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| I am offering two bucktails, a Violent Strike Magnum spinnerbait, and a topwater bait ( a custom built Dog Turd) to the member that posts the best actually true story about their FIRST muskie! Must be 25 lines of text or less, so condense!!
Spongebob, where are you?? I got the prizes, if you got the time...[:bigsmile:] The contest ends on July 30. I will be condensing ALL the stories on a special page for later viewing by all. Look for it after the contest, it will be titled MuskieFIRST-- First Muskie | |
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| Finnaly a chance to get my hands on the famous "Dog Turd" and I cant be apart of the contest. I guess my best chance is to see if the neighborhood dog left me one in the backyard. [:bigsmile:]
Jason Smith | |
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| How`s this form an opening experience....we went to North Twin every June when I was a kid. As soon as we got out of school, my dad,uncle and 3 brothers would head up north. Of course dad and uncle Harry were in it for the walleyes and the 3 amigos were just tag alongs....or some punishment that the wives doled out. You know the routine..."You can go, but you`re taking those three brats with you."
Anyway, back to the fish. My 2 brothers and I were out on the dock casting stuff out of dads tackle box. My one brother actually caught a nice smallie, but I wasn`t having any luck so I tied on a yellow maribou jig and spent some time trying to snag a beer can laying on the bottom in front of the dock.
Well, I guess the undulating motion was too much for the muskie living under the pier to take because he came out and slammed the jig! After lots of screaming and yelling and barking orders we managed to get it in a net. I think everybody on the lake knew I caught that fish. Well it didn`t make the size limit and we had to let it go. But I spent the rest of the week walking up and down the pier vertical jigging. Beav | |
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| This is a test,I just typed for an hour a good/true story and hit submit and it was gone?Poop![:0] | |
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| Ahhh yes, I remember it as if it were only a year and a half ago...
In late summer of ''99, my brother and I were just learning the ways of the PIKE. He happened to catch a musky (50"er, no less) while fishing with his 1/4 oz. spinnerbait- we hardly knew it was even possible to catch one of those things here in Michigan, but after seeing pictures of that fish (I wasn''t there) I contracted serious Musky Fever w/o even ever having one on my line or seeing one caught. A big reason for that is I began reading the MuskyHunter and MuskieCentral boards, and my interest grew and grew by reading all of you guys'' posts.
Soon we headed off to a lake long stocked with muskies and tried our hand. We casted for a while, then decided to try trolling. After a while my bass rod bent as if I had snagged a bunch of weeds, and I began to try and retrieve it. There was one flinch- just a tiny twitch in the rod tip which I thought was odd, but continued to crank in this huge dead weight. Not until boatside did the snag show itself from the murky water- at arms reach was by far the biggest fish I had ever tangled with. "Its a musky!" I yelled in what might be described as terror- I froze in shock and a different kind of ''Musky Fever'' (like buck fever) and stared as the fish slowly peeled off line for about 15 yds easy as could be. It then launched straight up and threw the lure back at me. It is still the most bizarre musky encounter I have ever heard of as it played possum for 30 yds. being dragged to the boat. Well, that image of the mid 40" fish at boatside and flying through the air put me waaay over the edge, maybe even especially because I lost it.
I did catch my first musky later that fall, after a fair amount of misses and dues paying. The moment it met the net is one of the top thrills in my life, and always will be!
***Late edit- FORGET IT! I CANNOT COMPETE WITH TODDHOSS!!!![:bigsmile:] | |
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| The scene is Bone Lake.... 1989.... overcast with choppy water.... My brother and I have been fishing all the typical spots with all the standard lures, but no Luck (ban pun, I know!).... So now I'm tossing this jitterbug, which has no chance in heck of being noticed by anything, and something hits the lure.... I rear back and set the hook... I'm standing on the very front seat of the boat.... And my brother rushes toward me with net in hand.... The next thing I recall is feeling like Jacques Cousteau... I'm floating upside down in the water, like one of those divers who've just entered the water.... Years of swimming lessons in ice-cube-like water have trained me well... I instinctively swim toward the light... And break the surface like a porpoise.... I thrust the pole upward, into my brother's hands, grab ahold of the Lund, and swing my legs on board.... He hands me the pole, and the fish is still hooked! I frantically reel in the slack, and we net and release a beautifully marked 36 incher.... A true baptism, indeed, into the world of muskie fishing![:)] | |
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| My first muskie came from pigeon lake, canada. After fishing in PA for about 2yrs for nothing but muskies, and never even seeing one, I decided to take the money that I had saved by working two jobs through college and go to canada for a week. I couldn't find anyone willing to spend the cash to go with me, so I finally talked my cousin from Tennessee who I barely knew into going. We fished for 4 days straight all day long, hardly leaving the boat, and it figures he got the first fish. After that, he had enough of muskie fishing, (he wasn't much of a fisherman to begin with), so I was fishing the 5th day by myself in the boat. We saw probably 30 fish that week, nothing but follows. I decided to try some trolling, and was trolling a weed edge with a magnum spinnerbait, when the weed edge jutted out, and I didn't want to run the boat through it. So I hit the gas on the boat, and cut the wheel to the right, and I think it gave the lure extra action that made my first muskie strike. ( a 43"er). The fish proceeded to pull drag for about 40 ft, turned and swam straight at me. As he went past the boat, I yanked and he came out of the water, and then I successfuly landed the fish by myself, got a picture, (as I let the fish go), and realized that a garcia 5500 didn't have enough backbone, so bought a new reel, and that was the only fish I caught on that trip. I'm still a little proud that I was able to release my first muskie by myself successfuly. | |
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| My partner and I had discovered that muskies lived in the Wolf River during white bass fishing when a very nice muskie had shown us "the speed method to scale a white bass."
