Spent last week up at Evert’s. Had a couple guys that don’t fish much come up for a couple days to try and get them into some eyes pitching. My friend Mark needed a new rod, so he picked up a nice Avid from Dean and intended to break it in on a couple walleyes or saugers. We had been fishing for a few hours when he set the hook and said, “I think I’m snagged”. I took the rod with the intention of trying to get it out for him, pulled up to see if it was snagged, and it pulled back, HARD. I gave him back the rod and told him it was a fish, and most likely a big cat. After what turned out to be a solid 20 minute battle, we got our first look at it, and it was what I expected. A big old Flatty. After another 5 minutes of battling it back and forth under and partially around the boat, we got the head in the small walleye net, and slowed it down enough to get a grip on him and pull him in the boat. 46 inches long with a 29.5 inch girth. With only a 25# scale in the boat, we had no way to get a weight on it. After a couple pictures, it was released to wear out some other lucky angler.
All in all, it was a pretty good way to break in a new avid, and is truly a once in a lifetime trophy for a guy that doesn’t fish much. Mark fought it like a pro, keeping enough pressure on it to keep it hooked up, but not so much that it pulled the hook out. He also managed multiple times to keep it out of the anchor rope. It was a lot of fun to watch, even though it kept us from catching eyes for half an hour or more.
Good job Mark! 
