BIG FISH DISASTERS

[CALVINIST]

I STARTED MUSKIE FISHING THIS SUMMER, AND ON THURSDAY, I BOATED A 38" SKI FROM EAST RUSH LAKE USING A 10" BLACK SUICK. IT WAS QUITE A THRILL THAT I WILL NEVER FORGET. MY BROTHER AND I HAD BEEN CASTING FOR ABOUT 7 OR 8 HOURS WITHOUT ANY LUCK, AND WE WERE GOING TO WORK ONE MORE SHORELINE BEFORE HEADING IN. WE WERE TALKING ABOUT HOW WE PROBABLY WERE NOT GOING TO EXPERIENCE Mr. MUSKIE THAT DAY WHEN THAT OL' SHARPTOOTH HIT MY SUICK ABOUT 6 FEET FROM THE BOAT. SUDDENLY, CHAOS REIGNED! MY BRO' SAW THE SWIRL AND BELLOWED OUT LOUDLY, "IT'S A MUSKIE!" (AS IF I DIDNT KNOW). MITCH FRANTICALLY GRABBED FOR THE NET, AND WE QUICKLY GOT HER IN THE BOAT. I KNOW THAT A 38" FISH IS NOT EVEN A KEEPER, BUT IT WAS THE BIGGEST FRESHWATER FISH I EVER CAUGHT. WE QUICKLY CELEBRATED MY CATCH. IN ALL OF THE COUNTLESS HOURS MY BROTHER HAD FISHED IN HIS LIFE, HE HAD NEVER EVEN SEEN A MUSKIE BEFORE; IT WAS A VERY BEAUTIFUL, TOOTHY FISH. AFTER GETTING HER IN THE BOAT THAT FISH WAS THRASHING ABOUT RATHER WILDLY IN THE NET. THERE WERE CERTAIN THINGS WE HAD TO DO BEFORE RETURNING HER TO THE LAKE. FIRST WAS TO GET HER OUT OF THE NET WITHOUT SUSTAINING A BLOODLETTING GASH OR TREBLE HOOK IN HAND. I WAS PRAYIN THAT SHE WOULDNT START THRASHIHG WHEN MY HANDS WERE WORKING THE SUICK OUT OF THE NET. ONCE THAT WAS DONE, WE HAD TO GET A PICTURE, SO I GRABBED THE CAMERA, AND GAVE IT TO MY BRO. I TRIED TO PICK UP OL' TOOTHY, AND BEING A BIG, SLIMY, SLIPPERY, THRASHING FISH, SHE SLIPPED OUT OUT OF MY ARMS, ONTO THE BOTTOM OF THE BOAT. SOMEHOW, THE CAMERA MITCH WAS HOLDING POPPED OUT OF HIS HAND, AND ENDED UP IN THE LAKE! MITCH QUICKLY PLUNGED HIS ARM INTO THE LAKE AND RESCUED THE CAMERA. THANKS MITCH! SHE SLIPPED OUT OF MY ARMS AGAIN, AND ONCE MORE ENDED UP AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BOAT, SO THAT'S WHERE I DECIDED TO MEASURE HER. WE DIDNT HAVE A RULER, SO I JUST MEASURED HER AGAINST THE FLOOR OF THE BOAT, WHICH LATER MEASURED 38". NEXT, I GRABBED THAT AMAZING FISH AND HELD IT IN A RATHER UNORTHODOX WAY IN MY ARMS, THE WAY ONE MIGHT CARRY A LOAD OF KINDLING. MITCH THEN SNAPPED TWO PICTURES AND I RETURNED HER TO THE LAKE-SHE QUICKLY SWAM AWAY UNHURT. AFTER HER RELEASE, WE WERE COMPLETELY SATISFIED WITH OUR EXPERIENCE, AND WE CALLED IT A DAY. WHAT MY BROTHER AND I EXPERIENCED IN THAT FIVE MINUTES WAS HEART-POUNDING EXCITEMENT. i AM SURE THAT WE BOTH HAD "WILD HORSE EYES" IN THOSE FEW FRANTIC MINUTES, AND OF COURSE, THINGS DONT ALWAYS GO EXACTLY THE WAY YOU PLANNED. I WILL MOST CERTAINLY RETURN FISHING FOR MUSKIES, WITH THE GOAL OF SOMEDAY BOATING A 50+" FISH, SO I CAN EXPERIENCE ANOTHER THRILL OF A LIFETIME. THAT'S MY STORY, NOW THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO ASK ALL OF YOU MUSKIE AND PIKE FISHERMEN OUT THERE....WHAT IS THE CRAZIEST, WILDEST, THRASHINGEST, MOST UNFORGETTABLE "DISASTER" YOU HAVE HAD WITH A BIG FISH? I KNOW THOSE TALES ARE OUT THERE, SO LET'S HAVE EM!