A few weeks later we were fishing a back water area of the Wolf River for bass and northerns using an 1/8 oz. beetle spin with a white twistertail. I was using a "buggy-whip" rod, a worn out Zebco reel (no drag) and 6 lb. test line. I was casting up and under walleye rafts tied to shore. The muskie hit within the first foot of the retrieve. The muskie had me totally over matched but with the excellent boat control and about 10 minutes of fighting we boated the 34" beauty.
Four other boats stopped to watch the fight because it was obvious that I had a big fish on. They all went nuts when I released that fish! How times have changed!!
Steve, is my "dogturd" bait going to be an autographed custom model or a standard run of the mill model?
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| Always having been a trout and salmon fisherman (a misspent youth, some might say) it was a completely new learning experience fishing for muskie. Gone was the need for understanding river dynamics, and in was the need for dealing with lake structure and weeds!
My first muskie was caught in a tournament. My cousin invited me to be his partner in a Kawartha lakes muskie derby. I immediately got my hands on every article and book I could find; after all, I think your best piece of tackle is knowledge. We decided to do a days pre-fish so I could both learn the lake and how to muskie fish!
We'd been on the water maybe a couple of hours when my cousin hooks into this nice 48" fish. The derby organizer suggests that we keep it and enter it tomorrow since there is $2000 on the line. We say forget it, we couldn't do that and the rest of the day comes and goes with no more fish.
The derby now comes and we fish relentlessly for two solid days through sleet, snow and high waves; perfect muskie weather as I later learn. Trolling along the southern end of the lake, the anticlimax occurs; I hook into and successfully land my first muskie, a small 34" fish, caught interestingly enough on a salmon lure. It was rather uneventful in the scheme of things, but is one fish that I soon won't forget.
The derby finishes off with a 44" fish literally ripping a rod holder off the side of my boat. I had to grab the rod before it headed south to the bottom of the lake. We saved the rod holder and landed the fish. The winning fish of the derby was 45".
That was my introduction to muskie fishing. By the way, we never have been able to beat that 48" fish on that lake.
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| 1997, Fishing Gilmore lake for nearly 4 hours without so much as a ski seen. Told my partner that I needed to feel something on the other end of my line pull back. Switched to my medium-action baitcaster, 6lb spiderwire, and #5 Mepps with the hopes of giving my soul for even a 15" snake. After about ten minutes of throwing, hooked into and landed what I later found out to be a 47" 25lb beauty of a ski. I'll never forget that fight on such light tackle. | |
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| 4th time- Well don't really know what's going on- tried this three times already.
First Muskie -6/97 Canadian CPR Fly-In w/ 3 other guys- trout lake 5 mi x 1 1/2 mi wide. Lot's of structure , islands etc. We fish w/ different partner every day- I'm only one trying for Muskies- others are after Smallies & Lakers (hate the slime & teeth)- Here's the story-
3rd day- fishing partner is Jake (WI Rapids) Jake's fishing smallies- toss's a #11 Black & Gold Rapala up next to shore on small point (12" water)- ~5 sec after the Rapala hits, water explodes- snap! no lure/fish. Jake is bummed -his last Rapala- being a brother fisherman I give him one of mine ( Oh ya BTW:he's lost 5 B&G Rapala's previous 2 days- same scenario- Muskies are eating them like candy) We continue down the lake fishing- headed back to cabin 1 1/2 hours later passing same point- I say I want to try for a Muskie on this spot- Jake says no way, he's not risking losing his (my)Rapala cause he still has evening & another full day of fishing. I look over in small bay & see two muskies laying on the bottom, side by side in about 9-10' of water. Toss my #14 Husky Jerk way past them & Jerk it hard down to their level, then small twitches right past the biggest fish's nose- she nails it- "fish-on"- Hand land fat 38" female-post spawn. Two pic's & start unhooking her & see another set of hooks deeper in her mouth- it's Jake's BG Rapala lodged crossways in back of her mouth- & she cooperates- put her in the water she splashes me as a thank you. Mean while Jake's been lounging, smoking cigarettes, enjoying the day & not paying attention to me unhooking the fish. But he's still whining about lure stealing slime & teeth. I pick up the Rapala & reach out to him & say "here" . He looks at me dumbfounded- "what am I supposed to with that?" I say "it's your's"!- Then I explain it to him.[:halo:]
That's the story- What are the odds- on a lake that size? not as funny as falling in the lake but still for my first Muskie- I'll never forget her. Amazed that she hit with Jake's lure in her mouth like it was- I don't know if she could have thrown it. Definitely would have been a problem for her feeding. Coolest part was the look on his face. I'm going back end of July- Wonder how big she is now (4 yrs later)- fish-on! wahoooo!!!!
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| It was my favorite body of water.....yep, the Chippewa Flowage. The year was 1993 and my ex-wife's parents (let's not get into that) invited us up for a week vacation in late July. My total knowledge of musky was they are big, ugly and the ultimate predator...knew absolutely zilch about catching the beasts but wanted to do so badly. I did a little reading and loaded up with 30 lbs. dacron and bought the world's ugliest musky lure when we arrived at the resort (did they see a sucker coming, or what). I spent two days by myself fishing in probably all the wrong places. My only return was after I stuck the unusually ugly surface lure in some cattails...just as I pulled it free a monster muskie jumped up in attempt to grab it from the spot I had just liberated the lure from--just my luck. Scared the snot out of me. The third morning I said smoke this muskie crap, they are too hard to catch. So I went walleye fishing. Took off with my 7' light action rod, 6 lbs test, and a 1/4 oz jighead tailed with half a nitecrawler. Found some rocks off a nice little island and about my third cast hooked into something very nice. I'm thinking, "Yeah, monster walleye!" About this time a 32" tiger musky clears the water and laughs at me. The jig is completely gone, the line is grating over his teeth, and I have neither a landing net nor any experience with this type of critter. I play him up to the side of my lovely rental boat and can't figure out what to do with him. So, not being about to come up with anything earth shattering, I reached across his head just into the gill covers and flop him into the boat! "Woohoo!!" I was so stoked. But as soon as I realized the hook was just deep in the roof of his mouth and came out easily I wasn't sure what to do. It was one of the largest freshwater creatures I had ever caught at the time. Just then someone fishing close by motored up and asked if I wanted a picture (like an idiot I took no camera). He snapped a quick polaroid for me and I decided right then I would let the fish go (didn't know much about the CPR eithic at then...not for a fish like this anyway). I set him down in the water, worked him back and forth for a couple of minutes and off he went...I felt great. It was nice to have the pic, though, since no one else caught much of anything that day...it helped the old ego. I have a nice replica of the creature on my wall.
