All
This post is the results of a trip my son Alex and I made last weekend (Oct 22/23) to the Rhinelander Wisc. area. We were guided by Gil Dougherty and Steve Huber of G&S Guide Service. I realize this is not Rochester area, but I know a number of you here, so thought you might enjoy the details.
The idea of fishing for them caught me about a year ago, and I spent the summer fishing for them a few times here at home, but had no success, not even a follow. I was able to catch a small muskie in Sept while fishing on Boom Lk, but it was just a young ‘un, maybe all of 16″ long. Sadly, it flipped off the hook before I could even get a photo.
Alex and I arrived in Rhinelander last Thur night about 9.00, and went to the local Wal-Mart to buy our licenses. There disaster struck. Alex, at 17 had to have his SSN to buy a license. He didn’t know the number, didn’t have a paper copy, and no one was home for us to call. We were supposed to picked up at 8.00 the next morning by Gil, and the last thing we wanted to do was burn fishing time trying to find a way to resolve this issue.
Alex then thought of our neighbors – a farm couple he works for part-time. He given them his SSN for tax purposes. A quick call to Carolyn and we had it. Back in to Wal-mart, and we were set. “Memorize that number kiddo!”
We joined Gil in the morning for breakfast, and then we were off to the lakes. Gil said dress warm so we brought our winter duds – and a good thing we did – at Lk. B, we faced a steady wind of 20mph plus, plus 45F temps and white caps. We fished for an hour or so, and had no action, so Gil motored us thru a creek in to WB lake. WB had more sheltered water, so things were much less rough. After casting along a shoreline, Gil moved us off shore a bit, to a weed bed located between the shore and a small island. There Alex had a strike, but was unable to get a solid hook up. We contined moving, and relocated in to a small bay around 10.30 and were fishing a weedline. I had only cast my lure a couple of times when “Whoa!” – my retrive felt like I had connected with a block of concrete – fish on!
I was sucessful in bringing in this fish, a 33″ spotted muskie which Gil netted quite handily. While I was happy to catch this fish, I felt bad for Alex, as I really wanted him to get one. It was photo’ed and released. Gil kept moving us about the lake, and trying differant lures. As he demo-ed one lure to Alex, he had a strike, which caused a fish to break the surface of the water, but Alex was not successful in getting the fish to strike a second time.
We continued thru the balance of the day. I had a strike and a follow. Alex had a follow, and then a strike. This was our last action of the day, and occured when Alex made a 90 degree turn in the direction his lure traveled, as Gil had instructed him. The muskie came at his lure head on – so that all Alex saw was an open mouth full of teeth. The fish missed by a couple of inches…. Gil was very emphatic about L’s – that a change in direction by the lure/bait will many times trigger a strike. I can attest to this, as the fish I had follow I saw, to late, as I removed my lure from the water w/o having done an L. He also told us that to catch a muskie, you only needed a single cast, that all of the casts prior to “the one” are just practice.
We ended the day with 2 follows, 4 strikes, and 1 hookup between the 3 of us. A good day of muskie fishing.
Saturday morning dawned wet and raining, but warmer, with much less wind. We met Steve at 8.00, and were soon on the road to Lk. J. Upon arrival, donning our rain gear, we began the hunt. We threw various lures, including one which can best be described as a bacon slab. Its a big hunk of pork rind w/ a couple of huge hooks in it – made by the Uncle Josh company. Its heavy, and you can cast a long way. It will also wear you out.
We moved from spot to spot about the lake, fishing shorelines and weed lines – nothing. About 11.00, the bait clicker on one of the sucker rigs began to buzz – fish? Steve checked the rod, and feeling weight, handed it to Alex, who set the hook. He felt weight, then nothing – it was gone. To say that Alex was disappointed would be an understatement. He asked “What did I do wrong?” – and the answer was nothing. Thats the nature of sucker fishing, sometimes the fish doesn’t have the hook in its mouth. Steve went on to explain that the odds of getting a fish on a sucker are about 50/50, especially when large suckers are used.
We continued fishing. Steve threw a large chartruse tube style bait, he saw a swirl, dropped his rod tip, then set the hook. He connected. Alex was given the rod, and the fight began. When it was over, Alex was all smiles with a 41″ clear muskie in the boat. With a 40″ minimum, he had a keeper. 
Alex was quick with his decision – “I want it mounted” – as I had offered this to him as a option if he got a legal fish.
We continued to move, back thru the area where the sucker bite occured – I had a strike by a fish that I saw clearly in the water, as did Steve. He said it was easily 36″ – I just didn’t get a good hookset – my fault. Not used to what it takes to get a hook into the mouth of fish this size.
