, and next cast TWANG!!! By-by shad, hook, and 10 feet of line........... Boy what a mornin'. The fish came out at 38-1/4", 16-1/2" girth. What a time. I've never had that much power on the end of a line before, at leas not that I know of..........

When you fish Rage Tail hold on!

Sounds like you had an awesome day of fishing.  

How bad did the boat smell?????

Man, those things stink.  They don't call them "MUSK Y" for nothing  

Now you've caught a fish on the Rage Shad that I haven't....I'm jealous  ;D  wished you had a photo of it cause I would like to put it something like that on our News Site.

WTG Man

Big O

www.ragetail.com  

   I got a couple pics if ya don't mind seein' it on a stringer.............. Had to keep it :-[ One of the guys I fish with ues the eye method on these things, and he kinda blinded it  :'(

I got a couple pics if ya don't mind seein' it on a stringer.............. Had to keep it :-[ One of the guys I fish with ues the eye method on these things, and he kinda blinded it :'(

Isn't it great to have the honor of fishing with an idiot and a moron ?

Great report and congratulations! The shad is one of my favorites baits to throw.  ;D

I got a couple pics if ya don't mind seein' it on a stringer.............. Had to keep it :-[ One of the guys I fish with ues the eye method on these things, and he kinda blinded it :'(

Isn't it great to have the honor of fishing with an idiot and a moron ?

no kidding, i was waiting for the part "...and then let her go back in the water..."

Isn't it great to have the honor of fishing with an idiot and a moron ?

Hey, at least it taste good. And chill-ax 'bout it not bein' released. The ecosystem isn't gonna crumble 'cause the fish wasn't released. The guys I fish with fish for food. They keep crappie and bass. I have no problem with that. I encourage them to release smaller crappie or bigger bass, but its their fish, they caught it, the state says they can keep it. Chill-ax!!!!!

When you fish Rage Tail hold on!

X2 I was throwing the rage craw on a jig in the channel th9is weekend.  BOOOM! The bass hammered it dude.  They hit that bait hard I'll tell yea.