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Posts: 44
| I took one of my friends, Eric, and his son along fishing with me and my two children. My seven year old son, CJ, caught his first musky last year (two actually - one on a sucker and one on a micro dawg that he was casting). I was really hoping that my daughter, Evelyn, would be able to catch her first musky this year. Given that she is not quite 5 years old, I knew that it would probably have to be caught on a sucker. So, there we were fishing as I put out the sucker rods (one down rod and one bobber rod) and asked which kid wanted which rod. After some discussion, CJ got the down rod and Evelyn got the bobber rod.
About 90 minutes into the trip, we just passed a spot when I told my friend that this will be the first year that I didn't pull a fish off of that particular rock (this was my last trip for the year). Just as the boat got past the rock, the bobber rod goes off. I cleared the deck and grabbed the rod and called Evelyn over. I set the drag way down and told her that I would set the hook and then pass the rod to her (I obviously had to help her hold the rod so that neither went in the water). I set the hook, passed the rod to her and just watched in amazement as she struggled to move the fish any closer to the boat (recall that the drag was set lower). After a brief tussle, the fish surfaced and started thrashing. She stopped reeling to look at it. I told her to keep reeling, which she did try to do. However, it wasn't going anywhere. So I helped her point the fish into the net (didn't want to but it was a standstill so something needed to be done before it got off).
Everyone in the boat was excited to be part of that milestone - especially me!. Her brother was a little salty that he picked the "wrong rod", but he was a pretty good sport about it.
I have my top three favorite musky experiences and none of them are my own muskies. My kids fish are my favorite experiences. Don't get me wrong, I like catching fish; however, nothing is as fun as seeing the look in their eyes as they fight a fish that is nearly as big as they are.
Evelyn's first musky was a chunky 41.5 incher, caught on our home water (all of the kids fish were caught on our home water). Now I fully expect her to say, "that's where I caught my musky" every time we pass the spot. After all, that's what CJ says about "his" two spots.
(Evelyns First Musky.jpg)
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 Evelyns First Musky.jpg (368KB - 504 downloads)
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Location: Jane Lew, WV | Awesome write up, and congrats to you and your daughter! |
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Location: Tomahawk,Wis | Congrats to the young lady and the proud dad... |
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Posts: 44
| Thanks! One proud daddy! |
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Location: Walker, MN | So awesome!! |
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Location: NE Ohio | top shelf!!!!!! congrats, thanks for sharing. |
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Location: oswego, il | Memories like that are hard to beat. |
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| Very cool. |
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Location: Ashland WI | Very nice!! She looks like she is making for certain not to touch it....  |
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Location: Seymour, WI | Well done, I've been trying to get my two sons a musky for a couple of yrs now with no luck yet. |
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Posts: 983
| Finprof When you say one down one bobber how far down are you fishing the down rod and water depth? how far under bobber you fishing? |
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Posts: 44
| Thanks everyone!
25homes - I have the down sucker about 5-6 feet down along the side of the boat (usually the opposite side of where I am casting so as to not have it in the way). The down sucker is there to entice any followers that don't commit to the lure that I'm casting. If I am running two down rods while casting, I will run the other down a little deeper (8 - 10 feet, which is usually about 1/3 to 1/2 way to the bottom). However, I rarely run two down suckers. The bobber sucker runs about 4-6 feet below the bobber (maybe a little deeper if I am fishing deep water or clear water) and I let that out about 25 feet behind the boat. Gives lazy followers and other cruising fish another chance to grab a meal.
I fish flowages a lot, so I would not shy away from running a little deeper if you are fishing clear water. |
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Posts: 44
| Huge thanks to Steve and the rest of Muskie First for putting Evelyn's musky picture on the home page. I can't wait to show her tomorrow morning when she wakes up.
Thanks again!
Cliff |
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Location: Minnesota. | Wonderful indeed!
That boyfriend she gets in another 12-15 yrs, yeah, he'd better fish! :)) |
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Posts: 983
| fin_prof - 10/26/2016 8:06 PM
Thanks everyone!
25homes - I have the down sucker about 5-6 feet down along the side of the boat (usually the opposite side of where I am casting so as to not have it in the way). The down sucker is there to entice any followers that don't commit to the lure that I'm casting. If I am running two down rods while casting, I will run the other down a little deeper (8 - 10 feet, which is usually about 1/3 to 1/2 way to the bottom). However, I rarely run two down suckers. The bobber sucker runs about 4-6 feet below the bobber (maybe a little deeper if I am fishing deep water or clear water) and I let that out about 25 feet behind the boat. Gives lazy followers and other cruising fish another chance to grab a meal.
I fish flowages a lot, so I would not shy away from running a little deeper if you are fishing clear water.
Thanks I run the down one the same oppisite side of the boat for followers just never ran bobber way your talking but gonna give it a shot.. Im fishing current as well river fishing....I just didnt realize u that deep under bobber have read lots of ppl only fishing 2 ft under bobber or less...too me seems like they might see bobber plus ive heard musky will feel resistance of bobber and drop bait but dont know if that true doesnt seem so though from your experience..
thanks for the help |
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| AWWWWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEESOOOOOOMMMMEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Posts: 44
| I've tried a lot of different ways. I never had anyone show me what to do so I just tried it at various depths until I found what works for me. I really like to give the sucker a bit of a leash to try to work around. To each his own though. |
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Posts: 44
| Jeremy - 10/27/2016 12:14 PM
Wonderful indeed!
That boyfriend she gets in another 12-15 yrs, yeah, he'd better fish! :))
And he better treat her right. Or else... |
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Posts: 105
Location: Florida | Nice Muskie! |
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Posts: 44
| Thanks Everyone. She saw the picture on MuskieFirst quite a few times. It made her smile every time. I am so proud of her for taking an interest in fishing and then listening so well during that battle. I would not have done as well as her when I was a 4 year old. |
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