I've had the pleasure of being “Net Man” for some of Scott's biggest trophy fish. We recently heard that the older gentlemen that served as his Taxidermist has reached an age where he no longer taxis.

It was Labor Day on Long Lake in Michigan and even though the calendar said that August Pike trolling season was over, we were hoping that a northern or two might have forgotten to check the date.

Scott has been trolling for Northern Pike every August for a long time. Gary told him about it. Normally the lure of choice in this scenario is the Bomber 9A in the Firetiger pattern. Since we didn’t have any of those, we were trolling with whatever we had that was close. Scott had this Rapala in blue and yellow. I had something that looked like a perch.

This was still the first season for Scott’s new Lund boat. It seemed appropriate to troll for pike in a Mr. Pike. The weather was warm and sunny. We did lap upon lap in what Scott called The Zone. I got caught up in weeds a couple of times. Weeds often seem like a fish at first, so it is exciting for a second followed by the disappointing chore of reeling in to clean the lure up. I was looking forward to catching my first Northern Pike.

We were just coming out of a section of the lake known as The Thumb when Scott seemed to get hung up in some lily pads. It didn’t take long to figure out that his weeds were a fish. We thought he finally hooked his first Northern on Long Lake. While he reeled and dragged, I took a closer look. The fish was finally getting close enough to the surface to make out some details. “It’s a bass.” I told him. It was a good sized largemouth. I made ready with the net and scooped him up.

We sat there for a while trying to decide what to do. Scott was trying to figure out if he was going to release him or have him mounted. At the time, it was the biggest bass he had every caught. We put him in the live well and just sort of drifted around weighing the options. Eventually, the choice was made and now he is immortalized on Scott’s wall.

What is it with the Holidays? This bass was actually Hatfish July 2004. It is still the biggest fish i ever saw on Strawberry Lake.