Never Would Of Thought...

[Musky_Madness]

While fishing this evening, I had a nice mid 40's fish follow big blades up to the boat and as I turned into my 8, the fish followed hot through the rotation and then swam right into my Minn Kota propeller. Fish took the wrath of the prop as I watched and all I heard was THUD THUD THUD THUD which was heard in the back of the boat from my dad as well. I don't think I would have ever imagined a fish running straight into the prop. Needless to say, the fish lost interest and swam straight down fast! It would be neat to catch the fish and see if it had been scarred. Just thought I'd share a wild story from the field today.

[thrax]

Madness - two thoughts. One, when we get a fish coming in hot to the boat, if you got your motor on we always try to click it off. Of course its not mandatory but they can often spook a fish off that might otherwise bite for you. It may not screw them all up if they are super hot and simply want that bait like none other, but if they are slightly tentative it can make a difference.

Two - did it look like it just ran into it or are you sure it didn't get off your bait and hit the motor on purpose? Probably half a dozen times in the last few years we have had fish come in, sometimes behind a bait and sometimes not, and decide it wants to eat the trolling motor instead. I had this happen most recently on Vermilion in October, a 50in class fish had blown up and missed a topwater about 5min before, no hooks in it and we knew it was hot, a few min later that fish completely tried to eat the trolling motor, jaws locked on and it worried the heck out of that thing, shook the whole Ranger. Then it came up right at the side of the boat, looking confused but then it did take a swing at my pacemaker which was finally making it boatside, missed and finally left.

Motor was on speed 1, so barely turning the blade. Motor heads are not that big, kind of like a SuperModel in all black! They just don't catch as well with no hooks on them!!

[Esox_Magnum]

Personaly never had this happen but hear stories from other all the time about it. I leave the motor run untill I hook up if i have a fish boatside, I think switching off when they are near the boat spooks them and several guides I asked about this say the same. Myself and others think turning the motor off or on when the fish is in sight spooks the more often than not.

[Nick Kuhn]

I always do might 8 so the turn is going away from the trolling motor. I've never had a muskie go into the trolling motor. I have had one pike do it as it made a tremendous rush to get the bait before the boat, and kept going right into the TM. Didn't see any marks on that fish when I landed it, But I was going pretty slow.

[Musky_Madness]

Interesting thoughts! Never thought of the trolling motor looking like Double 13's which I was using...

[fire29]

Hey you could make some money if you could some how mount some trebble hooks to yer blades.

[RK]

Hiya -

Fish muskies long enough and you're bound to see something weird... I've never had one try to eat a trolling motor but had a couple run into it. Also had one follow the TM all the way around a bay on LoTWs...and had several follow a slowly-turning out of gear stainless steel prop on an outboard. Strangest may have been a fish that absolutely smoked a downrigger ball while open water trolling. Fish going full throttle hitting a 10# ball of lead going 4 mph must have been some collision. Sure rattled the downrigger good.

Fish run into boats, birds crash land, squirrels fall out of trees, deer trip over sticks... Nature isn't flawless

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[mwal]

I had one follow a bucktail 3 to 4 ft back I was at stern of boat it turns and goes and hits the blade on the front end motor with the old white Minn Kota blade. It was intentional and I am sure he lost some teeth in the process. I had the motor on the lowest speed while drifting a break line.

Mwal