Unreal berry fish!!!

[Fubarfishin]

Fished the berry on Monday, it was a decent day of fishing as far as the numbers but I’m still shocked at what I caught on ultra light tackle. We were fishing mostly the bottom in 35-40ft but we had started to grab a few suspended around 15ft. I had pulled my line out to stick some fresh meat on the lure and my buddy says there is one marking at about 10 ft! I dropped in and sure enough it gulped my lure up and I started to bring him in. When I saw him the full panic set in!! It was a whale of a fish! He proceeded to do some hot laps under the shanty and waded up all 4 lines and just about yanked a couple of the rods into the water. We both were so shocked we didn’t know what to do to get him out of the water. I figured let it run a little to wear it out and it ended up working. He tired out and I got him in the hole head up and was able to grab him by hand and lift him out. I hurried and got him unraveled and snapped some pics for evidence and got him back in the water. He was such a pork chop you could feel the water level drop when I pulled him out! I didn’t have a scale but I got a decent pick on a measuring board. Maybe chime in a comment on what you think his weight was. Needless to say I’m still stunned and so stoked on this fish! Hopefully he is down there hunting walleye for dinner to keep the berry what it should be. Caught him on a small white tube 1.75” tipped with a tiny piece of chub, 6lb flouro ice line, and an ultralight tickle stick through about 4 inches of ice. Took a lot of fishing yrs to get him but they are in there! 

[wormandbobber]

Sweet fish...congrats!!

[BoatBallast]

Wow. That's why we fish! You never know what the next one will be.

[Piscophilic]

Way to go, that will be an awesome memory! Thanks for sharing the story

[Coho975]

Great fish, bet he's all of 9# or better.

[wiperhunter2]

Without knowing the girth, my best guess would be around 8 lbs. Fish of a lifetime for sure, congrats on such a nice cutt.

[Foamy8]

Holy crap. I would have had to worry about a yellow puddle in the shanty melting ice if I saw that fish. Nice job.

[lovetofish]

Nice catch!

The biggest I've caught through the ice at Strawberry was a 24in Rainbow that weighted 6lbs. I looked like a football.

[FishfulThinkin]

I have boated 2 slotbusters over the last few years that both taped right at at 28" and look similar to yours. I was also able to get the digital scale on both and one was 7.5# and the other just shy of 8#. My guess is yours is in that same weight range of 7.5-8 pounds. Congratulations on landing a great fish!

[bone8]

I would say around 8Lbs damn nice fish

[AJBwheat1222]

You just set the Bar high to beat for the Ice On season. Now when I fish the Berry I'll be a'z Come On 8 pounder, wishing for a Fish On!

[joshomaru]

Dude, what a beautiful fish! That's what dreams are made of!
Congratulations!

[catdaddygar]

The best part of your story was after all the fun you had you turned it back . Congrats

[Fisharefriends]

Sorry to be the one that asks, but how thick was the ice?

[brooowntrout]

Nice job, Fubar! This is what I LOVE about Strawberry!

[meancuznalfy]

Probably 9-10 lbs just looking and comparing to the 9.5 I caught years ago in Montana.

[Wasatch]

Amazing catch! What a fish. Thanks for sharing!

[liketrolling]

thanks for the neat write up and the way you told the story
I have caught some 28 in. cuts trolling did not weigh them just put them back they are fun to catch.
one year my wife got a 9 lbs. rainbow she would not let me put that back in the water

one bad thing about the big cuts is they will eat the kokanee  one time we got a cut that had 3 kokanee in its mouth 
why it took my lure I don't know

[TubeDude]

thanks for the neat write up and the way you told the story
I have caught some 28 in. cuts trolling did not weigh them just put them back they are fun to catch.
one year my wife got a 9 lbs. rainbow she would not let me put that back in the water

one bad thing about the big cuts is they will eat the kokanee  one time we got a cut that had 3 kokanee in its mouth 
why it took my lure I don't know

Most of us have caught fish with recent meals still in their mouths or throats.  Only thing I can figure is that they use our silly lures to "floss" after a meal.

[SkunkedAgain]

Way to go, that is a beauty, thanks for sharing the story. I love big fish. Congrats J