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Posts: 1059
Location: Medford, WI | Not even sure where to start on this one. Last Thursday rolled around and rather than go to my two classes on Friday, I decided to head up to the Big ....Lake X and meet Jerome. We had the best 24-hour fishing period that either of us have ever had (and probably will ever have).
Friday, we only got on the water for a few hours and had no muskie action. We each caught a pike and that was it.
Saturday, we tried a bunch of spots, caught a ton of pike, but just couldn't get anything going...UNTIL...about an hour before dark, we noticed ciscoes breaking the surface out a little deeper. We both looked at eachother and I said to him "I really like the looks of this; this is where we want to be." Pretty soon the ciscoes were in a little shallower and the sun had just set when I was throwing the 2-pounder and thought a fish bumped the bait. Five minutes later, I could just barely see my bait right at the boat, noticed a brown back behind it, and instantly I saw a flash of white and my bait was gone. I slammed the hooks and yelled to Jerome (I'm sure he could give you a better idea of what I said as I have no clue.). Chased the fish around the motor and Jerome, with a very fine net job, slid the net under her fairly quickly. This was followed by some more yelling/celebrating by me. As you can see in the picture below, the fish inhaled the entire bait (which I just measured at about 27" long). While picking the fish up, I knew it was going to be 50"+...put her on the bump board and she was 52.5"!!! My personal best, and add to that a 24.5" girth! Just an unreal fish that I am very, very thankful for. After a successful release, which to me was the best part of the big fish experience, I was retying and Jerome yells "There's one!". I grabbed the net, almost botched the netjob, but somehow managed to get the fish in the net. Jerome followed my catch up with a beautiful 46" ski.
Sunday, within the first hour of fishing we had 5 follows at different spots Jerome took me to on our way to the area where we caught the fish the previous night. We got to The Spot and I had a mid-40" follow; about two casts later, Jerome hooks up with the fish and we got it in the net after a very nice fight. Measured in at 45". A few hours later, I noticed lots of muskies/big fish showing up on the sonar and no more than 5 minutes later Jerome watches a monster eat his dawg. A quick fight and I slid the net under Jerome's personal best...an awesome 52"er. We ended up with several more follows, but no hits.
Just an awesome weekend and probably the greatest experience musky-fishing I've had so far! Getting my personal best and netting a good friend's personal best...I can't think of a better weekend than that!
Just want to take a second to congratulate and thank Jerome for everything. Without your help Jerome, I wouldn't have been able to make the trip and land the fish of my lifetime. You're a great guy and I really appreciate everything. Congrats on your personal best, hopefully next summer or fall we can get that 55" musky you're after!!!
Sorry for going on and on for those of you who actually read all of this. It was just an amazing experience and words can't even start to describe it!
I hope everyone is able to get out this fall and have a chance at a piggy.
Good luck to everyone...be safe and have fun.
-Jake Bucki
P.S. Jerome, feel free to add in any details that I'm missing.
Note regarding the pics: Just wanted to clear any questions about why the baits are still in the fishes mouths in 2 of the pics. In my case, the fish ate the entire bait and we could not get to the hooks safely in the net. I picked the fish up, took pictures, put her on the bumpboard and opened the gill plate to cut the back hooks. The back treble was inbetween the gills, but very thankfully it was not hooked in any of them. Kind of the same situation with Jerome's 46" fish. Both fish were released immediately and swam off strongly.
Attachments
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 Jake 52.5 a.jpg (42KB - 156 downloads)
Jake 52.5 b.jpg (47KB - 137 downloads)
Jerome 46.jpg (38KB - 153 downloads)
Jerome 44.jpg (56KB - 139 downloads)
Jerome 52.jpg (66KB - 152 downloads)
Jerome 52 rls.jpg (49KB - 130 downloads)
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Posts: 613
Location: Michigan | wow thats amazing....congrats to you both!! |
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Posts: 968
Location: N.FIB | NICE FISH,WAY TO GO |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Those are some awesome fish, congrats to you both. I liked the way the story was written, Jake, you had me on the edge of my seat the whole read. m |
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Posts: 1764
Location: Ogden, Ut | What?!? You skipped class? You are well on your way to failure, my boy. 
Great story and great catches. Congrats to the both of you.
Ciscos breaking the surface? Targeting that pattern never works...
S.
Edited by sorenson 11/4/2008 7:05 AM
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Posts: 238
| Congrats to you both,good stuff and awsome story! |
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | Guys,
This 24hr period was a rush!
