State Record Minersville (close)

[richyd4u]

Well...we decided to take the camper back to Minersville this past weekend. After slaying the spawning bows since ice-off, we figured most of them would have done their thing and moved out by now, so our expectations were low. First night we were there, we went to the same spot that we had been killing them in all season and found plenty of mostly male spawning bows in that bay. As we were fishing for the bows, we spotted some MASSIVE schools of MASSIVE fish coming into the bay and getting up into 1-2' of water. As we observed, they definitely did not look like trout, so we assumed they had to be wipers! My daughter had on a pink Jakes lure from fishing for trout, and had ventured to the other side of the bay from me when she hooked into something big....really big. She had 6lb fluro and a light action trout rod, but luckily we had set her drag just right. By this time the sun was dipping and I was talking her through the fight from the other side, the side the net was on as well, lol. How exactly she landed this behemoth of a wiper on that tackle, with no net, and on a PINK JAKES, is beside me. As she made her way around the bay to me, holding the fish...I started to realize what she had just caught. It was the biggest wiper I've seen, and I've caught plenty of them during my time in Kentucky and fishing willard bay. The decision was made to keep the fish and get it back to the campground to try and find someone with a scale (left mine in my boat at home). Couldn't find a scale anywhere, but the measurements came out at 27" long and 21.5" around. After searching for the State Record wiper, we realized just how close she may have come. My daughter was grinning ear to ear as everyone in the marina and campground stopped her to take pictures and ask her questions. I stood by as a proud papaw. Doesn't get better than that! We tried to replicate the fish the next couple nights we were there, as the massive wipers schools continue to come into that bay and spawn. I ended up hooking up twice, but having to use trout poles and light line, they got the best of me and got off. We still managed many nice males bows and had a wonderful time![/url]

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