At first I thought it was a mudfish. I had already caught one and the approach was more "mudfish-ish" in my experience. The wake came up from underneath and followed the lure for maybe five feet. I stopped it and then there was a swirl as she sucked it off the surface. She was moving toward me so I was leaning on her pretty good. then she turned the other way and jumped. Well, she didn't really jump. She stuck her front half out of the water, opened her mouth really wide, and shook back and forth a couple of times. Relative to everywhere else the water was deep and there was 5'-6' of water above the hydrilla. Keeping her out of that was my main concern. A couple of times she had my rod bent up good (#5 All Star) and once she was underneath and slammed into the bottom of my kayak. Once I grabbed her mouth I wasn't letting go. I held her in the water with one hand and the hook still in her mouth while getting the camera out and standing it up on the front hatch. That is the only flat spot on the little boat. I went to lift her with one hand and noticed how really heavy she was for the first time. I set the timer on the camera and then lifted her with both hands while the ten seconds was counting down on the camera delay. That isn't the best picture but I'm glad I was able to get a picture of her before letting her go. It might or might not be the heaviest fish I have caught but I know it is the heaviest fish I've caught this year.

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