Muskie Stories

[David Swenson]

Okay, lets hear your best muskie story from last year. Doesn't matter if you caught one or it was the one that got away. Here is one of mine.

The first spot I went to on Vermilion was one of my favorites. I had my new boat and was feeling pretty good. Within 5 minutes I had a low 40" fish up to the boat. Now I was feeling really good about the day.

About another 75 ft down the weed bed I was retrieving my bucktail. But instead of watching my lure I was drooling on my new graph and trolling motor. Suddenly, I heard the water erupt next to the boat. I looked down and there was a 48" + beauty with all my bucktail in her mouth 6 ft away. Before I could react she opened her mouth and out dropped my bucktail. I had a sick feeling in my stomach because I new it was all my fault on this one. Needless to say the rest of the day brought no fish.

Now this is not the end of the story. Throughout the summer this girl had the nerve to show her self often. She would come charging up to the boat gills flared only to turn away at the last minute. One day when I was out with clients she was just laying under the water surface sunning herself. I threw a bait at her and she swam away from it. I swore if she had a certain finger, I was getting it.

In about mid August I visited her again with a new lure she hadn't seen. The weather was overcast and perfect for muskies. Within 10 casts she hit. But as I attempted to set upon her strike she came charging out of the water and snaking on the top toward me. I had all I could do just to keep up with her. She shook the lure and swam right under the front of the boat. Now I was mad. I gave her a name, the #@%&*! This was becoming personal.

Of course the story isn't over because now I want revenge. On a day in September my wife and I were giving her another try. We were getting to the end of her stomping grounds when I was thinking she wasn't home. Then she attacked my wife's suick. My wife set the hook and off she went. It was one of the greatest skies I have ever seen a muskie do. The fish then charged the boat and then it happened, she was gone. I did not see her the rest of the year. The heartache was unbearable.

On my last trip of the year I went by her home and swore out loud, "I will get you next year you #@%&*!". We will see. You sure can bet on what my first spot of the year will be.

[guideman]

Hey Dave, where did you say that fish
was?? Thats really a great story, I hope
you catch that *%@#+ this year.

My story is sort of strange, I was out
with a client on the opener. We had put on about 80 miles runin and gunin all over the lake with not much success. I
had just released a small pike and we had
stopped to have a bite of lunch.

While we sat talking and eating my client had left his rod in the bow of the boat,
the 10" jake he was using was floating in the water about 3ft in front of the boat.

All of a sudden Bang!! The rod flew into
the bracket on my trolling motor, I was
sure it was gone but the reel wedged itself between the cable and the motor.

We both jumped up and ran into each other
trying to grab the rod. After gathering our senses, he was able to get a hold of the rod and set the hook on a 44" muskie.

I had never tried the eat your lunch and
float your bait technique before, but it
is now part of my arsenal. By the way we
were eating tuna fish for lunch,so I may be soaking a least one jake in tuna oil!

------------------

Guideman.
Ace Guide Service.
[email protected]
www.aceguideservice.com

[Guest]

Even though I do not pursue muskies on Vermillion or any other lake, I do have an educational lesson for you. When bass fishing on Vermillion, don't leave a bait hanging in the water. You will lose your rod. On a week long trip last summer, me and the guy I was fishing with lost one rod, had to dive from the front deck to the back deck twice to retrieve rods, and caught one muskie on a bait hanging over the gunnel. By the end of the week, we were finally conditioned to not leave a bait hanging in the water for any amount of time. I blame muskies for all these instances. You guys can have 'em, I'll take the smallmouths.

[guideman]

Hi Bornofice, I wish we were all fishing for smallies, I have had enough of this
hard water. I hope we get a chance to do
some smallmouth fishing this season, stay
warm, hope to see you soon!

[Guest]

Amen brother. I wish winter would end tomorrow. Well, maybe Monday. I've got quite a bit of ice fishing planned for this weekend.