BrianW
PS: The fish gods must have like the release cause I caught a 10 lbs. walleye the next day! | |
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| I want one of those turds.
It was 1973 and I was a nine year old blond haired fishing fool. Growing up on Plum Lake, I can remember fishing for muskies with my dad since I was six or seven. I use to throw a lot of top water with him because it seems the back lashes were many and the lure wouldn't get tangled in the weeds. The day was actually June the 10th and as any young fishing fool I was casting a bucktail, actually a prototype bucktail that Tony Rizzo had given my dad, with my green Johnson Century reel off our dock. How many times have I casted off the dock to pass time or try something new, when the monster hit. The screaming could be heard I'm sure for miles as the "get the net" statement kept comming out of my mouth. Finally a guest staying at my parents cabin came running down to see what all the comotion was. I'm sure you all can imagine how a nine year old thinks with a big fish on the line. I'm sure you can imagine my proper fish fighting techniqe, don't real when the fish is pulling drag, keep your rod tip up, don't get the fish excited, and the aireal acrobatics of trying to pull the fish along the dock in two feet of water. I'm sure these thoughts were all going through my mind that day. This would have won me $10,000 if it was on video. Needless to say, the man with the net some how managed to get the fish in the net safely. Now I have the fish there is no way in hell this thing is going back. This is a monster, biggest thing I have ever seen. The fish was 40 1/2" and it didn't go back. The guest who was staying at the resort said that he would like to try to mount a fish sometime. He had mounted animals and would like to give it a try. The next year, a long year, the man brought the fish and gave it to me. Something was wrong, I have nerver seen a musky look like this before. What color green is that? Aren't the gills suppose to be open. To this day that fish still hangs in in my former bedroom on Plum lake. As ugly as it is it's still kind of neat to see, and I still have that buck tail. | |
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| Lets see...
1993, borrowed boat - Pewaukee Lake - Poe''s Awaker - 35 1/2" - released.
Certainly couldn''t come up with most original so I went for shortest.
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| I was 16 (26 years ago...ugh) and was on Big Sand with my Dad and uncles walleye fishing. The old boy's were in the cabin mid day and I grabbed my Dad's old Zebco 888 and his one and only black bucktail and took the cabin boat out front in a close weedbed. Fifteen minutes later I landed a 36"er by myself. With regrets now, I brought the fish back in and carried it in the bedroom where Dad and my one uncle were napping after a hard poker game and tickled Dad's nose with the tail and you should have seen that place light up!!! An abbreviated musky fever started that day...abbreviated you ask...unfortuntely I couldn't get interest from others to musky fish, so I was stuck with my short moment of glory for numerous years. About 7 or 8 years ago I finally coaxed a buddy or two to start up again, and I have never looked back!!
(Note: this was the only musky I ever boinked) | |
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| 2 times i wrote a post to this , fine i will keep this story to myself. sure this gets in | |
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| Hi,
This isn't my first musky story, but I had a lot to do withmy friend's first musky. So, if the story wins, I will give him the lures when I see him next(He doesn't have a computer).
I was in Canada and it was the last evening of fishing and I wanted someone to come to the musky lake that you must portage to. Well, I talked Nick into it. He has never fished for musky and has never used a baitcaster. At the musky lake, I demonstrate how to cast and how to figure-eight a lure. I then gave him a Topper Stopper for his first cast. In case he got a backlash, I didn't want his lure to sink. He responded, "I'm supposed to catch fish with this?" I said yes and so he went and made his first cast. He had good distance and no backlash, so I went to picking out my lure. While I was picking my lure out, he was figure-8ing and then I heard a splash. I couldn't believe it. First cast ever for musky and with a baitcasting rod and he catches a musky. The fight was short and the fish I think was 28inches. But he was happy and was his biggest fish.[:bigsmile:] So after a quick photo, he let her go.
Kris | |
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| Since my first muskie was caught many years ago on a jig and leech during the walleye opener, and didn''t really even put up much of a fight I thought I''d share a first that I was present at.
