Northwest Fishing Reports

Please tell us a story of your 1st hookup, or your 1st boated muskie. Im trying to prep us as much as we can for the adventure.

:king:

Its probably just a matter of time now before we head out for our first outting. Most likely it will be Tapps.

In keeping with my penchant for doing everything the hard way, I caught my first legal on the last cast of the last day of a 6-week fishing trip to the Midwest. The light was already gone and I had to fight and land the fish in the dark. That happened when I fished from a tiny cartopper and didn't have a landing net, and I landed that thrashing 34-incher (and many others that followed) by grabbing the lure with my bare hand and hoisting it into the boat. This one hit a Burmek so hard it nearly tore my arms off, impaled itself on all three treble hooks, and it took a visegrips and about 15 minutes of work at the taxidermist's shop to pry, pull, bend, and twist my lure out of its mouth.

Not wanting to ruin my nearly perfect record of doing things in the most difficult way possible, when I bought my new muskie boat back in 2003, I ordered it by e-mail without ever having met the salesman or visited the dealer, hit a deer with it the first day I owned it, and drove my new truck and boat straight into the path of a tornado on the way home to Seattle. Not intentionally, you understand. It was dark and I couldn't see the funnel, but I knew from reports on the car radio that it was right on my butt. The funny thing is I felt calm even when the truck was rocking so hard in the wind and rain it nearly flipped over. I felt that way when enemy rockets and mortars rained down on me in Vietnam, too. I can't explain my inability to get excited about the realization that I might have only a few seconds left to live. A person ought to be screaming at a time like that, but I'm just not that way.

It's hard to say when I first got the idea of making my life as dangerous, demanding, and miserable as possible. I can't tell you whether it started back in '68 when the doctor at the army recruiting station told me I had flunked the physical and I talked into him letting me go to Vietnam anyway, or even earlier when as a kid I started thinking about going to law school and climbing mountains (and eventually did both), but I think maybe I set myself on this path way, way, back in prehistoric times when, at the age of 7 or 8 or thereabouts, I set my jaw and narrowed my eyes and told myself I was going to be a muskie fisherman someday.

Don, You're a hellofa BSer. I always like reading your stories. Feels like we should have a campfire we're sittin around.

I'll get to my first Muskie boated eventually. I have way more hookups and misses than landings. This is gonna be hella long just because this is good therapy for me. Muskies suck.

My first hookup was dusk on Lake Minnetonka. I was throwing a red lace LOWrider in Priest's Bay in a little cove with brambles. It's a prop bait, which I had zero confidence until that AM when I caught a Pike on it (when you're first using these things, you just can't imagine a fish inhaling it). A monster splash blew it up. I had the fish on for a few seconds, then it was gone. Never got a good look.

The next night, exact same time of day, exact same spot, exact same lure got blown up again (I can only assume the exact same fish) with the exact same result. At this point, I had about a week of fishing for Muskies in. I went back to Oregon without one boated.

Next trip next season (last year) for opener in June. After my success fly fishing for Pike in Calgary, I had a crazy idea that a fly fisherman may have an advantage. I hired a guide who specialized in Fly Fishing for Muskies (and smallies). We went out a full day and a night on Minnetonka and Independence. He had me put away the flies and throw conventional gear after a couple hours. Saw a suspended Muskie, but nothing ever bit while I was with him. The next day we went out on a tiny lake named Rebecca, only around 300 acres, electric motor only. It's a Muskie broodstock lake in Minnesota where they got most of their eggs, and where Washington would most likely have gotten theirs. It was famous recently because there's a swimming area there (there's huge, popular park around it) that has a net around it so the muskies can't get in. There was a hole in the net and a little girl got bit by one of the two Muskies (and one walleye) they found swimming around in the people swimming area until they closed the hole. I saw a few in the shallows as we were leaving the dock, but they disappeared quickly. A few hours later as I was casting a popper fly in the 14' boat we fished out of at the time, something blew it up while I wasn't paying close attention. I had line all over the place, never could quite set the hook, missed another one. Totally gave up on fly fishing at that point. Also lost my BlackBerry in the bottom of the lake somewhere.

We then headed north to meet another guide on Mantrap Lake. At this point, I'm at least two weeks of fishing long days without a boated Muskie. I will now insert a story I posted on another board:
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My story is more of a week of destruction than any one moment of embarrassment. Last year I flew out to MN for Musky opener in June. Our plan was to head North to Otter Tail area where my GF's family has a cabin on Leaf Lake. First we had to fish a bit around the house, so we hit Lake Rebecca. I went on the water with my BlackBerry. I left the water without. Not sure where on the lake it is, but it is out there somewhere. One electronic gadget down.

We hit Lobster Lake on our way north and still haven't caught anything (I had never caught a Ski yet at this point). It starts getting dark so we head to the cabin. I'm on the GF's Mom's cell phone that the stepdad has been allowed to use since I don't have mine anymore. I was getting directions to the gate to the cabin. We find the gate, I get out, open it and we get to the cabin. Problem...no cell phone. Can't find it anywhere. Finally go back to gate, calling it with GF's phone hoping to see it light up. Bingo! It's on the ground by the gate. But it doesn't work right...it dropped out of my pocket and we ran over it with the boat trailer. Two electronic gadgets down and I'm getting a reputation.

