top ten most memorable muskie tales

[b1gf1sh1]

everybody's got stories about memorable muskie battles and i figured i'd start this with one of mine. i'd rate this as maybe third most satisfying in my muskie battles. feel free to post yours.

out at the end of april in '03 i was fishing an area in a local river off a sidewalk that was underwater with barriers and chains along it. i was doing pretty good with the white bass and too good with the sheepies useing a small 1 1/2 - 2'' storm rippin' shad. my line stops so i yank back and immediately out jumps a nice muskie and then it takes off for the current going to my right so i pump my rod tip a few times in hopes it will stop, luckily it did. i'm up to my waist and if i go twenty feet left or right the walk slants down and the water goes over the head, and it's freezing cold. anyway it starts heading toward the barriers on my right and i hold my pole out as far out as i can and apply as much tension as my 8 lb test allowed. just before it got to the chains and posts it turned away and gave another short run. then it reached a wall and turned left back toward the main river.

at this point i was happy because i'm thinking if it got inside there it was gone and with hooks in it's mouth. then the darn thing does a complete half moon and goes inside the barriers on my left. around and inside at least two. so i open up my drag almost completely, just enough to pick up line, and started slowly walking into deeper water toward it. i got to the first pillar and dunked my rod under the chain, i was in chest deep water, and walked out to the second one and put it under the water and as i did water came in my waders. then i start walking out a little more, as i was walking out my line was going out some, and find i'm around another. i do the same thing as before and then i'm around another. now i'm at the very tip top of my waders and still going deeper. so naturally i walked out more and i was at my neck. i had to completely submerge to get it around the next chain... three times. then i pull up on the rod and finally i find out it's still on. as i'm pulling up a little harder it launches and does a beautiful spinning thrashing tail walk and lands with a big splash. i get in shallower water and it comes in gracefully this time. i grabbed the lure by the hook gave it a twist and waved good-bye. then i noticed the crowd behind me....that must have been a sight.

[bronzeback]

I have a story about my biggest fish, it's not quite as epic as yours, but it was my favorite fish so far in my fairly limited career.

It happened earlier this summer, two friends of mine and I went out on the Mississippi River for a full day of fishing. We launched south of Brainerd and fished there for a few hours. I had a decent fish follow, so we kept on our float then went back up to it a little bit later and the second time was the charm. The fish bit and got hooks and i had him on for a while up until he got closer to the boat and threatned to jump. I lowered the rod tip and *POP* the hooks came out. Needless to say I was depressed. It was one of those moments that made me want to take about a 20 minute break, so that's what I did. We packed up a few minutes after that, put my boat on the trailer and drove north to another spot on the river.

We fished there for quite some time and later in the evening we had to make a choice of continuing downstream or making a long run up river to another spot. Do or die time came and we decided to run up river. We got to the spot and I clipped on a squirrely bert jerkbait, non-weighted edition. I worked it like a top water all night, practically like a bass bait(reminiscent of a skitter prop with the bubble trail behind every pull.) After about 15 minutes of throwing this bait, on a fairly long cast I see some strange movement around my bait after one of my pulls. All I can say to my two friends in the boat is "Uhhhhhh...."

So I pull the bait again and it's just like in Jaws, this fish's dorsal fin came clear out of the water and the fish nudges the bait. I let it sit for a second and I pull it one more time. this time the area around the bait boils, i see the fish completely, and he bites the bait. I feel him on the end of the line so I set the hook and exclaim "OH $@%$ I GOT HIM" and I proceeded to freak out more and more as the fish ran around my boat in circles and proceeded to pull drag from my reel on it's tightest setting. slow and powerful, amazing feeling. This entire time my 2 friends are struggling getting the net out and it was the most hectic minute or two of my life. Actually may have been shorter than that, the fish was terribly green when i got him into the boat for some pictures.

Best day of my fishing career easily. I forgot entirely about losing that nice fish earlier in the same day, and it helped that the fish I ended up catching dwarfed the one i lost earlier in the day.

[b1gf1sh1]

Quote:

*POP* the hooks came out. Needless to say I was depressed. It was one of those moments that made me want to take about a 20 minute break, so that's what I did. We packed up a few minutes after that, put my boat on the trailer and drove

way to stick to your guns. your a true muskie fisherman. i've said for years now '' muskie fishermen (persons) have a great sense of humor, because if we don't, we aint muskie fishermen (persons) very long.'' ... BTW... gotta love that pause. thanks man good story and plenty ''epicish'' IMO.

[Crestliner Rog]

This summer I bagged my third and biggest Muskie. I had been on a long and painful dry spell having lost my last six big fish in a row. I decided to go out for a late morning run on a metro lake, after renting cabins for three weeks over the last several months on Lake Vermillion and in Hakensack my expectations were low. Just investing some TOW. I was working a number of lures along a long point , picking up weeds on every cast. Another boat pulled up behind me and two guys started casting Cow-G's over the water I had just worked. I proceeded around the tip of the point and was nearly back to the shoreline when I noticed a flash behind me. The flash was from a camera in the boat behind me. Yup you got it, the guys behind me bagged a musky. They must have caught it near the tip of the point. I got to admit I was at an all time Musky low. As I mantioned I am on the low end of the learning curve, what I took from it was I was in the right place at the right time. I switched over to a Cow-G and continued on to the next point. My plan was to copycat my fellow anglers and try and score for myself. I made it to the inside corner of the next point when all heck broke loose. She hit on the figure eight about 14" from the tip of my rod, while I was looking over my sholder at the Sonar/GPS. Believe me she got my full attention. Since I was fishing by myself, I moved to the back of my boat to grab the net. This was the point where I learned the valuable lesson of keeping a clean boat, it's hard to net a fish one handed with two nets and three rods in a tangle. I followed up with tangling the net with one of those zig-zag cleats. Ok the net's free and in the water, where's the fish? That was the point I realized the trolling moter in the bow of the boat was still on. By this time the fish was well behind the boat. I kept thinking I was going to make it "seven lost fish in a row". But this is where I got a little luck coming my way. As it turned out the trolling motor was pulling me in a circle. I swung the net over to the other side of the boat , caught it in another cleat and the marine band radio antena and ... netted the fish. She measured 45". Got a photo & then she went back in the water for the next guy.

The dry spell was broken. I'm on my way again...

[pinkfloyd4ever]

That's an awesome story dude, all that was missing was either hooking yourself on a treble while trying to get to the back of the boat and having to reel and net a fish while you have a lure and line wrapped around your feet.

[JRedig]

Another boat pulled up behind me and two guys started casting Cow-G's over the water I had just worked. I proceeded around the tip of the point and was nearly back to the shoreline when I noticed a flash behind me. The flash was from a camera in the boat behind me. Yup you got it, the guys behind me bagged a musky. They must have caught it near the tip of the point.

I'm curious, what makes you think that fish was there when you went through the area?

[Crestliner Rog]

Best I can figure they were about 10 minutes behind me. The fish may not have been there when I went thru but my guess is it was not impressed with my weeded up presentation.