[Guest]

I had a big pike next to the boat this past July up on LOW. I was casting the shallows for smallies when I stumbled up a monster pike sun bathing on a rock. Got it next to the boat just long enough to see that it was probably the biggest fish I've eve had on my line. A quick dart under the boat and it was history. I was only using a medium light rod with 6 pound test casting shad raps. My uncle and I guessed it would have gone somewhere in the upper 20's for weight. Big big fish. Couldn't help but laugh when it was all done because the next cast I hooked into a soild 4 pound smally. Just adds to the stories.

The way I look at it, by the time I tell my grandchildren the story 50 years from now, the pike will be atleast 50 pounds and 6 feet long when I tell it.

Good Fishin,
Matt

[Scoot]

Below is a post I put in the openwater forum this summer.

I fished with my mother last night. She's an incredibly good fisherman, having caught more ten pound walleyes than 90-some percent of the fishermen on this site (about a dozen, believe it or not). However, she's never caught a muskie and would really like to. She's in her mid-50's so if she's going to do it, she better get crackin'!
We fished for about an hour and a half when I got bit hard- whammo! I planted the hooks into a big sklunge and the fight was on. I was extremely excited, already seeing, in my mind, my mom holding the fish I caught for a couple of pictures- it was the makings for an awesome memory (or so I thought). I fought the fish valiantly for quite a while. I got a good look at it several times- a 47 or 48 incher. Yeehaa! This was my biggest muskie by about six inches!
When the fish was ready I tried to work it towards the net- easy, easy... Then, as it just started to enter the net it darted sideways planting the bucktail's hooks in the netting. Wham, bam, hooks out of fish ma'am! I made a fruitless effort to get it by the gill plate before it nonchalauntly flipped it's tail and coasted off, no worse for the wear.
I almost puked! I looked at my mom and she had a couple of tears rolling down her cheeks. I felt horrible I couldn't get a picture of her with the fish, she felt horrible I lost my fish. Uuuuggh! From wonderful memory and picture to no picture and nightmarish memory in half a second!!!
**** fish.
Scoot

[fisherdog19]

My partner and I were fishing the Al Skaar Memorial Muskies Inc. tourney last year and about 5pm, my partner hooked into a nice fish. He played it for a while and we were just getting ready to net it and the fish surge into the net pushing it into my double bucktail hanging off the front of the boat. Well I didn't want to break my rod so I held it over the boat for a little and the net broke and the fish fell through. My jaw almost hit the floor of the boat when my partner yelled, "I still have it hooked" so we threaded the rod through the hole in the net and I proceeded to untangle the bucktail from the net and we quickly netted the tired fish, and CPR'd it. It ended up being 46" and winning us the tournament and was my partners first muskie ever. And to think we almost lost the fish and the tournament. To top it off, my wedding ring flew off my finger when I shook the water off my hands and sunk to the bottom of the lake.

Fisherdog

[can it be luck?]

WOW,WOW, and WOW, Talk about good and bad luck all in one day! Quite the story fisher dog! Explain that one to the wife. Scoot, if that happened to me, I think I would vomit! Good stories.