September, 1996. A muskie fishing friend and I had convinced 2 other friends, who were not muskie guys to do a 3-day weekend trip to Cass Lake, MN. We promised them they could borrow baits and rods/reels from us for the weekend. The first day was a bright and shiny day with a slight SE wind. With both boats drifting along a weedbed we were describing tacticts to the 2 newbies in the other boat. I told Brant-newbie #1, that he should cast to the reeds and reel as fast as he could, "burn" the bucktail back to the boat. He was skeptical, and threw his white ''tail towards the weeds and reeled it back, somewhat faster than you would if bass fishing. I told him, "no...reel it AS FAST AS YOU CAN"! He plunged the rod tip into the water inbetween the two boats and jerked the rod forward at about 800 f.p.s. "This fast"? he said making an attempt at being a smart a**. Just as he neared the front of the boat with the rod tip moving at warp speed and was about to take the bucktail out of the water a 22" spotted-strain rocket came out from under the boat and whacked the bucktail. A short fight ensued, and we photographed his first muskie. After he released it I told him, "yeah, that was exactly the speed you need to retrieve that bucktail". EJ | |
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| Hey man, my first post got deleted!LOLx100....Lets' see.... about 1975 or so...summer. Using a small red/white jitterbug for bass on a small point w/ weeds late afternoon. About 3 casts + and thought I saw something but nothing.... 4th cast or so I let it sit.... as soon as the bait moved the water exploded + weeds went everywhere! When I realized what it was, I lowered the rod + slammed back as hard as I could. Needless to say the slack line parted company w/ the fish/lure + I fell back at least 4 ft. I couldn't tell how big it was since I had a eye/mouthful of sand and was nigh crossed-eyed from the fall. I did see the backside of it + the fish seemed BIG!*** I well remember the outfit; an Eagle Claw rod/Johnson Century reel.Since this was basically an "encounter" I at this time shall disqualify myself from the bait winning part... I'd just end up giving them away in another contest! [;)] Rik | |
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| Mine was in about 1975 when lake shabonna opened up. I caught two small hybrids on a gold rapala on an ultalite and 4lb. test. One almost broke that rod the next year when it grabbed a spinnerbait and went under the boat. I had a baitcaster the next time out. Did not see another fish. | |
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| First legal muskie came when I was 15 it was 35 inches. Here goes the story: My dad and one of his co-workers took his son and me to Booth Lake, Wi about 25 to 30 miles west of Minocqua and for the first 3 years we always had a bet for first musky (30 inches or larger legal at that time), guess who would always catch the first musky but it was always 28 to 29 1/2 inches. I thought I would never get that legal, until one year on Booth my dad and I were going down a weedline casting and also with suckers, when all of the sudden a 36 incher came out of the water behind the boat almost taking my sucker rod out of the boat, I set the hook feel the fish and then nothing, I start reeling in the line and when I get it to the boat there is a clump of weeds on the hook and also on the hook was a small loop of line around the hook, I start pulling the line in and it started pulling back I finally got the fish in 36 incher and made the other guys pay off the bet and it took some presuading to convice them I actually caught the fish. | |
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| I've been fishing the Juniata River in Central Pennsylvania hard for four summers. This year I made a goal to myself. That goal was to catch a muskie this year. Muskie prowl this river. For too long I had been catching smallmouth after smallmouth. I wanted a taste of something new, something fresh, the great Muskie.
Every three years, the PA Fish & Boat commission places muskie and walleye in my beloved Juniata. But the focus of most people is still the smallmouth. Walleye are getting a following, but still, the muskie is mostly overlooked.
One day last month, my friend Angela and I were fishing below the Warrior's Ridge Hydroelectric Dam. I was using a 4 inch Pumpkin coloured Zoom Lizard rigged Texas style. This is one of my favourite all-around Juniata baits, shhhh, don't tell anyone, not that they'd give up their jitterbugs and tiny torpedoes anyway.
The water was stained more than usual. Usually I steer clear from the Juniata when it's muddied up after a storm. But that day I didn't.
I was fishing the lizard at a faster pace than I usually do. I felt something slam my lure, harder and meaner than a smallmouth or walleye. I caught the muskie in the green, no real fight. I unhooked the 30 inch muskie as I stood there shouting in joy, shaking from excitement. My friend Angela looked at me a little funny, but she knows I'm a crazy fisherman and that I'm only happy when I'm fishing. I gently placed the muskie back in the river and let it swim free. Four years, and finally, I catch my first muskie. Look at me now!!!! I've only fished for bass once since that day. I went and ordered line, rod, reel, and some lures for catching muskie. I bought a spot for my boat on a lake that is home to some monster pike and muskie. My friends think I'm crazy. To them I say, like the bumpersticker says, "Muskie, every thing else is just bait." | |
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| Many,many moons ago we were on vacation in Vilas Co. for our annual smallie fish`in fest!The weather was cool and rainy but we were smok`in the bass but every once inawhile we were seeing this big fish at the end of the rock hump we were fishing on!Later that week I was talking to one of the lake locals and he said that large fish was a Musky and that there was`nt alot of them but a few big-ones!He went on to ask if we minded if he could go out where we were fishing and try for it,I said ya I will show you right where we were seeing it.That next morning dawned rain so we went to Eagle River for some shopping and breakfest and just happened to stop at the sportsshop and talked to the older gentleman working there and low and behold he sold me my first rod/reel,36#dacron,leader,and 3 baits a cisco-kid,buctail and a creek-chub!That same evening we went out and boy did I do some damage,I made alot of birds nests and actually did`nt like the big equipment,but stuck with it and our last night on vacation I caught that rock hump fish it was 45" X 27# on the Kid,got pictures and let her go and the rest is History! [:bigsmile:] Moral of the story is listen to those old guys in those little out of the way places cause they can give you a life-time of memories and fun if you LISTEN!Hooked for life! Jeff | |
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| I am glad that the contest is limited to stories under 25 lines of text! I still have a chance. Steve does the Dog Turd contest prize come with the batteries included? | |
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| Fly-in trip to Canada this year. Day we get there it starts snowing and we can't fly after hanging around outfitters all day and night we finally get on plane in the am. There's ten of us so we need two planes ours leaves about 1/2 after first one. Flying to lake we notice the ceiling is getting lower and lower finally about 30 miles out we can't see so we turn around and go to nearest lake luckily there's there's a resturant it's now 9:30 am and it starts pouring rain. We find out the other plane made it in to the lake but all the rods are on our plane. At 4:30 it finally clears and we we make it to the lake. Mad dash to the cabin rods toghether off we go. My partner and I head off to a shallow reef with some giant boulders. The weather now is perfect cloudy and just enough wind to slowly drift. Start out with a spoon and both catch a couple of small pike. As we come up to one of the boulders I cast beyond it and from out of no where this huge fish comes staight at me and opens his mouth (oh my god i wet my pants) swills at the spoon and misses. next cast he does miss and what a fish on a bass outfit when we finally get it to the boat it measures 42" the largest pike I have ever seen! Now I know it's a first muskie contest but since they don't live in Florida and this fish has got me hankering to muskie fish. LOTW next year here I come. Already buying muskie lures. Think my wife would mind if I tranfered to Minn. to hot in Fla anyway
Chuck | |
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| I will give mine a try. October 18th 1992 I was fishing on Bone Lake in Wisconsin. It was time to take the dock out and we had one sucker left. On a homemade quick strike rig, my fishing buddie and I (both 14 years old) put the sucker out. About 5 minutes later the bait clicker was off. Set the hook and reeled in my first muskie, a 40 incher. First legal, and first muskie. It was nice to have my dad and my buddie and his dad there for that moment that had me hooked. My picture made it in the Muskie Inc magazine later that year. Needless to say I was very happy.
