Muskie workout

tbayboy · June 23, 2008

First off welcome back to all the Lakair travelers. Now on to what you missed

Actually first a quick bit of backstory. Last year Mikeh bid on a couple muskie charters and ended up winning two so last fall we went out for a day of trolling. We took turns on the hits and it went like this: Mike first - 30"er released at boat, Sean: 44"er landed, Mike: fish threw hook, Sean: 48.5"er landed and that was the end of the day. I'd offered the last hit to Mike as he didn't land the one before but he said no and regrets it to this day .

Fast forward to Saturday morning as we head up to the Kawarthas and I'm shoving my lucky horseshoe where the sun don't shine getting ready for another day of fun. This time we were going out with Rodel Misa of Kawarth King Muskie guides and unlike the fall trip the weather looked nice so we were going to cast (trollings ok but I like doing things in a boat). We were on the water at 7:30 and my god did we work the water. I'd forgotten how much work tossing those big lures all day can be. I have to give big thanks to Rodel - I learned way more in that one day than I could have possibly hoped for. Hell I have baits I'd moved to the bottom of the barrel because I thought they sucked but now I know how to use them (I'm a suick fan now!).

The weather was weird - we started at 10 degrees out with pants and fleece jackets and by 10am we were in shorts and t-shirts as the sun just beat down on us with no wind at all. The fish were really hiding during this weather and we had a single follow on Mike's spinner bait. About noon Mike and I switched spots putting me on the front of the boat with Rodel and my horseshoe started to warm up. Rodel was pulling a suick when he had a hit beside the boat. "Dude, grab this!" he shouts and hands me the rod while taking mine away. A few seconds later (wasn't much to do as she hit right by the boat) and I'm holding this little girl:

And Mike is giving me that "your going in the drink soon" look as he'd just left the spot a few minutes earlier

We kept working the lake and the weather went nuts - 20k winds just appeared from no where and we getting a little worried about whatever storm must be coming with them but it turns out we missed it and stayed dry all day. Unfortunately the overcast skies and chop which would be great musky weather didn't help too much (too fast of a change from the flat hot day maybe?) but we did manage to raise another that slowly swam away after looking at a large tiger tube.

We'd been out 11 hours and were casting into some weed beds while Rodel's auto pilot trolling motor (Mike has trolling motor envy now) was working its holding us in place in a pretty good wind when Rodel said what all of us where thinking: "F**ck it guys, lets head back". You know what happened then of course - cue the horseshoe! I had been tossing a yellow spinner bait when it went nuts - not a thunk hit but rather a huge bunch of thrashing and the fight was on. And what a fight it was - this guy was kicking my ass all over the place. What a riot. When we finally got her into the cradle I couldn't believe she wasn't bigger than she was given the fight. Turned out to be 42 1/2" but with a lot of fight in her. I apologize i advance for the hold here - I goofed bringing her out of the water and had my hand backwards:

After that fight she took her time reviving but swam off to curse us for ruining her day.

We hit one more spot but at 7pm we called it and by then my poor arm was more than ready. Big props to Rodel for the work he put in. He taught us a bunch about the various lures (we tossed spinner baits, sledges, suicks, tubes and some other stuff I forget) and I got to try a bunch of interesting gear which is great as I now have a much better idea of the rod I want to pick up for jerk baits (anyone got a 6 to 6 1/2 heavy fast they want to sell?). It was also clear that he really wanted to get fish in the boat - he could have stopped after 8 hours and we'd have had a great day but you could tell he loved being out there as much as we did - great time with a great guy. Of course I'm pretty sure Mike will never invite me Musky fishing with him again as he got the big skunkaroo.

So as we drove home with a nice new bruise on my side for the pole and my arm feeling like its ready to fall off Mike suggests we take what we learned and try again Sunday. I said as long as we don't start with me getting up at 4:30am I'm ok with it so we planned on a much later start Sunday.

Arm and hand still sore from Saturday we started tossing around 9:30am Sunday and it was amazing how much more confident I felt with my lures after the day before (and how much I released I wanted a new rod). The fish weren't helping much though. I had a little 30"er or so shoot out from behind the boat on a figure 8 (something I always forgot to do before going out with Rodel) which was pretty cool even if she missed and and didn't come back. Mike had a big walleye follow his spinner which was interesting (we chatted with some guys fishing eyes and no one had a good day with those apparently).

About noon we were cutting across some water when my perch patterned baby grandma stopped mid retrieve. Woohoo, game on! She pulled some drag and I knew it was decent fish. After a bit I got her under control though she was still pretty far out (had hit on a long bomb cast). She slowed down so I just lifted my rod tip up to hold the tension and looked to Mike to tell him where the camera is (because I've got this fish in the bag you know). Lesson #1 boy and girls: there's a reel on side that you turn and it pulls the line in - USE IT! With my tip high and no leverage she came at me a bit then pulled back and I could feel the grandma slide right out of her mouth, DOH! :wallbash: . 100% user error but it was a hit and I learned from it right? grrrr.

