Toby K and I had the pleasure of fishing with Dave, Rick, Wayne and Jared over the past couple of days. Our mission was to catch a few muskies....easy task right? Rick especially wanted to catch one to get a replica made for his office. Our work was cut out for us!
With the warm water temps the musky fishing was pretty good prior to the guys showing up but we where faced with a tremendous cold front. Yikes!
Day one it was Dave, Rick and I in my boat and Wayne and Jared in Toby’s boat. These guys had never musky fished before so I was pumped to be able to show them some fish and hopefully get a few to eat despite the cold weather. We pulled up to our first spot and we started to cast. Not ten minutes into fishing “fish on” and a nice one. Before we knew it fish off. Crap! The next cast “fish on” right next to the boat and again the stupid thing got off. I couldn’t believe it! Two fish in 10 minutes lost. Although we lost the fish it was pretty intense and fun for the Dave and Rick but we needed to get one in the net. They were nice fish by the way. I’m guessing both of them were mid 40 inch fish. That is the size of fish we were after. We continued to fish and we had a follow and she was pretty hot. We drifted down the spot a little ways and I said lets make one more pass. “Fish on” yeah buddy! Rick did battle and we netted a healthy 38 incher. We snapped some shots and gave a few high fives and back to fishing we went. The next spot I went to was a small rock pile that was holding some fish. We got half way around it and bam a fish nailed my bucktail but no hooks. I couldn’t believe it? What in the world is going on? This was another really nice fish and another lost opportunity. “How do they not get hooks?” we all asked as this has been a question of mine for 15 years of fishing these fish. Onto the next spot and the next and the next with a few more follows. It was almost time for lunch so we moved to one more spot. Dave was throwing a Pacemaker and all of a sudden I hear a huge explosion. “Yes” I thought to myself and as soon as went for the net I noticed it didn’t get hooked. Holy Crimany! The fish was another 46 to 48 inch fish and it never got a hook but managed to put some big chomp marks in the new pacemaker. The muskies were kicking our butts. The score was 1 for us and 4 for them. We had enough and went in for lunch. We met Wayne, Jared, and Toby and they had also lost a fish.
After a huge burger and some fries we hit the water. Rick was up front ready for action casting a bucktail. Not five cast into the first spot I hear him say, “I got one!” I looked up and this fish was doing some huge head shakes and I went for the net. Just as I grab the net you will never believe it.............Gone! She was gone! Your probably thinking by now my hooks weren't sharp. I can tell you they were razor sharp as always. We were pretty bummed at this point but were pumped to have the chances. We continued down the stretch and I look down as a fish was coming up to eat Rick’s bucktail. With the sun and high wind it was really tough to see the fish and as the fish was coming up Rick didn’t see her coming. Bummer! We fished the rest of the day with a few more follows but no takers. We fished hard and were ready for dinner.
Day two it was Rick and Wayne in my boat fishing muskies and Dave and Jared in Toby’s boat fishing walleyes. We were pumped but knew with the weather condition the bite was going to get fairly tough as it was suppose to be flat calm and sunny. We pulled up to the first spot and didn’t have a follow so I said, “Last Cast!” to the boys and as I was putting stuff away Rick said, “I’ve got one!” I look up and this fish was doing some crazy head shakes on top and I knew it was a musky. Rick did battle and we netted Rick’s second musky a 32 incher. Sweet! It wasn’t a monster but a fish in the boat. We fished several of the good spots and didn’t have too many follows or bites like the day before. By this time it was hot and calm on the water and our spirits started to diminish. I told the guys keep casting you never know! We moved to one of my big fish spots. Wayne was throwing the pacemaker that Dave was throwing the day before. As Wayne went into his “L” turn I looked down and here she came. I said, “She’s going to eat, she’s going to eat!” and she did just that right in-front of our noses and the battle was on. Huge head shakes boat side in the flat calm water and then hard runs. While Wayne was doing battle I said, “Turn her head this way!” and the musky said, “I don’t think so” and made several runs. After the long battle we netted a dandy 45 incher. Wayne’s first musky! We took some photos and let her go! The spirits were lifted and we casted hard for the next hour with a bunch of lazy follows except one on Rick’s bait that we thought was going to eat but didn’t. We decided to head back and take a break from the heat and do a little celebrating.
Dave, Jared, Toby and Travis were catching some big walleyes and one really nice pike! We decided to go out for the evening and try and catch a few walleyes and fish by the other crew. We caught a few fish and called it a night.
What a fishing trip! Rick that big one that followed your bait is still lurking waiting for the next time your up
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