Muskies and 1 lost thumb!

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Decided to go fishing with CPguy(Jeff)on Thursday. Started nice and early, started working some slop. Right off the bat I am having equipment failures. I have a very old Diawa reel on a 6 foot lightning rod. The bolt inside the reel always comes loose and I have to tighten it every 20 casts or so. At home decided to tighten it up to the max. Well when I got fishing, It was very, very hard to reel.

 

Sufficive to say, Jeff was smoking me 6 bass to one. I just couldn't reel the slack line in fast enough. The reel when its working has a low gear ratio as it is. Tried to put a fluke on my baitcaster and it couldn't cast for beans.

The bass action was ok in the morning. Jeff caught 10 and me 4 with a double header too.

But the blackflies were brutal. Don’t wear sandles fishing. They butchered my feet and toes!!

 

We decided to go Musky fishing. To make a long story short, I nail a nice musky. Between 38-40 inches and pretty thick. Had him in the boat in less than 5 minutes. Was gonna torpedo him but decided to revive him. Bad decision...I let the head go and he turned around grabbed my thumb! I was bleeding very badly, it severed my tendons and I couldn't move the thumb at all. Was very painful to say the least. Lots of stitches and may need plastic surgery. No not my face.lol

 

Here is the culprit. Sorry about the pictures but the guy asked I black out the screen.

 

 

I decided to keep fishing. Tried to cast with the thumb and I got a massive bird's nest that took me awhile to take out.We went back to bass fishing. I caught up to Jeff. I think the count was 11 to 8. There was this doc in the middle of nowhere. I'm like lets try the dock, Jeff is like that dock has alreaded been pounded today and he didn't catch anything there. I assured him, not by Johnny Bass, and that there was a bass under there. Sure enough, I smash a decent bass. Did not take any pictures of the bass because I couldn't thumb them. With my 17 lb test mono did not lose one fish in the slop like previously! Alot of dinks and a few this size.

 

 

By then thew wind had picked up to around 20K. Slop was unfishable.So deceided for open water musky fishing. Right off the bat, I hit another one. Didn't feel big and I was thinking it was a 6lb pickerel. I'm very good at distinguishing.

 

Last week I went fishing and we were fishing log jams in 15 FOW. I was working the jig and pig and got a hit, set the hook?Nothing. Get another hit on the same cast, set the hook? Fish on for less than a second. I'm thinking thats strange..... get another hit, I'm fighting the fish for 2 seconds it gets off. I'm like that was a pickerel for sure! About a pound. The I get another hit, set the hook and I raise a 2 1/2 lb pickerel. I see the gold side. I tell my friend to cast a grub and she nails a pickerel. I'm like, see??I told you they were pickerel, they were biting my trailer of the jig and pig. Thats when the owner of the cottage tells us that we should go fish infront of another cottage. MInd you, we were not even fishing his doc. I just ignored him and kept on fishing.

 

Anyways, back to the fishing report. I have a feeling I lost a big pickerel. Remember, I'm fighting this fish with a broken thumb and may have horsed it in too hard. The next three fish, I made no mistake. Caught another 2 skis.

 

 

And a pickerel for the frying pan.

 

 

All in about 2 1/2 hours in brought day light. My lure was completely destroyed….And apparently the bite is even hotter in the evenning.<shock>, unfortunately, we had to leave early and I had to get to a hospital.

 

I Think I will take up perch fishing now.lol Oh my friends was selling his musky lures. All this for $40 including the case. It got sold before I could even post it.

 

 

 

Hope you enjoyed the report. Was gonna go fishing Friday and Saturday too but it looks like I will be sidelined for awhile. The thumb is the fisherman’s trigger finger….

 

Has anyone noticed all the daffodil seeds flying all over town?

Edited July 16, 2010 by Johnny Bass

[LefroyFisherman]

Very nice muskies, where were you guys fishing? kawarthas?

[asdve23rveavwa]

OUCH!! Going after some of those toothy critters this weekend. I'll remember to protect my thumbs!

[Terry]

nice going

 

2 thumbs up...ok 1.5 thumbs up

[OhioFisherman]

Sorry about the thumb Johnny! I lipped one in a hurry one time and not thinking, them teeth do some damage! 17# mono was all I used for fishing slop, it does the job, at least for bass and smaller fish. Great pics and report, get well soon.

 

By the way they have a rubber thumb protector, you see the in offices or banks sometimes, it might give some protection?

