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| Please submit the story of your first muskie ever here, limited to 25 lines of text. Only those who have not submitted a story to date may enter, and the prizes are as follows..
1 7' Signature Series Aurora Muskie Rod
1 Custom built Dog Turd surface bait, by Violent Strike lures
1 Bucktail
1 Magnum Spinnerbait by Violent Strike
This phase of the contest ends October 15th!! | |
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| After a long first year of muskie fishing, (saw alot of fish, but no hookups) I was wondering if I would ever catch one. My 2nd year started slow also. No fish. My friends started to think of "action lakes" for me to fish just to catch my first legal. Well, in July of that year I finally "hooked up".
My wife,daughter, and I spent the week camping, and decided to go to town where they were having a street dance. I agreed to go only if I could fish a lake that we had to pass on the way to town. I told her we would fish only an hour or so. It didn't take me that long though. About 20 min. of fishing was all it took . A 40" fish slammed my bobbie bait. My wife managed to net the fish, with some coaching, and a barrage of threats if she missed it. I was oblivious to every thing else that was happening while unhooking this "beast". When I finished unhooking I looked in the front of the boat and there was my wife and daughter huddled together, my daughter crying and my wife with the look of terror on her face! That was 15 yrs. ago and my wife hasn't watched me muskie fish since.
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| Day two in the life of a brand new Muskie fisher:
A rainy overcast day in early June on Bone Lake.
A cast back to deep water while the boat sneaks us into position.
As the #5 Mepps falls through the water, I look ahead to our first spot of the day.
I engage the reel and start to retrieve the silver and black buck.
I feel it's rhythmic pulsing.
As the bait nears the end of it's first mission, it stops dead.
I turn and look behind me, staring in disbelief at the beautiful fish at the end of my line.
I am slow to react.
After an eternity, I begin reeling aggressively.
The fish obliges and does nothing but coast to the boat.
The net is placed in the water to the gather the fish.
Water flies everywhere as the silent morning erupts.
The drag screams - once and again and again.
The fish dives then leaps.
I am in awe of it's power.
I run laps around the boat.
Again, the fish comes in.
This time it is mine.
40".
Forgot the camera.
Damn.
Away she swims.
Three months and three hundred dollars later, I catch my next.
I am addicted for life.
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| My first musky was caught on Squirrel Lake nearly 30 years ago. My older brother and I were fishing together in Dad's boat. My brother was actually musky fishing while I, with my D9 silver Rapala, was just fishing. I had an old hand me down Garcia spinning rod and a 300 Mitchell. My most vivid memory of the whole ordeal was the site of my rod bent over the gunwale of the boat, with the bend starting near the handle, and the fish clearing the water on the opposite side of the boat. How the fish stayed hook I have no idea, I apparently have become much better at losing them over the years. The picture of the fish hangs next to the rest I have taken over the years. I still have the rod, reel and original bait I caught this fish on. Now that I have children of my own I am hoping that they might take their first on the same equipment and that I can hang those pictures next to mine although it will be a few years yet. The fish was 32" and based on the photo not much shorter than me at the time.
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| My first muskie came on an overcast day on the Chippewa Flowage. I was 14 at the time. The first day was uneventful, except for the boat trouble that my dads friend had. The Second day we got up and after some morning fishing we came back to camp. My friend and i decided to take the boat out and fish right next to the island. I was fishing with a bucktail and I casted it next to some bullrushes and i saw a muskie hit it. I fought it for a while then my friend netted it, but it jumped out the first time and he netted it again. It was only 24 inches long, but my first muskie. Its not my biggest muskie but most memorable. Needless to say I'm hooked for life.
Hawghunter[:bigsmile:] | |
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| Being a single parent, I had gone through some hard times and now had a new man in my life. On our first date he asked me what I would like to do. To his surprise I said "go fishing". He was very kind and hardly a word about muskys as we enjoyed the day fishing for sunfish. It seemed to me on about our 3rd date that he wasn''t much of a fisherman as I was always the one catching the fish, but he was clearly after something specific as he waited patiently with his large minnows, and was careful not to disturb my sunfishing. When he first caught one in my presents, my eyes bugged out and I was full of questions about what it was. From that first site I was hooked but it wouldn''t be until the next season that I would actually catch one myself. He bought me my own rig, showed me how to use it and we had many discussions on catch and release. For many months I just couldn''t see myself releasing a fish like that if I ever caught one after all that hard work and knew I wouldn''t do it. One day I went down to my favorite lake without him and was working the shore line. I had previously measured and scratched into my pole the legal size limit. When my line started peeling out of my reel that afternoon, my knees were already starting to shake - and I was alone. Tightening the drag and taking up the slack, I set the hook and the water boiled as he made his first leap into the sun. Ten minutes later he was mine. With nobody watching and no camera, I draped my pole down his back and saw that he was indeed a legal size fish. My hands were shaking badly now. Carefully I unhooked him and as I watched him swim away I realized that this new fever had come at a time in my life that I most needed it and that God wasn''t going to allow me to catch one until he was sure that I had fully developed an appreciation for the beauty of this rare species and would treat it honorably. It was the happiest day of my life.