We're fishing every day on Mantrap. The first day with with Jonah Winter, which was very fun and quite a story in its own right...but still no fish for me. The second day we blew up the electric motor on the transom. Three electronic gadgets down. The third day we blow up the electric motor on the bow. Four electronic gadgets down, only the 25HP Yamaha left.

Shortly thereafter, while trying to get a picture of baby loons for the GF's mom (it was a request), I lunge for the camera, which is right next to the rod holder. The stepdad's Gapen Polish Pike gets me right in the lower leg, past the barb, straight in. I wasn't quite sure what to do. Stepdad wasn't much help, he started turning green when I was trying to yank it out and my skin was stretching what seemed like a foot. I eventually made the hole big enough and pushed against the back of the hook away from the barb and it popped out. I spent the rest of the morning worried about infection, tetanus, gangrene and the like. To this day I cringe when I see that stupid Polish Pike.

At this point I had already lost one on a Reef Hawg, probably the fourth Musky I had on for a period of time and then lost in my life and I still hadn't boated one. We were motoring around, using the 25HP as an electric, putting it in neutral, then in gear at idle, etc. It was getting pretty windy and we had some nice sized waves, especially for the 14' backtroller that we fish out of. The stepdad has to pee. I told him if he was going to try to pee out the back, there was no way he could do it without peeing all over himself in those waves. He goes for it anyway. I get lazy and sit down, still retrieving my brown Vibrax 6. I feel some resistance and look up and at my lure. It was about 10 feet from the boat and had this huge monstrous head, gaping mouth and scary black eyes attached to it (had to be close to 50"). I screamed, tried to set the hook and yelled "Cliff Stop Pissing!!!" Of course, who can do that? Without bothering to even put his junk away, he lunges over to put the motor in neutral, almost falls in and indeed, pees all over himself just as I told him he would. Of course, the fish got off in a few seconds. I had taken shouting expletives and yelling in agony over losing fish but this time all I could was bust out laughing for about half an hour.

Two cell phones and two Minnkotas toasted, one leg pierced and one pair of pants soiled in four days of fishing. Still no Muskies boated.
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I go back to Oregon dejected. It's closing in on 20 days fishing *hardcore* without one boated. In this time, I watch my father catch a 34" his first day with a homemade Salmon spinner. I wasn't even sure it was a Muskie because I had never seen one. I watched Cliff, probably the laziest Muskie fisherman ever, bungle his way into a 42" while he wasn't paying attention or even using a leader. It was a 6" Squirrely Jake tied directly to the braid.

I come back to Minnesota in August. I have a guide booked for a couple days and a night on Cass Lake. I had one hit a Llungen Tail. It was on for about 10 seconds, then the bucktail popped out. The Muskie's tooth was stuck on my hook. I kept it, since it's the closest thing I had to a fish at that point. I also had one take a Bucher Twitchin' Eel, but no hookup. Cliff missed one, too. Thing is, he already had caught that 52-incher earlier in the week I posted the picture of on the other thread.

After three days on Cass, I go to Big Lake the next day. I'm using the Double Showgirl Cliff got his monster on. I get a hookup in the shallows and for some reason, the guys are moving the boat with the electric. I started getting pissed because I had lost so many fish and we were, essentially, trolling a Muskie that I'm trying to land. We got it in and netted it, jinx over, 46 inches. That was about 25 days of fishing to finally boat one. I missed a monster on a Weagle the next day because I pulled it out of its mouth. I also hooked up with a Lily Tail and lost that one, too. My GF's brother caught a 48" on a Double Showgirl and didn't take the lure off for the next five days. I missed two more a few days later on a Pacemaker, again because I yank it out of their m

wow pdx, that was quite the story. congrats on the fish, and awesome pic.

:king:

i too hope to be successful this year.

T Dot wrote:wow pdx, that was quite the story. congrats on the fish, and awesome pic.

:king:

i too hope to be successful this year.

Well, the epilogue would be four trips in Washington I get four muskies. I've got that many outside of Washington in over 30 trips.

PDX,
Those are freegin awesome "stories"...congrats on A. Not getting gangreen...B..boating your first. And C.. Not having to hand your buds' junk back to him after he almost broke it in the back of the boat thats funny dude..!

I remember my first. I was 12..fishin with my dad in his 16 ft jon boat. Me up in the bow. My dads bud in the middle, my dad gunning the Evinrude. All of us are 6 ft or so my dads bud in like 6-6 in the middle my ol man is 5-9 in the back(almost 6 ft as he says). Got my trusty Mitchell 300, I'm throwin a perch color rapala. So, I wing back,not even thinkin, my dads bud Chuck sees me rearin back, he ducks, get ready to whip forward I hear this sound.....uhm..plastic hitting skin. I hear a whoooa, whoooa, heyyyy! Caught my first big sucker of all time! My ol'mans got a Perch rapala stuck in his really baaaad comb over and a single hook caught in his left lobe....funniest thing I have seen. He wasnt pleased but not pissed either. 1st time I nearly wet my pants...1st time he wanted to kill me and didnt...several 1sts on a 1st time from me...I've been hooked ever since! ceyah!!

Mark, what makes the story even better is that everything I said in that comment is true.

Don Wittenberger wrote:Mark, what makes the story even better is that everything I said in that comment is true.

I didn't mean for it to sound like I was doubting you Don.

I'm looking forward to the Chapter tourneys this summer especially the over night ones when we can all sit around and BS. Darn I'm anxious.