Hitting Deer Lake tomorrow. Should be a good time.
Chip | |
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| My first muskie came to me about a year ago. i was fishing with my cousin on the 4th lake of the Moen Lake Chain in Rhinelander Wisconsin. Well we were out fishing for basically anything that would hit, ususally pike. well we are fishing along a bed of reeds when all of the sudden, i get a hit on my cousins homemade spinnerbait. well actually everything was his but thats beside the point. it didnt take very long to get in the boat, but it was still the thrill of my life just to land one. it only measured up to about 25 inches so we let it go. that was the happiest day of my fishing life![:sun:] | |
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| Okay, this was not my first fish, but friends. He has no computor so I submit for him. Win or lose I think the story is funny, and it is absolutely true.
Mike my friend had never been musky fishing, so he and another friend asked me to take them out. I agreed, feeling that the addiction should be passed on, since its better than second hand smoke. I took them both the Little Green lake, where we anchored on the rock pile near the north shore. I told them where to cast explaining not to cast on top of the rock bar, which of course Mike did and promtly snagged my favorite Mag Rapala. As I attempted to dislodge the lure the rod snapped(not my rod one borrowed from another friend)slamming me in the forehead launching my hat about fifteen feet airbourne and out away from the boat. I fell over in the boat being somewhat senseless, also aquireing a nice gash on the forehead, wonderful scar by the way. As I tried to shake the cobwebs from the self-clubbing, my other friend cut the line to the lure, and retrieved my hat which floated back to the boat. We had suckers over the side being as it was fall by the way. As I was trying to make sense out of what just happened Mike say,"What the hell are those guys doing?" Two older gents had been perch fishing not far from us and were attemtpting to retrieve a lost bobber, that was floating towards my anchored boat. I turned to see an old man with a broken arm at the wheel of their boat, and the other with a net in front dipping for the bobber. Now almost right next to my boat the old man in front says to forget the bobber just back away from that guys boat. The broken armed guy at the wheel hit the wrong lever and yup, throttles into my "anchored" boat. To which the old guy in front says. "Lets get the hell out of here!" And they at top speed leave the area. Not more that ten seconds after that one of the sucker rigs starts hauling for deep water. I have Mike set the hook on the quick strike and sure enough its a nice fish. My other friend is practically wetting himself, Mike freezes in shock he has one. I am screaming at him to keep tension, and reel in. He eventualy lands a forty inch beauty which is photographed and released. This is a short version of what happend, but I will say it all happend in less that fifteen minutes. Oh, we also still have the old guys bobber which is mounted next to the picture of Mikes first muskie. Fisherman, fish, bobber, and scar are all doing fine to this day. | |
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| I took a long journey to get to Buffalo,NY and catch my fist Musky.I'm from the State of Washington and spent most of my younger years fishing King Salmon and Steelhead Trout.Went into the U.S. Marines and traveled and fished the world.Got out of the service in Key West,Fa and went to work as a Shrimp Boat Capt. running to Ceyanne, French Guyana and Georgetown,Guyana on 60 day trips with a 135 ft. freezer boat,trolled for Sailfish too and from.Met a girl from Georgetown ,Guyana who was going to school to be an Optician in Buffalo,NY.I traveled in to Buffalo,NY three days after the Blizard of "77" on the first Greyhound Buss let into the snowed in area, stepped off in hush puppy shoes,smelling like fish guts,wearing a light windbreaker and Jethro Tull shirt.Got married and stayed here in Buffalo.Applied for a job at DuPont Co. and was hired.The day I met my new boss Joe Nemeth the first thing he asked was "Do You Fish?"I went on to tell him about Big Salmon,Big Sailfish and Big Catfish that I have caught.He just looked at me and said,"You ain't caught a fish till you caught a Musky".That same evening I went out with Musky Joe on his boat and caught a nice scraping 42 incher and a couple more over 30 inches trolling modified Pikie Minnow's.Well here it is 24 years later and I still can't catch enough of the Big Toothy Critters! | |
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| OK here goes nothing. I'm 18 now but I caught my first Musky when I was 15. Heres how the story goes. We heard from a local guide in the Hayward area that Sand Lake was a great lake to get a new musky fisherman his first fish. My Dad, Uncle, and I decided to give it a shot. My Dad already boated a 45 and 41 earlier and my Uncle a couple of 39s. I was getting antsy. We hit the water about 6 a.m. and decided to start out on the weedline casting towards the shorelines. My Dad started off throwing I think a Tallywhacker, My Uncle started off throwing, once again I think a Green bladed bootail. I decided that I would start off throwing a Buchertail Mogambo (Orange blade, Black hair and tail. I don't know why I chose it but I did. 10 minutes after we started he hit. I said, "I got one". My Dad said, "Set the hook hard again." I did and after a pretty good fight my Uncle netted it. It was a beautiful 36" Tiger Musky. I was so happy. Now the fun starts to begin. We take a quick measurement and the fish starts to flop. My Dad being the great father he is, puts his hand near the fish so we can get a picture of my fish. As the fish flops my Dad's hand got too close to the fishes mouth and it rips a cut from the top of his pointer finger all the way down to his hand. Blood is everywhere. As were taking pictures a man, yes at about 6:10 a.m., is out in his boxers asks if he can take a picture of the fish because he has a neighbor who claims that there are no muskies on this side of the lake. We release the fish who swims away. The guy who was taking the pictures of the fish is a paramedic. My Dad asked the guy if he could possibly help him with his hand. The guy agrees runs back to his cabin and brings out his pouch. We started to troll towards the guys dock but before we get there he is back out and jumps in the water! My mouthed dropped. He bandaged it all up and we thanked him greatly! All that just for my first musky!!!!! It was well worth it, probably because I didn't get cut!!! | |
