I Hate Musky Fishing

I just don’t understand why I choose to fish fro musky! Most times I don’t even get to see a fish let alone catch one.

Jerry Paolo and I hit the Rideau thinking that most boaters had packed it in after the September long weekend and boy were we wrong. It was a zoo out there and I hated it. So off to a spot I knew we would be relatively left alone.

So after some time I looked into my box to see what to throw next and I grabbed this new yellow jerk bait I bought. I offered it up to Jerry and he declined so I was really thrilled when I got a fish on it. The little guy did 2 amazing fully out of the water tail dances but then the fish went right and my lure went right.

Did I mention I hate musky fishing?

Some time later I was throwing my super top raider when I had a swing and a miss and we could clearly see the massive wake behind the lure as I reeled in. I suck so bad at figure 8’s that I didn’t have a chance to get this fish and she was a big one too.

After this event Jerry put on and threw out a creeper lure. These 2 seagulls showed way too much interest in his creeper lure and I didn’t think about grabbing my video camera quickly enough to get most of the best action but I got some.

Aug 6-8 MCI Family Outing

Muskie’s Canada had a family outing on Cameron Lake in Fenelon Falls in the Kawarthas.

They had booked 6 camp sites and we packed  in 18 pop up tents, 3 pop up trailer and 3 pickup trucks with campers. It was awesome and a really well run event with games and activities for the kids. Each kid won a prize and Josh got a new reel and a Swamp Donkey and Devyn got a new rod and reel.

Because we took the camper I wasn’t able to bring my boat but I was fortunate enough to have met Mike Parker for the first time and he offered to take me out fishing.

Saturday morning at 5:30 am we met up and headed out. Mike was a great guy not only to fish with but to know. He offered up the bow deck for me to fish from. On my 5th cast I got a small guy on one of my lures. Poor guy must have just swept at the lure because the hook was right thru his head. I tried but the fish was dying right in front of me. Mike was really understanding and did his best to make me fell better about it.

We cast for a while then headed out trolling. I know what it is like to run the boat and do everything else so I let my instincts kick in and organised the boat to suit the troll. I was tickled pink when Mike said “You make a good bitch”. I felt like I made a friend.

Later that day Kurt offered up to take Josh and me out for a troll and to see if we could get Josh into his first musky. I really have to thank Jerry for making this go so well. Jerry always takes care of the rods and lures while we troll and I really appreciate it so I took care of the 3 rods we had out when Kurt took us out and I could tell Kurt was really impressed and I think I scored some brownie points. josh was blown away with the size of the lures and how short lined we ran everything. Kurt’s lure was running pretty much right next to his motor. No fish but a great experience plus Kurt had the tunes cranked up and I really enjoyed that.

Sunday morning Mike took me and Jason (who organised the MCI event) out for a fish. I got into another small one using my lures and Jason hooked into a real fighter that I didn’t get to see because it was lost at the side of the boat. Too bad because it was great to fish with these guys. I hope I never forget when Jason looked over at my rod and asked about the lure I had on it.

This was one of the best weekends I had in a long time and I hope I get to see Mike again one day. He was a solid guy.

Sunday July 11, 2010

Hit the Ottawa River with Jerry.

In a word it was HOT.

We hit Duck Island close to shore. We found the bait fish (with some aggressive perch attacking our lures) but not toothy critters to speak of.

With the heat we decided to troll.

“Lets hit Joe’s hump” was the obvious choice. Even the trolling was tough. There were boats everywhere and we even found ourselves being buzzed by seaplanes landing and taking off.

Thru half way in the day we got an eye full. Jerry said she was totally nude but all I could make out was a set of tits. Regardless it was pleasing to the eyes.

We headed around the west point of Duck Island when my rod went off. When I pulled it from the rod holder no one was home. I must have snagged bottom.

Around the point we went and headed over to Joe’s hump. As we were going from 25+ FOW and the rise to 13 FOW my rod went off and this time we knew for sure it was a fish.

She was a scrappy mid 30’s fish. It just wouldn’t calm down a tiny bit so I was very concerned about getting gill raked I put on a glove. The water temp was 80+ deg and the release was not a good one.

Father’s Day 2010

Not sure how to express how thrilled I am to publish this but Jerry called me out of the blue in the afternoon of Father’s Day and said let’s go out for a few hours.

Ho-hum I agreed. We hit one spot, nothing then with the electric we dropped into Mr. Bojangles home to see if he was till around but he wasn’t.

Jerry and I found this one spot on a big flat that we both agreed should hold fish but had yet produced.

I was working one of my lures and Jerry was working a glide bait. I am always so impressed when i fish with Jerry. He puts in so much effort and time to learn a lure and will often use a new lure much longer than I ever would without getting a fish.

I let out a long bomb and just as I heard the splash of my lure I heard commotion behind me and turned in time to see the swirl and the hook set.

Jerry said it hit about 15 feet away but from where I was standing it seemed so much closer. I remember reeling in as fast as I could, I so wanted to net this fish for Jerry more than I wanted to catch my own fish. Half way thru my reeling I could see Jerry already had the fish at the boat. For a second I thought about putting down my rod and reel but I paid $475 for the combo and wasn’t going to chance it.

I finally got my line in and like a Chinese fire drill I got the net ready. Jerry worked at getting the fish to the net and it just didn’t want to get it’s picture taken. I am pretty sure my heart was racing as much as Jerry’s was.

Then I pulled the bone head move and did what I tell everyone in my NOT TO DO. I reach for the fish, I so wanted to net her that I knocker her in the head. A real amateur move and worthy of being thrown overboard for. Thank god I didn’t knock her off. I really felt like shit but that passed once I scooped her up.

Jerry’s personal best casting at 36 1/2 inches.

