10 days ago, after a phenomenal fishing day in Trošmarija on Lake Lešće, in pitch darkness, a beautiful fish takes my lure. After a super drill, the fish barely ends up in Dalien’s little net. I am rarely after pike, but for the last two months I have been trying my best to catch bigger fish and I was ready for it, I even said a few times that day that I would catch something bigger today. In the last two months I have been without a bite many times, sometimes I have caught some smaller pike but never to see a bigger fish at all. That pike should have been great end of 2020 fishing year. Basically, the fish is in the boat, in the net, the lure is still hooked, but we look at it and didn’t believe how big it is. Maybe not so long, but a massive and thick fish was under our feet. At that moment, the day of your dreams rolls in the other direction. While Dalien was still holding the pike in the mat, she jumped, flew into the air and landed out of the boat into the water, the spider wire intertwined between her mouth and she took o. We couldn’t believe it, we literally just couldn’t believe it. There was no anger, no quarrel, no how, no why, so it was supposed to be, even a good prank arose from it, but I must admit that every time it tightened my chest a little when I remembered the famous jump. We caught her, but did that fish even count today? The feeling of fulfilling the given task lasted too short, so short that I decided to try a few more times. After 4 days here we are again, same place, same lures, same friends. Great day with a lot of action, but without the big mama. Never mind, she will come next time. Here we are exactly a week later, in the first half of the day winter was killing us, Dalien’s lunch was the best thing that morning in the boat. We don’t give up, we search the lake lightly, Dalien catches a beautiful Zander and we slowly get to the spot from a week ago. Dalien says "she is now ready" And again I had a feeling. "Today will bite big" and again I was ready with a strong rod Greys gr100... Passing the place where we caught a massive fish a week ago, we hear a splash on the other side of the lake one single splash we heard in all four fishing trips. We knew it was a bigger fish. We come close to that place and on the sonar we notice a nice number of white fish. The splash is from a jumping carp probably. Never mind, I throw the jerk towards the huge rock several times, when I suddenly feel the weight on the rod, I set the hook, but I’m not sure if it’s a fish, I confirm it and feel the pressure. "Ugh, here she is, big one." We are looking at the folding of a large body above 20 meters depth. "Here she is, I knew it, please don't let it fall out of the net ...." That moment, that ambience, the huge rock, the crystal clear water, the complete wilderness, the friend on the net ... I'm still not entirely sure that the splash was from pike or carp really threw, but we were in the right place at the right time and this time the big mama ended up in front of the lens.

We think it's the same fish. 108cm, 10.20kg.

Gear I used: Greys gr100 to 80gr, Penn Spinfisher VI with SpiderWire, StrikePro Buster Jerk FT

Cheers, L