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| I caught my first on June 7 2001 after a couple years trying with nothing to show for my effort except follows and some lost fish. It was 25"er caught on a chicka-d and the next day I caught another one that was identical to my first. Hopefully I will catch some more. | |
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3rd times a charm the next post is mine but ann. came up
Paul | |
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This happened when I was 18 , about 20 years ago, after hearing some tales of monstrous fish on the Flambeau chain near Minoqua.I threw the 10 foot jonboat on top of the car,half a dozen baits in a lunchbox (which was all of them)my pole (7 foot spinning rig) life preserver,anchor (12 inch concrete block) and oars in the back seat. After deciding on Big Crawling Stone I was off.Things went well after getting to the lake ,till I put the anchor down in the 1 to 2 foot waves and then got a little worse while pulling it back up. A shoreline visit was needed to remove the excess moisture that acumulated.(relativly easy with a 10 foot jon boat)The trip was moved to Little Crawling Stone for a while. Having no luck there and noticing the wind had quit ,back to the bigger lake I went. 30 minutes with a magnum rapala warranted a bait switch, hmmmm a mudpuppy in perch, BAAMMM. Right choice. Near silver dollar sized eyes ,fish almost half the length of the boat and knees knocking like the engine of my 72 Electra are the memories I''m left with . Priceless. Heres to making more memories. Paul
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| More!! More! Hey, everyone, remember that by clicking on the ''page'' numbers, one can see recent threads that are not on the opening page.
I need more first muskie stories!! If we get to 50 by the end of the month, I will sweeten the pot with a Muskie rod![:(] | |
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| About ten years ago I was fishing for walleye with Fuzz-E grub below one of the dams on the Wisconsin River and I was just about ready to pull it out of the water and I saw a huge mouth with teeth come out of the water after it, scared the hell out of me!! I immediately tossed it out again and the musky hit and I hooked it two more times till it bit off the jig. Frustrated I walked back up to the car to grab a heavier action rod, it took at least ten minutes to get back to the spot, I threw out a shad color Rapala and bammo hooked the same fish on the first cast. A fisherman a ways down saw I had a big fish on and came over to help me gingerly net it since I only had twelve pound line. We landed it and it was 38" I took a picture and released my first musky. | |
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| This happened spring 1992. The first musky I caught I shouldn’t have (or should I’ve?). I was fishing opening weekend on a clear water portion of the lake. I was throwing a 7” perch flavor suick on a wind swept point. On my first cast I had a musky roll on my bait, no follow. On my second cast to the same spot the fish rolled again, no strike. On my retrieve, I was yelling at my wife (then girlfriend) to wake up and throw her bucktail, that we had an active fish. I saw the suick coming in, no fish yet… When the lure was about 10 feet away I saw a musky come flying in (I mean fast!) and then the fish seemed to stop on a dime curled up about 12” from my suick. I froze, I didn’t know what to do, and I just sat there and watched. I had buck fever. My suick slowly started to rise up and away from the musky. The fish then very slowly crept up on the bait, and when it was only and inch away it gently sucked it in. Well, I knew what to do then, I set and the fish went nuts, it was beautiful. My girlfriend grabbed the net and bagged the fish (that’s why I married her). When attempting to release the 37 incher, the shadow of my hand crossed her eyes causing her to violently thrash, consequently setting the hook to the bone on my pointer finger. I then panicked, due to being attached to a P’ed off mauling musky; I grabbed the pliers and ripped the hook out of my finger (now permanently scared, but scars are cool). That’s why we now call the spot “finger point”. We then photographed and released my first, a nice 37 incher. Since then I’ve caught them on figure 8’s, and I’ve also have scared them off with my antics. I was thinking I should give the “buck fever” technique more exercise? | |
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| Sheesh!!!! As many times as I've made a "donkey" of myself I should get a combo!!!![;)] | |
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| Seeing we all are "respected" muskie fishermen who always tell the truth, are we allowed to make up,I mean tell, a second first muskie story? | |
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| First Ski Story
I was about 17 and I went fishing with my football coach on opening weekend in Vilas. We had a single hook sucker rig out the back (I know it was wrong now, so don't get all over my case. This was my first time) a storm was moving in, and we were fishing over a crib right in front of a dock when the clicker started slowly sounding. I had bought the sucker, so I took the rod. I was shaking as we followed the bobber around, waiting for the right time to set, while this whole time a thunder storm is getting closer and closer. The fish circled out deep and then started coming in shallow. Got into about 4.5 feet of water, and circled right under the dock. I looked back at my coach, and he was frantic. I yelled "What do I do???" he gave me one of the best lines ever when he came back with "I think we are going to have to punt!!" Well he knows that I think he was always a little to conservative on the field, so I decided to go for it. Shoes on, wallet in pocket of my jeans, gps strapped to belt, rod in hand, I jumped in. I was not going to be beaten by a muskie. The water was freezing (this was opening weekend), and a lot deeper than I thought it would be. Thunder crashing all around, I dove under the pier, rod in hand, and came up to hear my coach screaming to set the hook, the fish had jumped when I went underwater. Well the fish had circled around the pier, and had wrapped the line around the last post, so I swam out, set the hook while treading water, swam back in to where I could touch, towing this fish and hand landed a beautiful 38". I got some pictures and released her, though she is probably dead now due to the hook in her gullet.