Joann | |
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| Joann, just like a man to not be there when you needed him most eh? [;)] [:sun:] | |
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| Many years ago, my neighbor and I were fortunate enough to have his mother drive us from Chicago to the northern woods. At the time, it seemed that there were very limited resources to research on how to catch the elusive muskie. Though young, naïve and daring, it was enough for us to know that they existed. And ultimately, we made it our summer goal to catch one for ourselves. It’s funny how one short summer turned into a life long mission.
We learned early on after many hours and several days that it wasn’t going to be easy, especially for two city kids. Looking back, we fished jerk baits like crank baits and truly thought that this was the proper way. Somehow from shear sweat and persistency or maybe just plain luck, we actually managed to boat one…. She wasn’t a huge monster and not even clearing 24 inches but she was absolutely beautiful, healthy, and more importantly my first muskie. Even at that age, I understood the rewards of her release. It was then that I knew, she wasn’t going to be my last. And for the first time in life, I found something pure and passionate to pursue. It’s amazing how one single and definable moment can directly affect one’s direction in life.
It was years later, that I developed a more sound and true appreciation for our sport. Absorbing all there was from other experienced muskie anglers and weeding out what I thought was good, I’ve learned that we don’t choose to fish for muskies but that they have chosen us to fish for them. Environmentally conscious, we know that their very existence depends on our management. I believe that it’s this certain point of view and awareness that most muskie anglers share.
I come back to that same lake every year and I’m happy to see how much it hasn’t changed. It is a place unspoiled, untamed and untouched, where time has preserved its beauty. A place full of pine trees, colorful sunsets and where eagles soar freely. Whenever I pull up to that same weed bed at that same time each year, armed with a little more experience, I hope that Mother Nature will find me worthy enough and grant my wish for one more catch.
[;)] | |
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| Keep them coming!![:bigsmile:] | |
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| Being the at the ripe age of 11, I was invited to eagle river to tackle the great muskie. My friend steve, showed me photos and explain what was instore like only a child of 13 could. Well, we make the traditional stop in Antigo to see the mepps factory. That is where I purchased my first muskie bait. I opted for a red tail with a black blade muskie killer bucktail. They assembled it right in front of me. Only after a the longest hour ride of my life, we arrived at the cottage. Without unloading the car, we grabbed out rods and ran down to the dock. The lake looked beautiful, and I could almost make out the giant muskies swimming beneath. I decided to attach my new bucktail to the rod and see how it looked in the water, knowing I would have to cast it many times before even encountering a muskie. I had been prepared to "expect" to work for the fish. Well, I lowered the new bait into the water and was pulling it along the dock...#$%^^&&$@!!! A muskie attacked it, water flew and the rod doubled over. It was boy vs. fish and the start of a life long obsession. The 32 inch fish was released and I suffered from the catching one right away jinx. Never saw a fish the rest of the week, but the next year I ran down to the dock with the same enthusiasm...Ben Remer | |
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| So here I am, about 5 years ago, in the early courting days of my relationship w/ my girlfriend (now my wife). The two of us and her friend and husband decide to play hooky from school/work and take an early May trip to the Fox Chain and rent a boat for the day. We rent this dinky 14' boat and the other guy has a "clip-on" trolling motor. The plan was to do some pan fishin' & get the ladies some pictures (my girl had never picked up a fishin' pole in her life so I needed to impress). We were just toolin' around in the channels lookin' for pan fish, I was flippin for bass. I can remember like I was there yesterday, short little cast in about 3 feet of H2O, 7" red shad power worm, med. action bass rig, twitch...twitch...twitch.........boooooooommmmm! Hook set, angry fish....[:0] ....."holy sh*t....it's a musky!!! No net...."Get the camera!!" I'm yellin, so my girl is pekin' over my shoulder tryin' to get a glimpse, I finally get it in the boat. "AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!, It's got teeeeeeth!!!" she yells. and proceeds to knock the ski out of my grasp and into the water (still hooked) and runs to the back (all 14' of it) of the boat with the other cowards. Now the fight is on again, finally, after what seemed an eternity, I fought it back to the boat again, got it in the boat...ooops! there it goes again!!! another short battle and FINALLY got it in, unhooked, and released. And how did the picture turn out you say? 1 shot of the scrappy little 34's tail in the water...she missed it!