[Guest]

I spent some time bobber fishing with large sucker minnows off the dock with marginal success...only caught 2 smallies. never though I'd see that. One particular time the bobber was layig flat. I reeled some line in and set the rod on the dock so that the tip was 2 feet from the end of the dock, and sucker minnow at the surface. Unfortunately the box was in the bow of the boat, and the boat was on the lift. As I was standing there deciding the proper size needed to straighten the bobber, I heard something moving on the dock. It was the rod and reel literally flying down the dock. Then the small splash. It ended about 4 feet from the end of the dock in 6 feet of water. Got it back, but no fish or sucker minnow. It was the last one for the weekend. I caught it 2 months later off the dock with a bucktail. I like to think it was the same fish, a little revenge for the soaking I took to retrieve my rod and reel.

Good Luck

[Guest]

Hey Guys,

I've got my own Vermilion musky tale to tell. My wife, daughter and I were visiting Dick W. over at Daisy Bay for a few days over the 4th of July weekend. We had gone out for part of the day on the 3rd and saw a few musky. Also managed to pick up a couple of small northerns. On the morning of the 4th we went searching again and found our luck change in that bay by the casino. We had been rotating with three of us casting stick baits. As one might expect, Dick was getting the hits, but once he set the hook he would turn over the rod to the gals and let them experience the joy of the fight. We will never for that day. The girls each fought and lost one musky, but they also each brought in a musky. My 10 year old daughter brought in a beautiful 46 inch musky and my wife reeled in one that was 43 inches. Obviously, the biggest fish either one of them had ever caught. The memory of this trip has become even more special to us as we have learned that my daughter should not be fishing due to a food allery to fish. According to the allergist, there is no research out there that pin points the exact cause of my daughters reaction. Having her out fishing is just taking an unnecesary risk with her life. Our trip to Vermilion will be one we will talk about for years to come as we relive those moments and look at the pictures of the fish we released to be caught again. We are very greatful to Dick for his hospitality and generousity.

------------------
Big_Lew

[Guest]

If I continue to read this stuff I will probably develope another bad habit!!!

I realize this is not a Vermilion Story - but I feel it is a good story.........

I caught my first and only Musky (42") while on a duck hunt at the NW Angle. It was MEA weekend (late October - 4 years ago) and I was there, for my first time, hoping to hit the duck migratiton. Of course as my luck usually holds, it was summer weather for the weekend I had reserved months earlier for ducks.

My partner and I had arrived on Wednesday and by Saturday we were tired of beating our heads against the wall trying to get into the ducks. Finally we threw in the towel and decided to try to snag a few walleyes instead. I was using a 6'6" medium action Lightnig rod, Shimano reel (not sure what model, I don't get out much!) spooled with 12 lbs Fusion Spiderwire. Boy was I impressed with that line!!

I was trolling along just trying to cover some water dragging a 3/8 oz red walleye jig tipped with a chub. After about 45 minutes of this with no action suddenly a fish clamped on to my bait. It swam with the jig and at first felt like a 2-3 pound walleye that had just locked on. The closer it got to the boat the heavier it was and all of a sudden it let me know I had very little to say in the matter. All I could do was hang on and try to follow it with the trolling motor. It gave me the fight of my life on that walleye rod and I will never forget it!! It crossed several times under the boat and just did not want to quit. My arms still ache when I think about it!!! Wow....

Being as it was the biggest fish I had ever caught (especially considering the light tackle I caught it on) and the fish was pretty worn out after the 1/2 hour it took me to land it - I decided to have it mounted.

One of the first things I did after returning home was buy a book on fishing Muskies and Trophy Northerns!!!! I have since mellowed out as the the realization set in (AGAIN) "Born to Hunt (And Fish) - Forced to work".

You guy have a wonderful sport. Maybe some day I will hopefully have enough time to give it a half serious try.

Give Em' Hell,

The Duckslayer

[This message has been edited by duckslayer (edited 02-07-2001).]