Fishing Lake Champlain - LCI Record Salmon, pictres and story

Fishing Lake Champlain
« LCI Record Salmon, pictres and story »

Welcome Guest. Please Login or Register.
May 19, 2013, 10:46am

Fishing Lake Champlain :: General :: Fishing Reports :: LCI Record Salmon, pictres and story

Page 1 of 6 » Jump to page Go

Author

Topic: LCI Record Salmon, pictres and story (Read 4,701 times)

Sugarpie (Effie)
Full Member

member is offline

[avatar]

Joined: Jun 2011
Gender: Female

Posts: 83
Location: Wilmington, VT

LCI Record Salmon, pictres and story
« Thread Started on Jun 21, 2011, 2:30pm »

So it's true a chick caught the record breaking salmon at the LCI! It was AWESOME to say the least! I had spent the better part of the tournament driving the boat so the boys could fish. We had a great weekend and lots of fish were caught! I did manage to sneak in a catch on Saturday, a nice 20.5 inch steelhead, but for the most part I just sat back and found the fish for the boys. Monday Jeremy caught a really nice 25" 5.18 LB salmon that we weighed in. While we were at the weigh station I asked one of the women that were volunteering what the "lady LCI prize" was all about. So she explained that the woman that weighs in the largest fish in each category would get some sort of spa package. I said SWEET, I'll be back! Well... I had NO IDEA I'd be back in less then an hour to weigh in this monster salmon and break the LCI record! We left the weigh station and hit the water again, with yours truly behind the wheel, my boyfriend said "Sugarpie, you're up next" I said "yeah I've heard that one before!" I was still driving and about five minutes go by and things got crazy! I saw the pole release from the downrigger, jumped up and my boyfriend's son immediatly grabbed the wheel and then began recording. His youngest son passed him the net and the fight was on! I've said many times that I would love to catch a fish that put up a fight and took longer then a minute to get into the boat! Man did this one ever do that! I really have no idea how long I fought this fish but it seemed like forever! That fish broke water and we all nearly passed out! At that point we KNEW we had to land this fish because it was BIG! It took some work to get it to the side of the boat and Jeremy was ready with the net, however the salmon was NOT! Every time he got that net any where near this fish it dove straight down! You can hear the drag going out on the YouTube video! It's outrageous! This happened at least four or five times! Jeremy ended up having to step off the back of the boat onto the transome to get far enough behind this fish to give it the "sneak attack" with the net! We lifted the net into the boat and as soon as I saw this fish on the boat I was in shock! We went from the fight, to the net, to the livewell in a matter of seconds! We did NOT want this fish to die! I sat on the bow near the live well adding ice water and trying to keep this fish alive, not just for the extra points, but because I really wanted to make sure that it made it back into the lake! It deserved to continue on with it's life! Between the water in the live bag and the fish it's self, I had to have Jeremy carry it for me to the weigh station! lol When we gave it to the guy that weighed and measured it, he was shocked! He said "you just broke the LCI record!" I had no idea how big of a deal that really was at that second in time! I just wanted the fish back in the live tank until all the necessary paperwork was taken care of and all photos were taken that needed to be. The fish got it's moment of fame and made it safely back into the water and took off! Honestly it's all been very surreal since that point! I didn't want to go to sleep last night because I was afraid I would wake up and it would have just been a dream! I have NO idea what so ever what sorts of prizes are headed our way, I'm excited to find out, but the coolest part for me is that I broke a record and the fish made it back into the water alive! I can not thank Jeremy and his boys enough for such a team effort to ensure this beauty made it to the weigh station! (too bad we didn't register as a team we would have taken the cold water team prize as well, between Jer's fish and mine, next year!)

So here are the stats that I know you are all waiting for:
Was caught just north of Basin Harbor at approx 10:15-10:30am (official weigh in slip says 10:35am)
Lure: Honeybee Lake Champlain Special (black, gold, white)
Depth: 22 feet down
Lure was running about 55 feet behind the boat
Surface temp: 66 degrees
Water clarity: Greenish
Official Length: 30 inches
Official weight: 11.42 lbs

Thanks to everyone that's posted all of the congrats! I hope to post more "fish stories" in the future!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wefwiegI4hY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oNKiJsZPVng