A day of musky fishing

[Dontcryformejanhrdina]

So I had booked a charter with Stacy Ash from Protackle here in Belleville a while back but had to postpone it. Well we finally got out Thursday on Moira Lake. We launched at 8am and we were both confident this day would produce. I've only caught 2 musky so far after trying all summer so I am still looking for some pointers and experience. Well the day started off slow, I had a follow but not what I was looking for, a smallmouth bass following a sledge that was almost as big as he was. Stacy caught a couple of pike in the mid to high 20 inch range on a topwater but still no sign of a musky. Suddenly he see's a follow! As he's reeling closer to the boat, turns out to be just another smallmouth. Very nice sized but not what we were looking for. While using a bucktail I hooked into something, my first hit of the day. First it didn't feel that big, then it felt pretty heavy and I got a little excited. Well it turns out it was just a 5-6lb pike that ran into a bunch of weeds after I caught it. We were starting to get hungry so we went into town for lunch for a bit of a break. He had more confidence in the afternoon bite despite not seeing any fish in the morning.

 

We started fishing bulldawgs which I've used very little so far. Still nothing for about 2 hours until shortly after 2pm I'm popping the bulldawg up in deeper water when it feels like I snag on a log, I set the hook just to be sure and it starts to move! I yelled "Got one!" and Stacy tells me to hit it again! So I set the hook hard into it again and the fight was on, it stayed deep until I got it to boatside then Stacy netted it. What a rush! I could tell right away it's a new personal best, measured 42". She swam off strong too, nothing better to see while fishing then that. My link

My link

Shortly afterwards Stacy hooks into a musky on a bulldawg but he says it's fighting weird. Well it jumps a few times and then we see the lure is actually hooked on it's gill plate with part of it in it's gills. Looked real bad when I netted her but when we got looking a little closer somehow her gills were untouched and just the gill plate was hooked. After I cut the hooks out he released her (guessed about 36") and she swam off strong. Whew.

 

A while later after a couple of guys he knows pointed us in the direction of where they had just spent half an hour trying to get a couple of really big fish they raised to bite, Stacy caught another musky on a topwater and it's head was massive....but that was about it. This was by far the UGLIEST fish I have ever seen. It was 45" long but it's body could not have been bigger than my forearm (and I'm not a big guy), it couldn't have weighed 10lbs. It had scars on it's head, a jaw that looked like it had been broken in the past, it never even put up a fight. I called it a Pep Boys musky because it was all head and no body. It was literally shaped like an arrow. After releasing it she stayed at the surface for about a minute or so before finally swimming off slowly. I kind of wish I got a picture of it just because it was so bizarre. This was 1 really old/sick fish WAY past it's prime. He drove over to the guys afterwards and said "You can keep you're ugly musky!"

 

Shortly before we were about to leave I got a really hard hit on a jerkbait, I set the hook HARD into the fish, had it on for about a second or two and then nothing! I looked at my leader afterwards and the 150lb flourocarbon was frayed pretty badly in a few spots. It hit the leader, not the lure! So frustrating!

 

All in all I had a pretty awesome day, got my biggest fish so far and learned some new techniques. Now I have a new personal best to beat when I go with Musky Mike in October!

Edited September 25, 2011 by Dontcryformejanhrdina

[Rizzo]

great stuff! no wonder my musky days aren't as good...I'm always off the water by 2:00. Sounds like that's when the fun started for you guys

[Dontcryformejanhrdina]

Also, how can I get pics to show in this thread? It doesn't seem to let me insert photobucket

photos. Yeah....I'm not very computer savvy.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 25, 2011 by Spiel
There ya go. :)

[mercman]

Nice Musky !!! Mike'll help ya git a nice Ski for sure Congrats my friend

 

Paul

[Roy]

Try it now. Go to the link in your post. Click on "see more" bottom right. Click "get link code". Copy the HTML code and paste it in your message box here. Don't forget to configure you posting options to "HTML ON".

[Dontcryformejanhrdina]

Try it now. Go to the link in your post. Click on "see more" bottom right. Click "get link code". Copy the HTML code and paste it in your message box here. Don't forget to configure you posting options to "HTML ON".

 

 

I've tried, the pictures show up in my post when i edit it but when I go to save changes it keeps saying "You are not allowed to use that image extension on this board" no matter what I try. I am so lost with this stuff.

[ehg]

Congrats on a very successful day!

Going out with a guide must have really shortened the learning curve.

Enjoyed the reading,

[moxie]

Congrats on the fish. I've dealt with Stacey a few times. Knowledgeable, professional, and helpful.

[marine5068]

Nice fish and a GREAT lake to fish on.

Although I am a bit biased seeing as I live a stone-throw from Moira and have fished it for Musky, Bass and Pike for years now.

Stacey is a good fellow for sure. He's always got that smiley face on and has lots of experience fishing Musky on many of our local waters here.

I see him on the water and at the ramps a lot and who can miss that big boat with "PRO_TACKLE" on it.

His shop seems to be doing well too.

Good luck out there on the water.

~Stan (Madoc)

Edited September 27, 2011 by marine5068

[mike rousseau]

nice catch...

 

hopefully they are "ON" when you come down here...

[Dontcryformejanhrdina]

nice catch...

 

hopefully they are "ON" when you come down here...

 

I hope so too. I think I'll be more excited if my brother catches one since he's never fished for musky before.

 

I caught another musky in Head lake in Haliburton yesterday. Only 33" but it still fought pretty hard, felt bigger than it was and still had tons of energy when I let her go. That was my first musky while trolling (literally hit about 5 seconds after I started trolling, in open water). I also had another one hit trolling (both on soft plastics) but spit my lure, one blew up on my bucktail at boatside but never stuck, and 2 more followed to boatside but never hit.

 

I'm gaining more confidence in different techniques and trolling too. After going all summer without getting much of anything other than 2 hits I've caught a musky the last 3 days I've went out.

 

 

Thanks everybody.

[mike rousseau]

Good job man...

 

Your learning very fast...