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| This story appeared in the August issue of Muskie, the Muskies, Inc. magazine. It was written by Jim Bunch, the keeper of the Lunge Log. I thought it was a great story so I wanted to share it with y'all.
Jono
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A Very Wet Breakfast!
Duane Hill of Bemidji, Minnesota is a very fortunate man. He lives on Lake Bemidji and has access to muskie fishing at a moment's notice. Lake Bemidji didn't have any muskies in it until about 20 years ago. Today however, it is quickly making a name for itself with some real monster muskies. Muskies Inc. members have reported 10 catches over 50 on this lake, the largest being 57 inches by Paul Nelson back in July of 1998 while fishing with a boat load of youngsters during some junior event. This June 20th, Duane Hill got out of bed early earlier enough for some muskie fishing before he had to go to work. He figured he had about an hour. He was casting a Jackpot surface, which weighs a lot and allows some very long casts. Way out at the end of a particular cast, a muskie nails the bait and he sets the hook. This action caused him to loose the grip on the rod and into the lake goes the rod. As he glanced in the water he discovers his very new, very expensive outfit does not float. This induced a very normal reaction of panic. He lunged over the side to catch the rod. The problem was, he lunged too far. He flies hind end over teakettle and lands in the lake. During the process of exiting the boat, there was a pail full of baits very near the exit location. Some of the lures hooked in his shirt. Having been awake for less than 30 minutes, he is now very wet, hooked to the side of the boat, hanging onto a very expensive rod, and trying to hang onto the boat. At this point the hooked muskie was the last thing on his mind. He some how got the lures out of his clothing and tried to climb in the boat, no luck, it is too high. He now reaches over the side of the boat and wedges the rod in the steering wheel. He swims to the back of his craft and climbs over the back end safely into the boat. At this point he is safe and the event becomes funny. Many of us do a lot of fishing by ourselves and need to be reminded from time to time that safety should be a number one priority. Anyway Duane is now safe and picks his rod out of the steering wheel. This gets better. He notices the line is limp and going the other direction from the original hook set. A quick scan of the surface does not reveal the location of the Jackpot. So he takes of the slack.
Duane has caught many muskies, 286 of them as a matter of fact. His wife Kathy fishes with him most of the time. She has reported 85 entries including a 49-inch on Lake Of The Woods. Duane has caught 2 at 50 inches and one at 50.50 inches. However, on this morning as he picked up his rod and took up the slack he was just glad the event was coming to an end. Then the line tightened. He was reeling in a fish; he is really awake now. The fight now gives major resistance. He gets the fish in the boat some how and lays her across the back of the boat and she runs from one side to the other. He lays the tape along side her and it reads 55.5 inches. He sent me a picture of her lying there, she is huge. He sent me a picture of her swimming away as he released her. He has just caught his longest in his career; he is wet and heads home to go to work. What would you say to the first person at work that asks how are you doing this morning?
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A great fish story....