Memorable/big fish you have caught?

[jonk]

With all the little 'eyes swimming around, I thought I'd take it the other way. What are some memorable/big fish you have caught, be it recently or in the past?

For me, 3 come to mind in the walleye side of things.

1997. Dead flat lake. Fishing off of Manilla Bay (North Bass). No walleye biting, July 30th. But we were pulling in a lot of perch on walleye lures. So, having had good luck catching perch on Mr. Twisters before (tipped with just a small piece of worm for scent), I thought, "let's target perch." I do just that. Go in the cabin, get out my perch pole (ultra-lite spinning reel with 6 lb clear mono on an ultra-lite Mitchell pole), tie a 1/8 oz jighead to it, feed on the smallest Mr. Twister I have from the bass box. Which measured about 2/3" long. Was doing pretty good for perch on it too, till I hooked something BIG. Initially thought "must be a sheephead" as I was in 30 FOW, jigging on this dead calm lake. My buddy says, "sheephead hell, look at how he's staying down and not pumping, that's a hog walleye."

He was right. Only one we caught all day. I played him carefully and he spit the hook in the net. 28", 1 oz shy of 8 pounds. Not the biggest I have gotten before or since, but given the tackle and situation, surely the most memorable. I got him mounted, and along with the 34" pike and 22" smallmouth, he is hanging on my wall right now. Along with the jig I caught him on. And with the 1/16" minnow I caught on a hook as the SMALLEST fish I ever caught. Little guppy on a tiny home made hook, just dipped him in varnish and stuck him on the wall.

No. 2. Was out fishing with dad off huron (closer to vermillion) on our first trip east ever. From East Harbor. We got our limit that day, with the smallest fish being 25". We were throwing back anything under that size as the big ones were biting so well. Biggest fish in the cooler that day was 30." Got back to the marina and had our pictures taken. Even the regulars and charter captains were dumbstruck, as while they had all done well in the same area, apparently we just got over THE lucky spot, with the biggest fish. I don't think a single fish we caught was under 22". This was in early august 2001.

So now Mr. biggie, no. 3. Fishing SW of Kelly's shoal. Wind was picking up. We were about ready to go in (and probably should have earlier, given the wind). Wind right out of the NE, fish weren't biting well, we had 2 in the box. With white-capping waves running over 6 feet I said to dad, "Hit the blower, we should go in." Just as I said it, "WHAM." Had a TON of line out given the wind, and that we were drifting. Ten minutes later we netted the biggest walleye I have ever caught, and maybe ever will catch. 32" 12 pound monster. This was in 2005. June, though I couldn't tell you what day offhand. Classic old chartreuse erie dearie. Heavy one, 1 oz. As it turns out, she was actually hooked really well, in the side of the mouth in the joint. Not going anywhere. Though I KNEW it was a huge fish, and the whole way in, reeling in like 200 yards of line- 95% of the reel spool- I was petrified that I'd lose it. First year I was using braided spiderwire line, and have been a convert ever since. Side note to THAT story is, it took us 3 hours to get home, and by the time we did, the waves were higher than the hard top on the 24 foot Thompson. Just about every time we went into a trough, the nose dug into the water, the boat shuddered, and green water broke over the hard top... which sits about 8 feet out of the water. Scariest time on the lake for me, personally. We were really close to putting into a marina on the south side of Kellys to overnight it and wait it out, but once we got on the south side of the island, with the wind from the NE, it got a lot easier.

Actually we ate that one, and despite it's size, gutted, scaled and grilled it was yummy!

Two honorable mentions.

1. We started walleye fishing when I was 12. My grandpa's boat (1969 Sea Ray, 19 footer) was just gathering dust, and I wanted to use it. This would have been... what, 1991? 2? We had no idea what we were doing, dad and I, and only caught a few walleye that year. But my first was a memorable one. Zebco 606, on a perch rig, when not even trying. The monster- all 10" of him- hit the minnow and broke my reel off the pole! Back story as to why: we had been fishing in hinckley lake from our canoe for bass, and with none biting, I went with a sinker and worm to catch some catfish. No cats... but I snagged into a reel and pole someone had lost. Kind of grungy, had obviously been underwater some months... but being the kind who likes to repair stuff, I fixed that reel up... but the pins that held the reel to the mounting bracket were kind of rusty, and that little walleye broke the reel right off the pole! As I tell folks: my first walleye broke my reel it was so big!
2. Just recently, catching one from the canoe in east harbor, fishing for bass. I've caught 'eyes through the ice in the east harbor channel, or from the canoe in the channel around dusk in like March, but never one on a bass crankbait IN the channel in July. Till this year. Little 14 1/2 incher. Obviously tossed him back.

So in your time on the lake, what are your memorable ones?