After throwing the 2lbr. Jake likes to take a break and chuck the 1 pounder.....Ah,youth....
As a side note the 52 that I cought had been caught and released before because the tail was pretty beat up before it hit our net and there were 4-5 marks on its back from being wraped in fishing line.
All of these fish hit, and I mean hit hard about 5-6 ft. from the boat right before the 8. Color didn't seem to matter, they just wanted Tail.
Jerome |
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Location: Apple Valley | Good job guys!!!!!! Nice fish!!
Brian |
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Posts: 129
Location: Glenmoore PA | great stuff guys! Thanks for sharing. |
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Posts: 434
Location: searchin for 50 | AWESOME LOOKING FISH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats. Sometimes you just got to pound the water. Way to recognize a feeding window. |
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Location: Twin Cities | Great day for you guys! Between that and the 50 something muskie I had try to swim off with my fat 26 inch pike on Friday, i think I need a new bigger rod and some bigger baits.... |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | Wow, great story Jake, and good for you guys on the PB fish - awesome! But, you are more inconsiderate than I would have thought. You skip class to go up there and catch monster fish, and you don't even kidnap me from class and take me along? So much for the UWEC spirit...sheesh.
Just kidding, looks like it was well worth missing a couple classes for that trip.
curleytail |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | And that right there is why us failures skip class. Good descision. I also skipped class on Thursday and Friday, but I didnt catch any fish. Whats with that? |
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| Very nice fish guys! |
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Posts: 785
| Wow, you'll probably never go to class again, I know I wouldn't after a day like that, lol. Congrats to you both, I know the feeling of two people getting there PB's at the same general time, makes for an awsome experience. Thanks for sharing the story and pics. |
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Posts: 2323
Location: Stevens Point, WI | Nice job guys! |
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| You'll never remember or benefit from anything you'd learn in class, but you'll remember those fish forever. Way to go! |
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Posts: 294
Location: Bloomer, Wi | Congrats to the both of you. Amazing, simply amazing. Couldnt of happened to 2 nicer guys. Seriously up in vermillion you guys were very nice to me and I appriecaite it. |
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Posts: 4266
| When the timing is right, great things can and do happen.
Jerome, I am heavy hearted that you didn't fire a 10" Perka right through those schooling suckers. That's what I gave you those lures for, the happenings of just that moment. Oh well, next time we will spend a portion of the fall on the water together, and you can tell me the stories over and over, and it will be cool.
Congrats you guys. Now get back out there and catch some big ones.
Beaver |
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Posts: 1059
Location: Medford, WI | Thanks for all the kind words guys. As I told Lambeau, all I've been able to think about during classes this week are those fish! After Saturday, I was really hoping that Jerome would get a big one on Sunday as he's put in a lot of time up there and definitely deserved a fish like he got. For those of you who don't know Jerome, you can't find a nicer, more genuine guy. If you ever get the chance to fish with him, don't hesitate.
PP - You can't catch fish when you're at the bar or out partying...maybe that was the problem? Or maybe you were sitting in a tree? Just kidding man, hope your fall fishing/hunting is very successful.
JoeCal - Thanks for the congrats and comments. The same is to be said for you; I really appreciated your kindness and willingness to share info this summer. Hopefully we can get on the water next summer together. Did you get a buck in Canada? My dad is headed up there tonight for a week (Nestor Falls LOTW/Crow Lake area).
Beav - Don't you worry about Jerome throwing that Perka! I don't think anybody could've gotten him to take that thing off except that I was having most of the musky action on soft-plastics (dawgs and sues). Even after we caught those two on Saturday with dawgs, he was right back to throwing the Perka Sunday throughout most of the day. He showed the pike who was boss with the Perka and also lost one fish out deeper that very well could've been a musky. Those things have some sweet action, and when the muskies are on jerk/glide baits, I would think the Perka would definitely be a top producer.
Thanks again guys, I love coming on here and reading your comments, and even more so, seeing the big fish you guys post pics of!
-Jake Bucki |
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Posts: 26
Location: Cook, Minnesota On Beautiful Lake Vermilion | NIce job on your PB Jerome! I am hoping to still get on the water with ya. If not this Fall maybe in sometime in '09!!
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Posts: 392
Location: KY | Good job! Love the pictures with the bulldawgs.
Bruce |
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Posts: 3868
| Great stuff, way to go. |
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