Hey Rick,

My buddies, Vance Haug and Scott Johnson, came west from Nebraska to fish Pyramid with me last week. I told them that a realistic goal for a big fish for them would be a 7pounder. Scott walked away short of his big fish goal. His best fish was probably less than 5Lbs. Vance got a 7Lber on his third day, and his trip was made from that point on. On the second to last day of the trip, we found a hot spot that we had to ourselves, and the action was pretty much a fish on every cast. I wound up loosing a 7or so pound fish at the boat, and later that evening I landed a 9Lber. I knew where we were going the next day, and I had Vance practice his jig skills. Two days prior to that, he had never used a spinning rod. It took some convincing to get a die hard fly fisherman to use a spinning rod; mainly in the form of me catching about 10 fish to his one. It took him a day or two to get the hang of it, but it really payed off. On the last day of his trip, in the predawn darkness, on his second cast of the day he hooked a big fish. As he was reeling it in he said, "I think it's a big fish..." I wasn't so sure until I saw the fish role, then I was in a real hurry to get the net ready. I knew it was big, but just how big remained to be seen. The fish came in after a fairly short fight, and I slid the net under it. Vance asked me, "How big do you think he is?" I said, "ooh, he's long, but he's skinny... maybe 8.5Lbs." So, I got my scale out and weighed the fish in the net. My net is 1Lb 10 ounces, and the scale said 11 pounds 12 ounces. "Holy crap Vance, he's almost ten pounds. Lets get him back to the beach and put him in my big cooler full of water and get a more accurate weight." We got back to the beach and filled the cooler up and tossed the fish in there. We let him revive for a minute and then weighed him again. He was just over ten on my scale, and I told him that it would be real close on the official weigh in at Crosby's. We waited for Crosby's to open, and took the very much alive fish up for the big moment. I let a joyous "Yeah!!!!!!" when the fish went 10Lbs 4.8oz. It was high fives all around from there. Vance was stoked. There aren't many guys from Nebraska on the wall at Crosby's. We imediatley went down to the Sutcliffe Marina and released the fish, where it shot off like a rocket. What a great way to have your cake and eat it too!

Best of luck,
Mike