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Location: SE Wisconsin | I drove through the night to reach the launch by sun up. It was a short 4 hour ride; I say ‘short’ because I loved every minute of it. How often can a working man say that the furthest thing from his mind is “work”? I wake up on any given Saturday morning and right away think how nice it is to not have to rush out the door and make it to “work” by a certain time, and by Sunday, I’m thinking how I’ll have to take it easy and get to bed by a decent hour so I can be fresh for Monday at “work”. Well, on this particular drive to the Northwood’s of Wisconsin from my home in southeastern part of the state, I had the window down, the music up and no traffic to distract my mood. My destination was rapidly approaching as I wound my way through the desolate single lane roads leading me to the launch of a tiny 200 acre pond holding one of the best puddle Musky fisheries even my Grandpa can remember.
There would be no Terry Redlin sunrise this morning as dense and low cloud cover remained from the story the weather man told the day prior. It was mid-June and the air had a bite to it; not too cold, but just enough to redden my nose as I launched the boat. One of my favorite things when I really start thinking about all the subtleties of this passion is the initial start of the outboard on a crisp summer morning. The light smoke from the burning oil lingers just inches over the water at the hull of the boat and the smell is as familiar to my senses as the casing of a recently exhausted shotgun cartridge.
This little lake is void of wake buoys’, but even so I didn’t let lose right away. Instead I putted along the shoreline and soaked it in for a hundred yards before zipping over to one of my favorite spots. I settled in and clipped on a Top Raider I had picked up from a closeout sale. Initially it was the rainbow trout color, but during the week leading up to this trip I picked up some textured black glitter spray paint, gave the bait a make-over and finished it off with several coats of spray on polyurethane. I gave it a little under hand pitch about 10 yards from the boat to wet the line before firing a long bomb to a pile of boulders randomly situated in the middle of a surrounding cabbage patch, part of the allure of this little lake
I can count on two hands how many times I’ve hooked up and/or caught a musky on my first cast of an outing and one of those fingers counts this particular day. My head wasn’t entirely in the game yet despite the therapeutic setting that was around me. I was just thinking if I remembered to lock my doors and how if I didn’t I wouldn’t worry too much anyway because the most rigs I’ve ever seen at this little landing at one time was three when I saw the boil behind the Raider. At this point, it was as if someone through water in my face and I crouched in anticipation. The wake built up and was closing in on the lure and once again, a swipe and a miss. Running out of room I was hoping this fish would give it another try before reaching my feet when one more swing and a miss followed by a fourth and final blow hooked me up to a fat 37 inch female that ultimately made my morning.
Not a giant by any means, especially in the eyes of a musky hunter, but a prize no less. I had forgotten my camera at home, and until my friends arrived later than day I would be limited to my cell phone camera. I snapped a picture of the fish in the net and lifted her up one time for a quick picture before bumping her and putting her back. I was already awake by this point, but she gave me a wet splash in the face as she waved goodbye.
Now, as Midwestern lakes are open by day and skimmed over by night, tell tale signs of spring are definitely in the air. Spring tackle organizing is already a weekly excuse to get in the musky mode and discussions on the musky boards are gaining momentum. It’s a waiting game, no doubt, but it’s a wait we’re all anxiously standing by. Here’s to a successful season in 2011!
Edited by Sam Ubl 3/25/2011 11:36 AM
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 musky37in.jpg (36KB - 170 downloads)
musky37.jpg (25KB - 181 downloads)
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| "Gone with the wind" did Greg LouGAYNESS help you write this? |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | Yeah, he mentioned his boyfriend might offer a critique under the name, "Guest".
Edited by Sam Ubl 3/25/2011 11:39 AM
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Posts: 242
| Sam Ubl - 3/25/2011 11:37 AM
Yeah, he mentioned his boyfriend might offer a critique under the name, "Guest".
Haha...great reply (and writeup) |
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Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | Sam Thanks for inflating my need to get out there.
Cave Run, here I come.........I hope!
Jerome
P.S. real classy there, guest. |
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Location: APPLETON, WI | It really sucks that this forum allows the infamous "Guest" to chime in with these mundane comments that add absolutely nothing to the discussion. I believe there would be a lot less smart azz, rhetorical comments if the forum made people take the time to register a user name with a location rather than being allowed the luxury to hide behind the anonymous "Guest" log on. I belong to numerous forums and unfortunately, this is the only one I know of that allows this.
If you had to take the time to log in anonymously as a "Guest" so you could type some dumb azz comment in a reply, chances are... it shouldn't even be said in the first place and typically offers ZERO contribution to the thread at hand.
In other news, I thought it was a pretty cool thread, Sam.  |
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Location: Germantown, WI | Sam,
Thanks for sharing the story. The vivid picture you paint with words helps me to almost imagine I was there with you. Keep on sharing your stories. I always enjoy them.
Scott,
I could not agree more about guest posting. It is allowed by the rules of this website, but I wish it wasn't. |
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Location: Roscoe IL | I loved the story, thanks for taking the time to share this.. |
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Location: Blaine, MN | Sam Ubl - 3/25/2011 11:37 AM
Yeah, he mentioned his boyfriend might offer a critique under the name, "Guest".
Zing... instant classic |
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| thought it was a good story I enjoyed it, now as fas as signing in under guest or remaining anonymous it has it's bad but also good let's say I wanted to ask a question about something but I was afraid I would get made fun of or badgered I'd log in as guest or remain anonymous besides it makes the forum a little unique too! |
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Location: New Berlin,Wisconsin,53151 | Great story Sam, plus good slam on the Guest comment....... |
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| Great read Sam,
I'm surprised "Guest" you can read. You know with your head stuck so far up your a$$. Grow a pair you little prick. |
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Location: Hopefully on the water | the story was very good but the reply was classic. I laughed pretty hard at that one. |
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