Last night the BOP (Boss of Putz) decided that she would like a crappie meal today so we headed out to a small local lake to catch breakfast. Her lines were in and I had one down when she said that her bobber disappeared. She set the hook and the drag started singing. I figured that it must have been set to loose as I hadn’t checked it yet. But with the way the rod was bending, something else must have been happening. I went to take her other line out but it was too late, the lines were tangled so I just opened the bail and pulled my line up. After 5 minutes of gaining and loosing ground, Cheryl had the fish close to the hole and it was a big ol’ northern. The fish layed crossways under the hole and I could see that the teardrop was hooked in the only place that gave us a chance of not being bit off. Right in the tip of the nose with only the hook part in the lip. After a couple more long runs it started towards the surface and actually had its head in the hole. I reluctantly reached down in the water to grab it by the gill plate but it had other ideas. Somehow it got back down the hole after I pulled my arm out and it took another couple of runs. Once again it came to the surface and once again I reached down in there. This time I got a grip under the plate and lifted her out of the water. That is when the fish went bonkers and I thought, “This is going to hurt.” Finally the fish was lying on the floor in the tangled lines and blood. But the fish wasn’t bleeding, that was my blood. A nasty puncture wound in the thumb and a 3/4″ gash in the little finger led to blood all over the place by the time it was all over.
Cheryl was speechless but she did an excellent job bringing that fish to the ice with 4 lb test line and a small teardrop.
We measured the fish at 34″ but didn’t weigh it. It was a fat one so I am estimating about 12 lbs. We had no camera and put the fish back so you will just have to believe the story.
For those of you that know the BOP, give her a pat on the back for the fine job she did on that fish next time you see her. Later that night she also kicked my butt at crappie fishing. I’ve created a monster. 
