I've lived on Driftwood Pt. for several years and was told the carp kept Lake Tapps pretty scarce on bass. Having little interest in catching carp, I never fished it until yesterday, Aug. 5th. A neighbor began catching smallmouth off his dock in a narrow canal, and explained the state was doing a good job of restoring the bass fishing. So I got a 6-ft bass rod with light spinning reel and 8 lb. monofilament line & attached a Rapala CD-9. After catching a nice smallmouth off my own dock, I decided to troll close along the other docks and eventually worked myself around to the point of Driftwood, then crossed over to Bankers Island where I caught another smallmouth as I trolled along the docks on east side of the island. Just rounded the south-eastern tip of Bankers and quite by accident caught myself a 37-inch long Tiger Muskie! See photo... I was alone in the boat close to docks, and couldn't figure out how to release him from the lure while he was in the water. I thought I'd let him calm down, but the rest just rejuvenated him and I had to reel him in all over again. After several iterations of that, I finally got the front 1/3 of him into my little net, and then reached under his rear half and flipped him into the boat. I hoped to be able to release him, but he flopped around so resoundingly that again, I couldn't figure out how to safely get the lure out of his mouth unless I had foot-long pliers! Since it was my first day out, I decided to take him home - but decided to learn how to catch & release Tigers since I might hook one accidentally again. I need some tips on how ONE PERSON can release such a fish. Bill Green posted a photo of a neat-looking two-handled "catch and release net", but can't figure out how a lone fisherman can use it in a small boat. Thanks for any suggestions.

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