So I normally don’t Fish in the fall because I’m an avid bow hunter this year being no exception. But after a slow and arduous bow season my buddy Jason Ferrell asked me if I would like to fish one day to break up the monotony of not seeing any deer so I agreed to hop in the boat with him that morning and fish a half a day.  So that Tuesday nov 30 2021 we hit a local river we both love to fish the morning was slow with a few lazy follows but no takers. When we get down to the lower end of the pool there is a gradually sloping beach off the left bank that fish like to sit on when its sunny and warm up, in the past when the water is extremely clear he and I have developed a technique of taking artificial sucker Baits and slowly dragging them through the sand to impersonate a feeding sucker barely moving them enough to just stir up the sand slowly dragging them across the bottom this technique has worked many times for us in the past. Well today was no exception to that rule as soon as Jasons Susie sucker hit the bottom and he started slowly retrieving it it gets smoked and all hell breaks loose, after what seemed like an eternity but was probably only 10 seconds we got her in the bag thinking she was an upper 40s. It wasn’t until he pulled her from the bag that we realized she was much bigger than we thought, as she laid on the bump and i saw that tail hit the 52” we were both in disbelief not only that he had caught a 52 inch giant but what was crazy is he had done the exact same thing one year prior almost to the day on what was his previous personal best of 51 who he had caught on November 29, 2020 in the same spot on the same bait . After reviewing some pictures and talking we didn’t think the 52 was the 51 from the year prior because I doubt a fish could grow that much in one year it’s possible but I highly doubt it it and the fact that I had guided a client to a 52 in there a year prior which made us believe it was probably that  same fish proving catch and release is Beneficial for everyone. Attached are pictures of this years 52” and last years 51, tony asked for my biggest fish of the year but i felt like this was just too good of a story not to share hope you guys enjoy as much as we did catching her!

Trey Leadman