 

Not the same thing but might help?

 

http://www.thumbdinger.com/

Edited July 17, 2010 by OhioFisherman

[Cudz]

nice fish. Those are some big teeth for sure. ouch

[fishinguypat]

seems your camera is on the fritz because of the line through the photos? lol

[EC1]

Nice job toughing it out! Those look like fantastic fish!

[Sinker]

Nice bog ski's boys!!

 

S.

[bigugli]

Had the fingers thrashed a few times by big toothy critters. That's why you keep a roll of duct tape on the boat. It'll seal it up tight til you get to a Dr. Or it might hold it together well enough to heal if you're in the bush.

Nice skis

[JohnF]

So, how's the thumb?

 

JF

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Sorry about the thumb Johnny! I lipped one in a hurry one time and not thinking, them teeth do some damage! 17# mono was all I used for fishing slop, it does the job, at least for bass and smaller fish. Great pics and report, get well soon.

 

By the way they have a rubber thumb protector, you see the in offices or banks sometimes, it might give some protection?

 

Not the same thing but might help?

 

http://www.thumbdinger.com/

 

Sounds alright but what about the rest of the fingers?lol I want a glove made of chain mail.lol

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Yes it was the Kawartha's. They are red hot right now. I was going to go today but I think I should let the thumb heal. It still hurts like heck! Still cant move or bend it.

 

Like I said. Sorry about the pictures but its not my spot and I have to respect the guy that showed it to me. He specifically said to cover the background. So it was either this or not post at all.

 

Duct tape hey? I always keep duct tape in my truck, with some tie wraps. I can fix anything with those two. And I always had two first aid kits on the boat. Very important.

[Raf]

krazy glue works even better, since that was it's original purpose (stitchless cut repair for military use) -- good idea to keep a tube in your boat's first aide kit.

[Fisherpete]

I have one of the Lindy fish handling gloves... they work really well (when you wear it!!!). I think LeBaron has them for $25 or so.

 

http://images.ebsco.com/lindytackle/GloveAC951.jpg?w=225

[Guest gbfisher]

no thumb pics?

[Guest Johnny Bass]

krazy glue works even better, since that was it's original purpose (stitchless cut repair for military use) -- good idea to keep a tube in your boat's first aide kit.

 

I have 3 things of crazy glue for my plastics, but I cant see how you could apply it with all the blood.

 

The glove looks alright. I took a cell phone pic of my thumb. Just have to figure out how to Dl it to my comp.

[ehg]

Hey, despite the injury it looks like a great day of fishing 3 muskies is superb. Have been cut by those critters a couple of times, had all the stuff; rubberized big net or cradle, Knipex, big needle nose pliers, landing skills etc... a few years ago went to reach in to cradle once for fish photo, fish thrashed and tooth caught my wrist.

 

They are nasty fish! lol

[Jen]

I have to admit, reading your posts puts you there... Well done, Nice Fish, and my gawd, you kept on fishing... that says love of the sport right there... But then so would I ...

 

Well done!

 

Keep bringing us your awesome tales of fishing and adventure...

 

Cheers

Jen

[Leecher]

Nice skis Johnnyb Hope your thumb heals quickly so you can get back into fishing

Great job for sticking it out

[spyder3g]

Nice husky!

[Handlebarz]

nice report again Johnny keep the thumb hi and get out there again looking forward to the next trip out from ya

[spinnerbaitking]

Great report, carry a spinning rod & reel just in case you can always use one of them if that happens again lol now thats dedication

Richard

[BillsTheBassMan]

Amazing report Johnny . . . rough break about the thumb. Hopefully it doesn't need plastic surgery and heals true on its own. At the very least you have a lifelong fishing story from the Musky that should have been torpedoed. Great fish.

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Thanks again guys. I did have two spinning reels. It was still hard to cast. It is healing a bit better. I can now pinch, but I still can't bend my thumb....I even played a jitoni tournament and did extremely well, even though I couldn't take hard shots. All finesse!lol But it was painful....I'm just too competitive....And I guess that is what makes me good.

 

Anyways, the funny thing is they reminded me that last week we were saying if someone were to give you a million dollars to chop off one of your fingers. Would you do it? I'm like ya, but I'm not sure about the thumb. Well now I know! I'd rather have my thumb!!!! What a coincidence hey? Of all the fingers to injure, it was my thumb.