Steve picked up two small muskies – in the 28″ range. I saw movement in the weeds close to shore, and casted to those areas. Feeding muskies? No strikes resulted.
Steve motored us to shore, so he could search his truck for some asprin, as Alex had a sore back. He found a bottle, but it was empty. We moved on to a new section of shore line. We had worked this area for perhaps 15 minutes, and there was a flash of lightening, followed by a distant rumble of thunder. A shower was moving in, and it got quite dark. We donned our rain gear again, and soon it it was raining. No more lightening occured, so we fished. Casting to shore, Steve raised a fish, and it followed to the boat. With the reduced light, and the dark water, he lost sight of it. I could just make out a dark shadow in the water – the shadow would put its nose up against the sucker, then swim back under the boat. Steve jigged the minnow slightly, and the fish took the sucker.
I called for Alex, as Steve stripped line off the reel. The muskie took the added freedom, and swam under the boat. Steve muttered, and began to manuver the boat so that the line was clear. Now facing out to open water, we watched the bobber – waiting for the muskie to run – it didn’t – it sat there – content to hold its prey in its mouth. Now what?
Steve advised Alex to take up the slack, and to set the hook, which he did. There was a boil in the water, and the fight began – but it ended with a slack line. The fish let go. Steve told Alex to get the line back in the water and to jig it, which he did. The fish returned, and struck a 2nd time. Alex set the hook again, and got a good hookset. Soon Steve netted another good fish, this one measuring 36″. I took pictures as the rain fell on us. Alex’s back felt much better after catching this fish.
Continuing on this shoreline, and having rebaited the sucker rig, we soon had another strike. This one was my turn. I set the hook, felt the fishes weight, but all to soon – there was slack line, it was gone. I tryed to jig it as Alex had done, but my fish didn’t want to play a second time.
We resumed the search, and casting the shoreline. As I was bringing my lure to the boat side, a fish struck, having swam up from under the boat to strike. I saw the fish and felt its strong strike. I knew it was hooked good, so I simply held the rod tip up, keeping tension on the line. Wrong move! I should have hit the spool button on the reel (a Curado – uff-da – nice reel!) , and given the fish some line. As it was, the fish was able to tear itself off the hooks. Argh……double argh! 
By now it was pushing 4.00 or after, but we weren’t done yet. Steve and I had both casted our lures, Alex was seated, resting his sore back. I saw a fish come up, and once again, strike the sucker. I yelled “fish” and Alex was up to the rod pronto, while Steve and I retrieved our lures and cleared the boat deck. Alex, w/o coaching by Steve, did all the steps Steve had shown him, and set the hook – once again – fish on! It was soon netted, pictures taken, and released. This fish was 33.5″, and was skinny – it didn’t have nearly the gut the other two fish had. Steve speculated that possibly this fish had broken someone off, and couldn’t feed for a while due to having a lure in its mouth.
A few moments later, Alex noticed the bobber for our other sucker had disappeared. We both looked, it was gone. Weeds – or fish? Steve picked up the rod, and slowly began to retrieve. He felt weight – but was it weeds? Staying with the slow retieve, he saw a tail fin – a fish. As the distance closed, we could see the sucker in a muskies mouth, and the hook – outside the mouth. I had the net in the water, and Steve brought the fish to the net. Steve said “It’s the same fish. It’s the one Alex just caught.” Alex responded “No way”. Steve said “Ya’ want to bet?”. Alex shot back “Yeah – a $1”. So then Steve got the fish out of the net, and looked at its mouth. It was very skinny – and had a fresh hook scar in its mouth. Alex got out his wallet and handed Steve a $1 bill.
That was it for the day. We continued to fish until 5.30, but had no further activity. We ended the day with activity from 10 muskies. 6 were landed, three I had hooked and lost, and the one sucker strike that Alex missed. It was a very good day of fishing muskie. Combined with the previous day we had with Gil, we had action from 17 fish, and if you count the hookless catch of the 33.5″ fish, 18.
On Friday, we had no action on the suckers, while on Saturday, suckers were a major portion of the action. I learned alot from Gil and Steve about fishing for these critters, and while similar to fishing for N. Pike in some ways, its also differant. I can also see how this gets to be an addiction. One of Alex’s last questions of Saturday was “Dad, can we come back next year?”
UG
Now you will subscribe to all the Musky magazines, join some clubs and dream of what you experienced and dream some more of THAT next 