skeelunker1[:bigsmile:] | |
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| I was fishing for blue gills + perch on the Madison Wi Chain and caught a 32 inch muskie about 25 years ago with my father who since has passed away. I remember this musky because it was one of the last times my dad went fishing before he passed away from cancer. Using a small Zebco ultralight with a night crawler on it with 4 pound test line, I thought I had a northern on. Back then I did not know the difference between muskies and northerns. I still remember my dad with his old wrotten small net, netting the fish which promptly fell through the net. He was the proudest person on the lake that day because of that fish. Thank God, we still got it into the boat with that old net. Since then, I have been hooked on muskie fishing. Not much of a story but you know what, I feel good about remembering it. Thanks for your contest that spurred this memory. I am a winner already.
[:bigsmile:] [:)] [8)] [:sun:] [:praise:] | |
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| More, more, more!! These will be added to the others from the first contest on a permanent page on MuskieFIRST, for everyone's enjoyment now and into the future![:bigsmile:] [:bigsmile:] [:bigsmile:] [:bigsmile:] [:bigsmile:] [:bigsmile:] [:bigsmile:] [:bigsmile:] [:bigsmile:] [:bigsmile:] [:bigsmile:] | |
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| My first was a 45", 22lb spotted beauty I caught while snorkeling deep in Canada. I saw the girl sleeping, swam back to the boat, grabbed my trusted bait of choice (those in the know, know [:sun:]) and slammed her with it. If it hadn't been for my Greco-roman wrestling experience I might not have boated her but, she eventually yelped 'uncle' submitting to my will that day. I rubbed her belly and gave her a sweet kiss before releasing the fish into a school of stunned on-lookers where she promptly feasted and gave me a wink that said, 'I'll never forget you Ryan B.' | |
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| MUSKYITIS . I caught it many moons ago in the early 70's while fishing for pan fish with my wife it was a hot August day so we moved to a shaded shoreline that had some lily pads, I cast out my minnow that was 2 ft under a bobber when the minnow & bobber hit the water it just disappeared out of site I thought it was hung up on the pads but when it just kept moving I knew I had a fish on but did not know what, after a good struggle I boated my first legal Musky a whopping 32 incher. It was like a drug addiction I had to get another and bigger I did everything that I could to get another, hired guides (Joe Bucher), headed north every other weekend, bought better gear, gathered tons of baits ( some of which i still have and use today ), each time I boated another fish the disease got a better hold of me today I only fish bait fish in the spring but once Musky season opens thats it for the bait fish it's Musky or none
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| My first musky came when I was 12. My Dad had taken me to the Flambaue (sp.?) near Holcombe for my first musky trip. It was the first weekend in May (the season opened the first Sat. in May then) and it was cold and snowing. After a few hours of casting I got bored and cold and just sat there with my bait floating in the water next to the boat. A fish must have been following my Dads bait, but instead hit mine.It was an Eddie bait by the way. After the thrashing and some chaos my dad netted my first musky. It was 42" and unfortunatly is still my biggest! Thats what you call working for your first!!
Scott | |
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| First time ever in the beautiful Northwoods. Won a spiff contest sponsored by St. Croix Rods to spend a week up here and visit the factory, stay at a cabin and fish Butternut Lake, so I brought my father up with me. Contacted a local guide and hired him for 3 days.
At the time the Legend Musky Rods were prototypes so they asked me to try them out and let them know what I thought. Now I'd never fished for anything bigger than bass or walleye beforehand and these lures were bigger than those fish I'd caught beforehand!
My guide had me cast a FT Striker Jr. and at the second spot or around my 50th cast in musky fishing, I set the hook on my 1st musky - 31". Felt like thrashing steel! Right then and there, I caught the fever and I've been sick ever since. To catch my next one did take another 9,000 casts though... but it's worth it!
Rob | |
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| Everyone smile....[:bigsmile:] [:bigsmile:] [:bigsmile:] [:bigsmile:] [:bigsmile:] | |
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| I was living in Portland, OR. 1969. My dad called and asked if I would come home to join several family members and friends on a fishing trip to Canada. This would be my first and it sounded great. I hitch-hiked and jumped freight trains all the way to Iowa in time to join them.