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[looperhunter]

heres one that will make you puke.
Two years ago we were fishing 2 hours north of souix lookout by float plane. The first 2 days of the trip we went after walleyes and after 2 days everyone had caught well over 200 a piece so on the third day we decided to cast shorelines for pike. We had caught numerous pike though the morning, and i had become a custom to sliding one hand to paralize the fish and the other to remove the trebbles. After 40 fish or so this becomes a fairly quick and effevtive way of getting the fish back into the water. The i hooked into about a 6 lb pike, brought it into the side of the boat (still in the water) (we don't like to net to many of these fish becasue of the damage that they do to themselves and also its no fun untangling a rapla and a net that has been thrashed and spun in.) So as i went to parlaize it when the fish did a nasty head shake. When this happend the back trebble buried right into the inside bend of my thumb, and if that wasn't bad enough, the fish was still in the water trashing and trying to get away with the front treble in its mouth, very painful. So i hollared at my buddie who quickely got the fish in and we clipped the treble of and released the fish. The only other problem is that i have 2 days of fishing yet, no hospital within 200 miles and there a treble thats buried up to the bend in my thumb. So i felt around with the hook to make sure that it wasn't hitting and nerves and decided to go get a second opinion from another boat with some friends. I i went up to the boat i showed them my thumb and asked if they had any ideas. One of my friends told me about this slick way to get it out with some fishing line, pressure and pulling. I decided to do so that as he sounded like he knew what he was doing. Turns out he didn't know what he was doing as he broke the line twice trying to remove it. I am now in even more pain as the hole continues to grow in my thumb becasue of the 2 failed attempts to pull it out. So then i decided to make a trip back to camp, with all the buddies and take about 10 minetues worth of hard core jack daniels shots. After doing this i had enough courage to take a fillet knife and slit my thumb where the barb of the hook was (so it wouldn't rip a chunk out) this stung to say the least! Then my buddy who has a very week stomach said that we should go to try to get some help, i looked at him, took the needle nose and rip, pulled that hook right out. He imediatly started to puke, which i found very funny. Within in 30 minetues i was also puking, to much jack, but within 4 hours i was back and fishing with some duct tape as a bandage. yep thats a memory that will stay with us for a while!

[can it be luck?]

Looper, I feel your pain! Ouch! I posted a similar story a few pages back in the equipment section, "fish gloves". Stranded on an island 4 miles from shore, at the start of a trip. What do you do? Same thing as you did! Made your buddy puke, that's funny!

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[This message has been edited by can it be luck? (edited 10-01-2003).]

[EBass]

These are some great stories. I have a couple, but it doesn't seem as exciting as the ones above.

Lake Rebecca, I caught about a 38" ski and we don't have a net. We were bass fishing with plastic worms. Any who. Get the fish to the boat. My buddy goes down to grab it below the jaw, (you know slide your hand under the gill plate) Well he grabs it brings it in the boat and takes out the hook. The fish didn't like that and shook. (most of the time buddy has this thing about dropping big fish, a curse I guess) he didn't drop it in the boat, and managed to hold on to it. As this fish is thrashing in his hand he screams. The fish settles and he puts it back in the water. Looks at his hand and it's bleeding pretty bad. Now the hook didn't do this. Look at the fish's face. BIG OL SNAGGLE TOOTH sticking out @ a 90 degree angle. So that buried in his palm or thumb and cut a nice gash in him.

Well he has a weak stomach and semi fainted. That was the end of that trip. We caught 3 skis in 20 mins from the same spot. While fishing for bass and never caught a bass that night.

That same guy had another issue. Fishing with three people in a 15' boat isn't wise especially when everyones casting. Well you guessed. The guy in the middle (not me) hooked a spinner bait in his eye brow. Dropped him like a (insert witty remark here)This wasn't coming out. The barb was buried deep and next to his eye. So he ducted tape his head up and went to the Hospital.

I guess all the nurses were in shock when they saw him, and the doc had a hell of a time getting/cutting it out. He hasn't had three people in his boat ever since. LOL

[can it be luck?]

I can see it! That's the kind of thing you'll never forget! Ahhh, fishing memories... I'm surprised the nurses were shocked. The way people have thier faces pierced nowadays.....It looks like they're already wearing a "tackle box"! Say, now there's an idea...Save money and space, just hang the lures from thier piercings....Untill they get snapped in the face with a branch from thier inconsiderate friend in the "point" position and "lose" a few of thier lures! Or wipe your nose with thier sleeve on a cold morning, ouch!.....It's been a looong day at work, as you can tell.

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