Yes . it was 39 plus inches.
I walked out from the parking lot and walked along and across the bike path. I was all excited about our first Ditch trip this year. I was looking at the current and figuring the wind into castinga nd well......I walked clear across the path and fell off the other side. Luckily , I didn't fall down the riprapp.
I'm fine. Like it never even happened which is a miracle cause I went down with a BAM!
Landed on the reel which is also fine but the reel seat busted.
I fought the fish with my hand on top of the reel keeping it down on the rod and cranked on downwaord swoops of the rod til it came in. It was a rugged fish and made two good runs. It was nice and fat.
As Slip said , it had been previously injured in the mouth like 3 years ago or something . It was all healed up but sort of creepy looking.
We have a picture but it has to be developed. I was convinced it was bigger while I was fighting it but I guess it was the current (full tilt) and reel coming out of the seat that made it seem difficult to land.