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Posts: 240
| Any good stories out there?
I lost a huge fish this fall while speed trolling one of my fav baits. A Slalmo Crank. This fish stopped it dead and then took line. She jumped about hafe way out with some head shakes. This fish was easly a 40 plus pounder. I battled her for about 8 minutes cranking as hard as I can with 80 pound line. As she came to the boat, she was staying right down and going for under the boat. I pulled her to the side and tried to bring her up. As I did this, the lure came free. Auggggggggg. All I could do was lay on the deck of my boat in agony. I inspected the treble and it had striaghtend right out. My lure had 4/0 Eagle claw extra strong trebles on it. I went out and got strong ones yet after that.
Thats my story
Cory |
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Posts: 827
Location: Minneapolis,Minnesota | Yeah I got a classic "loosing a BiiiG fish story" from the '02 Cass Lake outing but it would incriminate myself and others from the board.
SShhhhhhhh.....I got a bite!
Edited by Phish Killer 12/12/2003 2:16 PM
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Posts: 136
| HAHHAAH PK!!!! You can admit you had one too many Beers!! One of the funniest stories I've ever heard! |
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | This happened a few years ago. I was fishing the mouth of a lake where it flows into the next lake up on one of the chains in Wi. Casting a cutsom Musky Candy I had the Fudally guys make me. Fish hit the Bucktail, stopped it dead, I look out and see this swirl in the water, huge swirl. I lean back and set the hooks hard! Start fighting the thing, not sure how long I had it on...then nothing..no pressure, no tension...nothing. I am thinking the fish must a cut the line or something... I reel in and there is the lure...still on the line...So I cut the line, tie on a new leader(the other was kinda bent pretty good), straighten out the bucktail, and I start casting again. I actually moved about a hundred yards down the shore and started making my way back to where it happened. Guides I have fished with, articles I've read..all say leave the spot alone for a hour or two..maybe even a day if the fish tasted the hooks. Needless to say I'm back on the spot maybe 20-30 minutes later, no more. BAM!!! Same thing all over again, same spot. Big swirl on the water where she nailed the lure. Another good hook set. Another short battle...then nothing..I lost her again....The hooks on this bait were sharp, I had even touched them up a bit after she got off the first time. During both battles I actually gained line on her before she got off... No idea what went wrong...This was a solid 30-35lbs fish..easy.. Only thing I can figure is the rod is light on backbone and as such the hookset wasn't as hard as if I was using my lamiglass or st croix rods. I have now retired the rod into a bass rod/spare musky rod..and only use it for musky if I have to..Never hooked into anything like that again. Same trip I was targetting pike near a island, real windy that day and my musky spots had me blowing all over the place. I come round the back of this island and there is a lily pad bed that sits about 2 foot from the island, I am thinking this would be a great spot for a bass or pike to ambush stuff, so I cast between the island and the lily pads, take one crank on the handle and BAM!, big fish on..Here I am, medium heavy bass/pike spinning outfit, 25lbs test spiderwire..drag just zinging the ine off the reel. This fish goes right through the lily pads and dives right into the cabbage field..yeah, cabbage field on the other side of the pads. The fish starts turning the nose of the boat! My boat ain't that small, 16"Tuffy Rampage, 40hp evinrude... Now my wind break is also gone...I'm now going into the 25mph or so winds being pulled by a fish! I got on the trolling motor and started to try and chase this thing, but I must spooked her with the motor as she turned quick, got slack in the line and got off, ended up with a bunch of cabbage fouled all over the bait. How big was she? Not sure, as I had been getting pike in this area in the type of spot she was in not even sure if she was pike or musky..I'm guessing musky. Maybe 30lbs? Despite the major difference in the two rods I hooked these fish on this fish seemed a little smaller. Not positive.. |
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Posts: 827
Location: Minneapolis,Minnesota | Shady, I'll post the TV version of it when I have more time.
I guess it is a good one though, probably a better story than if I actually caught the damn thing.