Bob Jonas
[email protected][:0] [:0] | |
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| Come on guys we need 50 I'm dying to find out how you keep dog turds from falling off the hook every time I cast the thing falls off and now my boat smells horrible.[:bigsmile:] | |
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| Well, my first post, so hi to all.
Here's my story: Family has a place on the Winnipeg River. I used to
fish a lot as a kid, never caught any muskie or even tried to. Then
stopped going there during my teen years. But in the mid-90s (in my
late 20s) I started visiting the place again and did some fishing. Had
fun, caught some pike and walleye, saw Bob Mesirkohmer and muskie
paraphanalia at the marina, hit the 'net for muskie info, got the
fever. Had several cisco-kid style muskie baits I'd found washed up on
shore and an old heavy duty spinning rod. Bought some 30 pound
mono, twisted up some wire leaders, and got a beefy spinning reel
to hold it. Went back in mid october of about 1997, objective
muskie. But when I arrived, for some strange reason, I didn't go
muskie fishing. Force of habit and fear of the unknown, I guess,
caused me to set out the first morning with small jig and plastic
hoping to get some walleye for a welcome back feast. Was jigging
over a saddle when bang I had something nice on. 6 # test and no
leader, when I saw it was a pike I was doubtful I'd land it. But I did.
And it was no pike, I realized when it was at the boat. The muskie
gods saw me vacilating and handed me the bait: a 32-35 inch natural
tiger muskie--my first. Well, that was that. Stowed the walleye gear
away, started trolling those cisco kid knockoffs around the lake,
fruitlessly, for several days. (Had to cut the "heavy-duty" spinning rod
from 7 to 5 feet to work those baits.) Then the gods smiled again,
and I nailed a 43, then a 40 and a 41 the next day, all from the same
area. I was there alone...no one to boast to or celebrate with...but I
was hooked. And remain so! Cheers, Alex Moore | |
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| BTW - lot of great tales here, but Bob "Chunky" Jonas wins in my book. [:praise:] | |
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| I caught my first muskie this year while panfishing.ultra-light tackle,nightcrawler,4-lb test.[:0] | |
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| Every summer when I was a kid growing up in Milwaukee I would travel to Chippewa Falls to spend a few weeks with my Aunt. (Mom figured get him out of the city, might do him some good) My cousin and I would walk across town and fish O''neil creek just below the Lienie''s brewery. One day while casting a yellow Beetle Spin I caught my first; a striped(barred) Musky about 17" long, I was amazed at the beuty of the markings of this young fish as it glissened in the sun and am proud to say I knew enough at that time to let it go to grow. I was about 14 years old and from that day on I was "hooked" on Musky fishing. My Aunt would take my cousin and I out of town so we could fish the shores of the Yellow River or Lake Wissota and I would spend as much time as possible casting, it took several years before I would catch my next one. But the dream and desire to someday move north so I could fish Muskies often burned inside me as a youngster and I think helped keep me out of trouble while living in the "big city".
In 1981 three days after graduating high school I packed what little I owned into my car and headed north. Again my Aunt "Ma" was kind enough to take me in for a few months till I could stand on my own feet. "Ma" and I fished together a few times over the years and my desire to chase ol''Esox has never wavered from that day below the Leinie''s brewery.
I can still remember my excitement of telling her,"I caught a Musky" when she came to pick my cousin and I up that day....
One month ago this Thursday "Ma" surrendered to a long time battle with kidney desease. Just wanted to publicly say thanks to a very special person who took the time to take her "kids" fishing.........I miss you deeply.
Mark "Curly" Hintz
Northwoods Musky Adventures
Eau Claire, WI
www.muskyadventures.com
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| Steve-
Let me guess. Somewhere in this website is something that says "all submissions become the sole property of MuskieFIRST" and no liabitilty to MuskieFIRST for reprinting said submissions.
And, I bet the publisher said you''d need at least 50 entries for "True First Muskie Stories - Volume 1" by Steve Worrall. Right???[:bigsmile:]
Your gonna make like a billion dollars, a great deal more than Sponge and I, and all your giving away is a turd and a rod????
PS I already have a turd form one of the LM crew. Tell Rusty I said HI.
Good Luck and Be Safe.
Scott | |
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| Let''s see, my first musky. That would take us back to 1979... and make me a whopping 7 years old. One calm, overcast afternoon I rowed my dad''s 12ft Meyers aluminum boat to the far end of the little 100 acre Oneida County, WI lake our cabin was on. My intent was to pop rapalas along the shoreline weeds for Bass as I worked my way back home. My tackle was running low on Rapalas, as the muskies had bit me off a few too many times already that summer, so I made sure to tie a good knot on my last one. First cast landed strategically in the far back end of an opening in the bullrushes. One pop... two pops... and whooosh. Damn, another muskie easily inhaled my 3" rapala and cut my monofilament line without the slightest tension. VERY upset, I rowed home and explained to DAD that I had lost my last precious rapala and begged for him to give one from his overflowing tacklebox. He gave me a long lecture on how I shouldn''t cast them into trees and lose them.... not believing my story of big muskies biting me off. After enough pleading, whining, and probably even some crying... he gave me a jointed silver and black rapala, along with a 7-Strand leader!
