I like big bellies and I can not lie!

[Tim_Anderson]

A great October highlight: I was fishing the full moon at night when I felt a sort of rush...kind of like a weed hitting your blade and stopping it, but also slack line. I reeled furiously and when I came tight, I felt some good weight and set the hook hard. This fish had run over my bait like a freight train, and with it's momentum, was just sailing toward the boat. I love it when you get those long headshakes and the fish comes to the surface and just wallows...I knew it was a big one. Nothing too great about the fight...those fat ones just seem to get on the surface and sort of spin their wheels, so we had it in the net in pretty short order. But then I started looking closer at the fish and realized it was one of the fattest fish I had ever caught. The amount of "white space" under the fishes side pattern is just amazing. The contrast between the gut and the tail is pretty amazing too; don't know that I've ever caught one so fat, but yet so weak in the tail section. A very unique fish anyway. My partner did a great job of photographing the fish for me...check this out!

[JRedig]

Nice fish, your face in the second picture is priceless! That thing is just faaaaaaat.

What did you get it on?

[jwhjr]

Congrats! That is one fat fish.

[DTro]

I'm tired of magazines

Saying flat gutts are the thing

Take the average fisherman and ask him that

She gotta pack much back

WOW Nice fish Tim!

That girth has to be around 30"

[HugoBox]

Holy Cow Tim!! I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few missing dogs or cats around that lake after seeing that picture!!

-erik

[Andrew Erickson]

what a pig!congrats

[NCLaker]

Great fish, Great pics! Congrats and thanks for sharing.

[RuKiddingMe]

Man I need to move out of the Metro...

oink oink for sure!!!!!!!!

RU

[DHanson]

Nice fish Tim! What were the measurements? I'm guessing a 25-26" girth with 50-52" for length. I already know what lake you were on just from looking at that fish, well done.

[Tim_Anderson]

The huge belly on this fish makes it deceiving. I have been having a lot of fun with some friends. Some very good musky fishermen have guessed this thing all the way up to 54 inches, and girths way up in the 20's. Everyone calls it bigger than it really is. Super fat fish always seem to look longer than they really are. BTW, I did nothing tricky with this photo, just snapped two quick photos and let it go. No photo shop, or computer enhancement.

Truth be told, it was 48 x 22. Caught on blades, of course. Definitely the fattest four footer I have ever seen. If it were six inches longer, and held that girth farther back into the tail, I might have had a contender! I hope to catch this fish again someday...it's got the genetics, and definitely the appetite to keep growing.

[cjac]

Nice fish Tim, and yeah, that one has the potential to be a beast!

[AWH]

Saw the enlarged version of this one yesterday and it shows off the small poodle in that gut even better. Awesome fish, Tim!

Aaron