Finally hooked up with the big one. During my recent trip we were blessed with calm water almost every day. While perched on our elevated site we could watch fish busting bait in several places on the surface, usually over 40+ ft. of water. While bouncing jigs down a reef I had one surface on the deep side of the canoe so I winged my jig in that direction and hooked a nice laker before it dropped 10 ft. The next cast went to the bottom, 45', I felt some weight and after 30 minutes this baby came up. It took a good hour to revive and empty all the air from its bladder but all you hear about the big ones lurking in deep water near a reef is true and can't wait till next year.

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Nice fish :thumbup

It puzzles me why such a monster fish will hit a tiny jig. They probably are not feeding, just biting due to aggression or irritation? The big ones I've caught on a jig almost always have been hooked on the edge of the upper lip....of course anywhere else and the line gets cut immediately.

Nice fish! Did you get a measurement?

So you're saying this bad boy survived to fight another day ? (I hope) Did you hold it by its tail and push/pull it?  Was it hooked bad?

We caught a nice one years back and spent many anxious moments trying to revive it.  I think we were successful. 

puckster

So how big was your northern in terms of weight and length?  It is a little unusual for the trout to be relatively shallow and the northern in deeper water.

The jig was in the corner of his mouth right under that hinge thingy. I wouldn't make it a habit to target these fish because it was obviously hard on it, and probably the only reason I was able to land it on 8# mono with no leader. We tried to work it to shore but he wouldn't let that happen so I just plain tuckered him out. It REALLY pays to check for nicks in your line, I learned that the hard way earlier in the trip.
To be able to boat him and get a photo was truly a miracle! I just held its tail to keep it upright, that was his biggest problem. Every 10 minutes or so he would give up some air, after at least an hour the breathing was a lot better. I will fish that spot in the future and hope to meet up again!
We laid a paddle on it for a measurement and appears to be 45ish. 

Excellente' amigo! Nice job.......I was looking for one of those on my last trip, at least now I know what they look like.

Westwood, although the lakers were nice, 23"-30", I now believe the BIG ones are hanging with the northern. We caught dozens of lakers in 15'-25'. They were still burping air but we just play them longer and they seem to be able to burp it all up. I guess things are different at 40+. He was heavy, if he would have come to life in the canoe things would have turned out differently!

I'm guessing that's a 24-25 year old female.  Wonder why her color is so poor and there is an excess of belly fat.  A Quetico dinosaur for sure.  She was probably scavenging for dead ciscos - scraps from the LT feast above.

Color may have been due to the depth? A lot of what my left hand is buried in is air. It appeared that they may have 2 bladders, one side emptied faster than the other. Another thing I had to have proven to me is the vast difference in lake trout from lake to lake. Got the hang of landing them in one lake then moved on and found them to be more colorful and spastic. Learned the hard way again when a 20 incher was thrashing while suspended by a Rapala from my thumb, barbless is the only way to go. 

...I'd swear that monster is grinning at me.... :-?

No, I was grinning at the fish! I still haven't been able to wipe it from my face.