I rowed the boat as fast as I could back to the other end of the lake and excitedly cast it into the same pocket in the rushes. This time, the wire leader prevented the muskie from biting me off!!!! I battled that fish all by myself until it was too exhausted to escape my oversized bass net. I returned home with that 35 inch MUSKY gloating with a smile from ear to ear. That day I earned the repsect from my father as a good fisherman and also became severely infected with the musky bug. The photo of that fish is really neat too... a 3 foot tall boy struggling to lift a 35 incher high enough to get the tail off the dock!!!!
Ohhh, the good ''ol days.
jlong | |
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| Roughly three years ago i suddenly realized that all i cared about anymore where fish with attitudes and teeth. I was going to be home for a weekend so decided to find a lake that was smaller and might produce my first ski. I chose shabonna, being smaller and heavily stocked. It was very early spring and very cold at 7:00 in the morning. I rented a boat and headed off. After first three casts lost my shumway spinner bait in the trees with leader. Down 80 bucks for boat and bait so far after twenty minutes. Started fishing main lake shelfs with no success. cast after cast after cast backlash[:(] cast, and nothing. Lake started to get crowded and people kept cutting me off to the spots that i was drifting into with the wind since i did not want to fuss with the motor[:(] . Decided the hell with it and started to row the boat in the no motor zone against the wind. rowed all the way to the end of the inlet and started casting. Finally, bang a solid strike[:p] , but[:knockout:] snag, dammit. Some very friendly guys however helped me get my lure back out of the wood[:bigsmile:]. Wind changed when i decided to leave the inlet [:(] , had to row all the way out against the wind again. decided to fish only main lake points again with cribs, so that i could use the motor. Pulled up on the third spot and decided to work it hard. the sun came out[:bigsmile:] finally and warmed me up. After the tenth drift i went on the inside of the point, and tried to decide on a lure. Went with the one I almost lost already figuring it was lucky. One cast nothing two casts nothing, one more cast making probably 10003 of the day. almost in and ready to go, [:((] . What the,[:0] whack at boatside[:p]. my first muskie, 34" measured, pictured, and returned immediately. then got my second on the same structure and left[:devil:] . Definetely gave me the fever.[:bigsmile:] | |
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| Moving it to the top lest we forget about the impending deadline....Not going to make a book, am keeping the stories on the site in a specail place where anyone can read them, anytime. Some really good stories here, keep them coming!! | |
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| Eagle River Chain a bunch of years ago. Guide in the back of the boat, walleye pro in the front with a camera.
Mid-November, lightly snowing, slight wind and a great drift in progress when the fish nails my rig. After making sure there's life on the end of the line, I give it all I've got for the hookset when the rod explodes in my hands. One piece shattered and spun off into the water, about four feet of it trailed down the line into the water and I'm holding onto the stump.
There's a lively 47" fish attached and ended up landing it, hand-over-hand. Have the pictures and the scars on my hands to prove it. | |
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| I don't know if this will meet the critera of "First Caught Muskie" but its good none the less. Three years ago my buddy and I decided since there aren't to many big pike arround here we would fish muskie on St. Clair. Thinking muskie, pike , same thing right? After two whole days of fighting with surface weeds and no fish we decided to fish for smallies. My buddy was fishing a crankbait and I was fishing a tube bait. After a dozen or so cast my partner was getting pretty P.O. with the surface weeds cause he keeps picking up a clump after a crack or two. As he vents his frustration he jerks his bait as hard as he can while reeling as fast as he can. Right at boatside a 48" nails it after a lenghty battle we land the fish. Then I decided "screw the bass I want to catch one of them" So I put on a black blue fox bucktail and away I go. Taking a few cast to adjust the tension knob. I think I'm ready, another cast, just ain't got the distance. Instead of letting it sink to the bottom while I adjust I reel it in as fast as possible so I can get a little more distance. As I pull the lure 3 feet out of the water and adjust the tension knob I hear a splash,I jump out of they way, and see a 35" musky flopping in the boat. I look at my buddy and say thats a muskie, did you see that? After taht day I don't fish bass to often, and thats my first caught muskie or is it? | |
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| I technically did not catch this fish, but I sorta did, dont' know if it would count. Anyway this summer was my first fishing and I mostly fished off docks for bass with nightcrawlers and leeches. One day someone yelled a muskie was there in about 1 foot of water under a handicapped dock that i was fishing off of and I saw it and threw my moss frog at it over and over but it swam away later on i was fishing off to the side of the dock for bass and saw it had come back, it was probobly 35-40" and i had my moss frog on one pole and a leech on the other. Anyway, I threw the frog around to have it not even look at it. Then i wiggled the leech all over in its face and it jumped at it and i had the fish on with a tiny minnow hook. I started reeling it in. (hoping to reel it up to the shore, i had no net) I kept reeling it in and it faught but then with a little turn of its head, it snapped my 8lb test trilene and swam away. After that experince i knew it had to be the fish to fish for. I am now forever hooked on muskies. | |
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| Orlando, Fl. long distance award
All-Star
Calcutta
PowerPro just started using it it's great
All I have is bucktails and one jackpot pigs don't count
19' Trophy lots of saltwater around here My feet when redfishing or seatrout fishing
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| OOPS wrong topic duh give me another martini | |
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| Just check'n the board out and noticed several posts wondering who won.
Due to the enormous pressure of judging the stories Steve was forced to retreat to an undisclosed location to begin the painstaking task of picking the winner...yea right[:bigsmile:]
For those who don't know Steve and Jason are at "The Goon" this weekend chasing big fish with teeth, I'm sure the winner will be declared early next week.
Hope the "big girls" are being kind to you boys..[:praise:]
"Curly"
Mark "Curly" Hintz
Northwoods Musky Adventures
Eau Claire, WI | |
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First muskieFIRST contest...