After Mike finished mocking me he put on a walleye patterned believer and we worked a shoreline drop off when I hear "ooh ooh ooh" and I expect to see a bend in his line but no he's pointing at the water and there's a nice fat musky swimming by the boat and back into deep water. I tried a follow up cast but no luck. Now it was my turn to mock: where's the figure eight on that follow Mike? :clapping:

Unfortunately that was the last Muskie we saw. To take a break I tossed out a bucktail jig on my walleye rod wouldn't you know it - ZZZZZZZIIINNNG. Reels starts spinning and the lines going crazy. Holy crap its a Musky I yell and we get all excited (even started recording video). About a minute or two into the fight we see carp jumping (been seeing them all day) when Mike goes "maybe its a carp" and it dawns on me that this fight isn't typical musky and that Mike's probably right. Sigh.....

Yep my first, only and personal best carp came in at 15 lbs on 8lb fireline and a chartruese bucktail jig. Unfortunately it was snagged so it doesn't even count. Ah well.

After that the wind picked up and the water got really muddy. We kept working at it but nothing showed and the storms started to show up on the skyline so we called it early.

So 18 hours of musky bait tossing, 2 musky and 1 carp landed and I've learned a few things:

1. I need to hit the gym - those baits kicked my ass, my arms hurting just typing this

2. Mike will never take me musky fishing again

3. Always keep your lures clean (Rodel was very picking about that hehe )

4. I'm going to be spending a lot more money on Musky gear - damn you fishing addiction!

Have a good week everyone

Sean

June 23, 2008

Excellent report Sean! You can learn a lot from a fishing guide. These are people that put countless hours on the lake.

Its all about confidence in the lure your using and knowing that you are using it properly.

Too bad about the skunk Mike, but you will have your day soon!

highdrifter · June 23, 2008

Great shots! Those are some purty 'skis. The colours on them are really intense.

Evolution at it's finest.

Thanx Sean!

RangerGuy · June 23, 2008

Nice Report..good to see some ski's are biting.. I'll be up there next weekend

lunkerbasshunter · June 23, 2008

nice report! Aweosme looking fish!

Cheers!

LeXXington · June 23, 2008

great report!

snag · June 23, 2008

Great job Tbay!

I was waiting for one of these reports.

solopaddler · June 23, 2008

Great way to shorten the learning curve for sure, sounds like a great time!

Victor · June 23, 2008

Great report man! I'm always amazed at the color of these muskies! Sounds like an amazing way to spend a weekend!

Sinker · June 23, 2008

Nice job on the ski's. Time on the water is priceless......I don't care how long you've been doing it, there is always something new to learn!!

Sinker

sharper · June 24, 2008

Awesome report! I'm still in search of my first musky.

fatherof3 · June 24, 2008

great report and congrats on the fish

ccmtcanada · June 24, 2008

Awesome detail in that report Sean! Congrats on a few nice skis...I had one follow right to the boat on Sunday...my heart leaped out of my chest!! I was doing the figure 8 thing when suddenly it lurched forwards and my lure disappeared. I waited for the tug, and the I set the hook....much to my chagrin, the lure came right out with it. It slowly lumbered away...leaving me breathless.....

You are turning into quite the angler Sean!! Glad to see you doing so well out there.

mikeh · June 24, 2008

nice report Sean, the title pretty well sums up our days on the water. I really enjoyed Fishing with Rodel Misa (who is a member of OFC) and learned a lot. That trolling motor with Power Drive where you set it in one direction and don't touch the pedal again was very nice and the Hummingbird fish finder with side imaging was awesome. With the Side imaging you could see weed lines 40 feet from the boat and cast into them. As with any guide they ask what you want to do and we said we like casting so Rodel showed us the type of structure to look for on any lake and those were the areas we fished .I would recommend Rodel to anyone considering a musky guide in the Kawarthas as he has a passion for it and works very hard.

day 2 we fished the Otonabee on Rice and as the day went on the water became dirty with less visibility. Sean did loose a nice fish as he had too much slack line , just before it got off it surfaced just to give us a show . The Otonabee is my place to fish when there is 30-40 km winds on the lake plus I like the fact that the current moves you down the river at a good speed to cover water. thanks for posting Sean

tbayboy · June 24, 2008

Thanks guys. You'll get him next time for sure Cliff - hell even those kinds of missed boatside musky hits are as good as many actual landed fish in my books.

Clamp-it: nothing fancy just a canon s3 picked up off ebay for a couple hundred. Just upload the big version then the shrunk down ones in the posts look that much better

ehg · June 24, 2008

Great report, writing and pictures as usual. :thumbsup_anim:

Thanks for the descriptions and details, makes for an enjoyable read.

BTW, Mike always gets a musky the few times i've been out with him, i think he is trying to make you feel good.(hehehe) :clapping:

cheers, ehg

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