These men concentrated on big northern and walleye. Muskies were an accident. While fishing walleyes on a little lake connected to Cliff Lake, my uncle started yelling about this "huge fish" that was following the prop on his boat. Tired of catching walleyes and looking for something more, I asked to be dropped off on the rocky point where we had seen the "huge fish" so I could cast for it while everyone else continued to fish walleyes.
I cast for what seemed like an hour, nothing. Then, without warning, the biggest water explosion I had ever seen, the muskie blew out of the water with my bait in its mouth and proceeded to spit it out landing right at my feet, all in one crazy moment. Then it was over, I stood there shaking and dazed at what just happened. Couldnt believe it. Totally awed by this fished that etched its image in my mind for ever. I continued to fish until we had to leave with no success.
We fished till noon on our last day. Dad appeased me by allowing me to cast a shoreline one last time. Sure enough, one last cast and I was rewarded with a 28-30" silver that was the most beautiful and mysterious fish I had ever seen.
Those 2 fish and the week I spent with my family/friends in Canada brought me back to reality and may have saved my life, if you know what I mean. I have been a muskie fisherman ever since.
Dennis Bahlmann | |
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| My first muskie was caught yesterday, September 28. I had been fishing for muskies almost all summer and it seemed I woudl never catch one. I figured there was so much I was doing wrong. I had casted trolled and everything. Well, I was trolling a 10" jointed believer along the shoreline. Rod in one hand, trolling motor tiller in the other, I almost laying down, so tired from trying to catch fish. And trolling was pretty much just sitting in a boat. Suddenly bam, i head a splash and my bait clicker went off. I turned around to see a beatiful fish jumping. I turned my trolling motor off and started reeling it in. I got it close to the boat then got my net out and netted it but it jumped. Some other people that were around helped me net it and got a picture and released it. Although I did not measure it, it looked like a fat 40-42 inch fish. I would have been happy with any size muskie, but this is what I got, a nice big one. It was awesome to see the fish get caught, and even more awesome to see it swim away for someone to catch another day. I am hooked for life on muskie fishing. | |
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| Shuler, congrats on the fish. But it's like having a baby. We need to know how big? | |
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| Fishing all summer, my friend and I had not caught anything at all. We had just started musky fishing this summer. I''m 14 and I just loved the idea of catching the big one and releasing it for another try. On September 22, 2001 my friend and I were trolling by a weed patch but we thought there was no hope, like we had done all summmer to see nothing but a few weeds on the end of our line. Despite any uncertainty we kept trolling anyways believing in ourselves that we could at least catch 1. All was silent in the boat as the bait clicker violently screemed at me telling me that something at the end of the line was something beyond greater than weeds. With doubt I jerked my rod to the side and gently started reeling slowly. I felt vibrations that felt like a fish and finally saw its swimming up near the boat. We had never netted a musky or never caught one before but my friend netted with ease and a couple minutes later without taking the musky out of the water we had measured it taken all the hooks out of it and released it. This is a story that I will always remember because not all people can say they caught a 40 inch musky their first time and released it without being harmed. The way I look at it is there is one more fish on the water that could of been dead if it wasn''t up to me. I did not have my camera along, but I will always remember that musky, pictures or no pictures. 1 week later my friend that I had fished with the whole summer, caught his first! Once I knew I had hooked that musky that musky knew it had hooked me, for life! | |
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| My first legal musky was caught in 1997 at the age of 18. My sister and her now husband were in the boat on a perfect August day. We were fishing Lost Land Lake in Hayward, on a annual week long fishing trip. This was the second to last day and all week I was throwing suick's, bucktails, and becoming more and more frustrated. I learned from my Grandfather who past away two years later, that musky fishing is the toughest sport you can pursue because of the long hours and headaches. This was always in the back of my head. The day of the catch was actually right at dusk, and my sister wanted to head in for the night because we were out for four hours and skipped dinner. I wanted to cast a little longer and to try a new spot. We agreed to fish for another half-hour. Casted a Hi-Fin teaser tail near the new shallow location. I saw a large log swimming behind her and cranked faster. Before I knew it the fish nailed the teasertail at full force, like it was a big muskrat. Boated her and now she is hanging on my basement wall for memorandom and stories(42"). I have caught 5 more muskies over 40" and all released. If world record is caught then I'll keep her but until then all others will be released.[;)] | |
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| A big congratulations to you, Shuler! | |
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New MuskieFIRST first muskie contest