The kid was a pretty good egg. He said he didnt want to kill it but his camera was dead and it was his first one. He was going to slowly pull it back to the boat launch and use his phone camera. I told him the fish would not survive the towing it all the way back to the launch. I offered to take the pictures and send them to him. I did that. The hook Michelle removed was from one the Michigan Musky Hunters club members. The gy that Bought Mel Olivers old Red Lund. It had the 90 merc 4 stroke on it.

I caugth that 36 less then 5 minutes after the kid caught the 42 about 30 yards from them. There quite a few fish in that little narrows. Mike

Well I did my best to not be a prick. I wanted to be hard but held back and was eloquent as my wife put it afterwards. All 4 of them had no Idea that eating big predators was dangerous due to toxin levels and that this was a female needed for her eggs. I think they will do well in the future as they all wanted to know about the big nets, better rods and lines ,lures, tactics and more about the fish in general. I took a good 15 minutes and talked with them and did not talk down to them. I think that was the real touch that convinced them I cared about thier catch and the fish as well. I hope to see them here at the website and that we can bring them into the club as well. I have always said that education is the best tool we have to preserve this resource. Not acting like elitests goes a long way to reaching out to guys that are just starting. Its hard for a guy to release the biggest fish of his lifetime but I was proud of him and I let him know he can always call me for advice . I left him with visions of 50 inchers dancing in his head. Future outings where he can hook one that jumps 5 feet out of the water and throws the lure back at him. Needless to say they were pumped.