The Mississippi Monster Tim Worel Silver Creek, MN

A few months ago, I got a call from Gene, a good friend of mine. We try to go hunting at least once a year, but this time Gene wanted to go fishing. I suggested that we try the river, as I had heard that the bass were biting.

We got to the river and went to my favorite spot. Right away, we started catching small walleyes, fishing with jigs, minnows and leeches. One thing about river fishing is that you never know what you might catch. We soon grew tired of catching walleyes and decided to go for smallmouth bass. We anchored in four feet of water in an area where the current was moving fast. I got a bite and set the hook and the fight was on!

All I could do was hold on. The ?onster fish' started to rip my line out as if I were not even there. I was just about out of line, so I released my bail, in hopes that the monster would turn around and swim upstream. It worked! The ?onster' splashed, turned, and was coming right at the boat! I told Gene, "Get the net, get the net, it's getting close." Then I yelled, "Get ready, he's coming up!" Up came the biggest rubber-back turtle we had ever seen! It was too big for the net. Gene and I just looked at each other and then the hook popped off. I had hooked its shell behind the head.

As I have said, one thing about river fishing is that you never know what you might catch...