Sunday, November 6, 2016

10,001 Casts Finally Pay Off

Fishing Time:  7:30 to 3:00 PM
Weather:  Mostly sunny, slight breeze, T-50s
Moon Phase:  39% Moon
Location:  Pineview Reservoir
Water Temp:  54 degrees
Best Bait:  Perch imitating Lures
Who Went:  Bobber John, Dunc
The weather this fall has been unbelievably dry and warm.  Most days you can’t find a cloud in the sky and the day time temps are reaching the upper 60’s.  It’s not good for our current drought situation, but it makes for some comfortable fall fishing.  Bobber John and I took advantage and hauled the boat up to the land of muskies at Pineview Reservoir.  Reports have been good for crappie suspended in the narrows, and where there are crappie, there are muskies nearby. 
We were the first boat on the water and the lake was glass and covered with fog.  We made our way to the narrows and as soon as the boat came to a stop the fish finder began to show the treasures below.  Crappie were suspended everywhere just above the bottom in 50 ft of water.  We decided to give it a go for a bit and quickly started catching some 8-10 inch crappie and a few decent sized perch.  It wasn’t on fire, but it was consistent.  Soon the pan fish brigade showed up in numbers and we decided to move on from the crowds and search for some toothier critters. 

We focused on underwater points where the lake contours would jump up to about 20-30 feet and then drop back down to 50 ft.  We would drift across the points running perch imitating lures right across the tops of the ridges.  If your lure ticked the top of the ridge as you drifted by then you were in the right zone.  The fish finder proved this to be true as most ridges held fish on top that we felt were tiger musky.

Muskies are called the fish of 10,000 casts, and I know because I think I’ve made about that many casts since I last caught one, but today the fishing gods decided to shine some light on me.  We were crossing over a ridge in 30 ft of water and I felt the tick of my lure touching the bottom just as we made our way across the ridge into deeper water, and then my rod went bendo.  I laid back with a good hook set and it was musky on!  The fish came to the surface for some aerial acrobatics, but then quickly went back underwater.  Muskie don’t usually put up long fights, but they are ferocious to the bitter end.  Bobber did an excellent net job and we had our first musky of the day taping out at 40-inches.
After the celebration we went right back to it, continuing to focus on underwater points.  We were seeing musky on the fish finder every time we hit the crest of these ridges in 20-30 ft of water, and on the second ridge we passed it was Bobbers turn to hook up.  He fought the heavy fish for about 10 seconds before his line went limp and the fish was gone along with his leader.  Bobber was heartbroken to say the least.  You just don’t get many chances to catch these awesome fish, however, it gave us a lot of confidence in our technique and we started down the bank of underwater ridges once again. 

We made a few more passes over each ridge with no bites, but on our last pass on the last ridge in 24 ft of water just as we passed the crest of the ridge and started heading to deeper water, my rod slowly doubled over.  I told Bobber that I was snagged, but I set the hook anyway.  Again I confirmed to Bobber that I had a snag and started to pull upwards to set it free, but the rod started bouncing!  Sure enough I had another musky on.  This musky did not come to the surface, but instead went to the bottom peeling line off my reel.  I told Bobber this could be the big one.  It was the hardest fighting musky I’ve caught to date, but ended up being just another nice musky at 38 inches long with a bit more girth than the previous one I had caught.  Either way I was ecstatic!

I’ve never caught two musky of that caliber in one day, so I was totally stoked.  No better way to start your work week on Monday with the memory fresh on your mind of two monster musky landed the day before.  Needless to say, Bobber and I both have a major case of musky fever!  

1 comment:

The Duncan's 365 said...

Musky hunter at his best!!! Proud to say that the best tier of this blog, is my husband. Love you!! ❤️