What really makes this cool is we had talked just a bit earlier about how cool it would be to get a tagged fish. Well wouldn’t you know it, this fish was tagged. I must of had stupid for lunch because I couldn’t read the tag so I thought it was the best thing to do so I cut it off. More to follow.

Geez if it wasn’t 20 minutes later, same style lure, me with a full cast and Jerry hooks his second fish. I clearly remember giving Jerry heck for waiting until I was at a full cast before getting a fish.

This time I was a bit better at netting and not only was this also another tagged fish but it had a transmitter on it. I remember Sean telling us to remove the transmitters but I was still digesting my stupid lunch and removed the wrong transmitter. He wanted the ones with an antenna not without….DUH!

Another personal best at 39 inches.

Sean came by my place and picked up the tags and transmitter. He said the 36 1/2 was measured at 34 but his measuring is by tape and may not have been accurate. The 39 was measured at 39 and he told me the dates and locations of where they were tagged.

I have to say this was one of my top days fishing and I just couldn’t have been happier.

Saturday June 05

Musky opener

And I made the 50 inch club.

It was 5:30 am opening morning and on the drive to the launch I wasn't saying too much because I was trying to decide which spot I wanted to hit to start the season. We were on the water and under power just before 6 am when that little voice in my head finally decided for me to always go with your first instinct.

Many times I have reached into the tackle box to get a lure and then got distracted by another lure but decided to go with my first instinct on the lure choice and it has paid off. Now I can say the same for fishing locations. Go with your first instinct.

We were washing lures by just after 6 am. Topwater was the lure of choice as we were fishing shallow over top of the new weeds. I remember telling my buddy Jerry that I just could never imagine catching a 50 on topwater.

I have hooked into 2 musky before on topwater but lost them both at the boat. I have also had a few fish take a swipe at my topwater lure but come up short on hooking into them. When I fish topwater i am always watching for the wake of an approaching fish.

This fish came out of nowhere and took a huge swipe at my lure. before I could finish saying "whoa" it took another swipe and before I could finish saying "WOW" it took a third swipe and I felt the pull on the line, so I pulled back.

This fish was strong and even took a run under the boat. I wish I could say I enjoyed the fight but I would be a liar. I was terrified of loosing this fish and the last thing it wanted to do was get into the net.

Once in the net it thrashed and rolled a few times but the Stowmaster nets are so big that it quickly calmed down. I had one point of the treble right in the corner of it's mouth so the hook release was quick and painless.

We always take a minimum of 3 pictures. Inevitably there's always one of the 3 that doesn't come out well and just think if that was the only one you took. This fish was not happy being photographed and gave me a huge body wiggle and there was no way I was going to drop this fish. Tough to say who has the more teeth.

I was pretty freaked about picking this fish out of the net. It was huge and heavy and I thought for sure my hand was going to get raked by the gills. I must have done a good job because it thrashed during the picture taking and I managed to hold on pretty good.

I really like that we put the effort into taking release shots. Jerry was about a half second away from capturing the tail splash.

I like to think we did a good job with this fish because it was a really short revival and I got one of the best tail face washing goodbyes I can ever remember.

New for 2010

I would have to say that for the first time I am happy with the finished product.

Here are the new Mr.J. Specials for 2010.

Victoria Day Cats

Nothing like an actual nice Victoria day long weekend. I took Josh, Paolo, Joe and Joe’s son out for some Ottawa cats.

It was really hot. We anchored off of the rapids in 10 FOW and we were quickly into some monsters.

I couldn’t believe how big these cats were and the fight was on.

Josh won the day with the most cats and the biggest of the day too.

Saturday May 15 first outing of 2010

Went out with Jerry for some spring pike. Shall I say this again? We typically never do well in the spring but hey at least we are out and trying.

I always thought the Kemptville creek would produce so we headed straight there. I am still so impressed with my new boat. She runs so nice and she really likes to go full throttle and we made the creek in no time.

I got to try out the new electric and to wash some new lures too. Jerry had a couple of splash fish show him some interest but other than that is was anything but exciting. Surprisingly we ran into 2 other boats but they weren’t fishing.

I suggested we hit the wall and off we went. We got stuck behind this cruiser that was throwing wake so big behind her and we tried to pass but it just was not a wise thing to do. Jerry said she was going to Hurst Marina and he was bang on. When she throttle down I looked at the creek across from Hurst Marina and said we should hit it.

In about a 1/2 hour I got 2 OOS bass and 2 pike. Both snott rockets but all 4 fish were on my new lures. 2 on white top water (what a blast) and 1 on a green with Colorado blades and 1 black with Willow leaf blades.

The second pike hit so hard and fought so hard I have to admit I was afraid I got an OOS musky but instead I got some kind of freak. This thing was beaten up badly and I really didn’t want to touch it. Believe it or not this picture is of it’s good side.

Funny but Jerry had one on and lost it plus a follow plus another grab his lure when he wasn’t holding his rod all within a 1/2 hour and a 1/2 hour later my fishing watch beeped. I’m going to pay attention to my new fishing watch.

Spring Cats Sun Apr 24 2010

April 24 we headed out to get into some catfish. The wind was blowing us pretty hard and we couldn’t get the anchor to bite so we found a spot out of the wind and got the anchor to bite.

Using good old fashion shrimp Paolo started to put on a clinic and started the day off with a real fatty.

That's one more than we usually get this early in the year. Water was over 50 deg and we were anchored in 23 FOW.

Paolo gets another and then another.

Then things started to even up for both Jerry and I and in about 3 1/2 hours we boated 12 fish.

At 4:00 pm we decided one more fish then we would head home. At 4:15 this was the last for the day.

One of best spring cat outings.