Thought I would give an update from the weekend since Bob can’t seem to find his keyboard and mouse lately…
With ice so close, and the musky season ending next week, it was all ahead full last weekend for us, despite the snowstorm. The dreams of a final trip to Vermilion dashed with the possibility of no access to the main lake, we decided to give it a go on Bob’s favorite (slowly starting to become mine) hole in the Earth here in the greater metro area.
Friday night was crisp, and the air was heavy with the pending storm. We got on the water around 7:00PM and pulled a wide variety of cranks through clouds of Tullibee until just after midnight. We drew a blank, but upon closer inspection of the nearby flat, we knew it was just a matter of time before the silver swarm would be up spawning. At least the Y.O.Y ones were up waiting for their first mating experience.
We got on the water Saturday morning in advance of the storm. The plan was simple, drag meat some, troll some, cast some. There is something special about chasing muskies in the late fall, something in the air that just makes it seem right; dare I say perfect. For the day, 14”-16” suckers were responsible for the bulk of our action. Ideally we would like them a bit bigger, but you get what the bait man has to offer. Big thanks to the young gal at Vado’s who took the extra time to sort me out the biggest they had! We ended up with three bites on suckers of which we converted one into a 38”, and two follows on baits. The drive home at dark was in a word; harrowing. The county roads were grease, and slowing down with 2,500 pounds of tandem axel wrecking ball behind was nearly impossible. I have to give much props to Bob for his driving, there were a few intersections I thought I would be Googling a tow service.
On to Sunday, a day that will be engrained in my head for years to come. We got to the access about 9:30 and there wasn’t another soul on the lake, in fact we would have the whole lake to ourselves all day. Considering the condition of the access, it was really no surprise, we brought 40lbs of salt just in case. The skies were blue, the wind was FLAT, and the temps were stuck at 15 degrees. With the boat in the water, we navigated around some remains of skim ice from the night before, in hopes that things would come together that day. We setup with one rod pulling the meat that I was in charge of, and Bob casting, we made our way around a milk run of spots where big fish had been seen this year. Within the first hour, Bob had one 50+” fish up on a follow, and had a low 40’s fish get off on a sucker. I know it was low 40’s because when he set the hook right under the boat, I actually saw it coming up thrashing and watched the hook slip free. A good sign perhaps of things to come, but not enough to say we were on a pattern yet. We pressed on through the mid-day, had another bite on a sucker which ended as a clean miss on the hookset, and no follows on baits. I was getting kind of antsy staring into the sun for hours, so I threw a rod together with a Mag Medussa and offered to give Bob a break from hucking and running the trolling motor. On my third cast of the day, THIRD CAST! I had a fish come in hot. On the first pass of the 8 I could see she was big. On the second pass of the 8 I could see she was hungry. On the third pass I could see she wanted me bad as she nosed right up into the legs on the bait with mouth closed. Coming back on the inside on the fourth turn I sped the bait waaaay up, made a wide outside sweep and…. SHE ATE IT!!!! It was like slow motion, she engulfed all three back legs but I couldn’t see if she had the back hook. In that second I actually asked Bob if he could see, in which he replied HIT HER! I ripped the rod straight away from the direction she was heading, which pretty much shell shocked her. Mouth open, with no leverage, she slid right into Bob’s waiting net… WOW!!! Was the first thing out of my mouth, then something about that bite being the most exciting bite I have ever had, which it was\is. This is the first fish in a long time that actually had my legs wobbly, and heart pounding. She taped at 51.5”X22”.
But, it was only 3:00, we still had a couple more hours to fish. We gathered ourselves and pressed on. We went back to the spot where Bob had lost the fish on the sucker and had the big fish follow. About 30 minutes before dark, the sucker rod went off again, Bob’s turn. We circled the boat back with the trolling motor and once again hovered over the fish. Bob put the screws to it, and hoisted up a 42”. All combined I would say we didn’t spend more than 15 seconds fighting muskies all weekend, but getting them in the boat is what counts this time of year.
Can’t wait to get back out this weekend!!!
