Good post Coley… I hope it’s ok if I give my version as well. There’s a few items that you may have 
forgot.
The email came from Ryan of McMahon’s Musky Guide Service LLC
http://www.twincitiesmusky.com asking us to be at the ramp at 6:15 am. Now I knew SOME people have a tendency to be late, so I changed the time to 5:45 am.
I was in charge of the soda and ice while SOMEone else was in charge of a few snacks. Ryan supplied all gear ect.
When I received the txt message asking where the ramp was at 6:10 am, I was thinking that at least SOMEone remembered to get the snacks right?
Yeah, the thought of tossing Coley over the side of the boat again did cross my mind, but the thought of getting into a toothie critter quickly diverted my thoughts else where. I think we were on the water by 9 or 10. 
On the way out, I did my part in cleaning the lake of AIS…
Minnesota’s latest Invasive Species.
Ski fishing is new to me since I’ve only did it once before. I’m amazed that any fish would be attracted to these baits much less try to eat them. Really, a “bucktail” looks like two blades and a clump of weeds and everyone knows fish won’t bite a lure with weeds on it. Guess Muskies are different.
While Ryan and Nicole are experienced, I took a few moment to see what they were doing and tried to duplicate it. Retrieve too slow and come back with weeds. Rod to low, same thing. Lighter bucktail might be the answer or retrieve faster and keep the rod tip higher, might work to. It’s not just cast and retrieve I found out.
Ryan told me I had a very nice figure 8 after a little coaching. I looked at him with a raised brow, but he was into his next cast already.
We tried a number of different weed lines and sand bars without seeing a fish. The cloud cover left sometime in the late morning and it actually started heating up.
A number of times I thought I would stop fishing and have a snack, but I forgot, we didn’t have any. Maybe if we would have been on the water earlier I wouldn’t have been so hungry. Not sure.
I think Ryan was getting tired of my whining and suggested we take a break so we headed to a restaurant to recharge. Felt good to sit down.
Back out on the water Coley pulled out her phone and made mention that the best fishing time of the day was coming up shortly. In fact, she said it was 9 minutes away. It wasn’t 20 minutes later Ryan’s bucktail was exploding in the water!
Coincidence??
Personally I haven’t had faith in those tables, but at least for Muskies and on this trip the table called it. Might have to reexamine this.
Yes Ryan had his hands full with a reel in one hand and a rod in the other. I grabbed his net and focused on the line and hoping to see the fish…other wise I would have been watching him as I’m sure it was a sight!
One aborted attempt at netting her and then she came into the net, still a little on the annoyed side. We kept her in the water while we gathered up our wits.
Coley had her nose in that net faster then a person could say “raunch inmynost”, turned to me and said “isn’t that a wonderful smell?” Personally I prefer the smell of flathead crap, but in this boat it was the smell of success and I agreed wholeheartedly.
When it comes to ski’s and their teeth, I’m no dummy. For the photo, I quickly positioned myself on the non toothy end of the fish. I am happier to get pooped on then chewed on…. which was the case for Nicole. ‘Course Ryan was bleeding AND was pooped on. Some people just live right I guess.
Couple quick shots and into the water she went. I shot a bunch of revival photo’s but I missed the real cool one. There is nothing like watching a Muskie, even a relatively small one wave it’s tail good bye at us on the release as she went back to the depths. Awesome!
Thank you Ryan for an enjoyable trip and your insight into the world of Muskies! It’s much different but in many ways the same as BrianKsWorld.
Thank you Nicole for your marketing tips for next year…oh and I think you’ll do very well with your new guide service. Let me know when you get your website up.
Coley Crawlers Sunfish Guide Service 
Photo 1: It takes talent to catch a live clam with a muskie bait.
Photo 2: Colie’s always color coordinated.
Photo3: Ryan is the newest member of the “cool club”.
rednoseangling