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Posts: 116
Location: winnipeg manitoba | cory one day you will pop the 50 cherry. could not happen to a better guy. you buy lunch next time |
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Posts: 240
| Yep its my turn next. Next year will be the year! |
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Posts: 2024
| Cool thread! I'll give ya mine. This memory has sped my heart up at night sitting in bed as if I were out running from the cops. I can't believe you can get so worked up over a fish!! Ok, here it is.
LOTW 2003, we're in a slump. One day we decide to hit up some bays. First one we hit has a sandy beach and rocks at the entrance and intertwined throughout the bay. Looks good! Right away my partner gets hit. We finish up the bay with nothing to show. Then we get out the map and look for other similar spots. We begin focusing on south-southwest facing bays. We come across a few and head for them. Again, right away we either get a follow or a hit. This is awesome we said, finally we've begun to find a pattern. We head to another one. This one isn't very large with a small rocky point, but adjacent to deep water. Lots of floating junk weeds. Kind of ugly. I'm throwing a Lilly Tail at the weed edge, and the other guy is throwing all the way back with a Super Top Prop. I fire a cast into a "shooting lane" and commence the retrieve. My mind wanders, listening to the whir of my partner's topwater, half expecting to hear an explosion at any time. I glance back towards my bait and notice that it's pushing a good sized wake. I go, that's funny I can see the chart. blade and it's a good 1' under the surface. It's a small blade, and a smallish body, it can't possibly be... holy ^%&*^%$!!! BIG FISH! Monstro comes charging in. I give the Lilly Tail a quick burst of speed and Monstro keeps following. Into the figure eight we go. Where'd she go? There she is, still following. Plunge it deeper. Whack! In a valiant effort to push the 'tail deeper than four feet I hit the bottom. It must have been a very brief pause because the bait didn't falter, but the fish disappeared when I did that. Unbelievably cool, but the story doesn't end there. Every day at least once we come back. I throw everything at it from spinnerbaits to Squirrely Burts. Nothing. A few days later, day two of the MI Chapter Challunge, we experience high skies and windy conditions. We hunker down in a bay and proceed to move three active fish one in the mid 40"s. None could be converted though. We decide to burn some gas and head over towards the bay Monstro was seen in before calling it a day. We run over and make our first pass. I have a sucker pattern Voo Doo Tail w/ flo orange blade that I'm hitting the weed edge with. We pass the rocks and the best looking section of weeds with nothing to show. Then we come to the junk weeds. I momentarily drop my guard to check the depth, or look at a bug (who knows what I was doing) when I'm jolted back to reality by something. I look up and there before me lays 50" of muskie. I tried to set the hook while muttering "There she is!" in the worst English that has ever escaped my mouth. Then with one shake of that goliath head, Monstro's jaws release the 'tail, and just as soon as the event began, it ends. Crushed, I don't know what else to do but keep casting. One, two, three, four casts later I stop, set down my rod and sit down. That's where the story ends because the moderators of this forum might pull the plug on this post as there were many bad, loud words that left my mouth that evening. So loud that another boat a fair distance off heard my shouting, zeroed in on it, and came back after we left to try and get her!!!
That's what keeps me going. I want to live to see more of that. Hopefully though, instead of losing the fish, I'll get to hold her! Take care! |
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| Pigeon Lake Ontario, last day of the trip several years ago. I see a 50 plus incher jump in a saddle and one skillful cast of my Purple Musky Killer Mepps and I have her hooked. I battle her all the way to the boat, probably 30 yards, then she tailwalks and spits the lure right back at me. So cool though that I have her teath marks on the blade of the Mepps. Still one of my best lures ever! And just seeing her tailwalk with such beauty is a site that I will never forget. |
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Posts: 32958
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Two years ago, Wabigoon Lake. I was fishing with Jack and my son, kicking their collective butts with an Undertaker. I caught several fish from 42" to 49" The bigger fish was on a Violent Strike in the slop), and was pretty happy with the pike, too. We decided to fish the North shore, and were hitting the current break areas. One was a small patch of cabbage about 100' by 70' in 2' of water. We had pounded the patch pretty hard, but I just plain felt there was a big girl there, and stayed a bit longer. I pitched a Herpes Undertaker across the front of the patch, and the WHOLE edge seemed to move. The wake behind the lure in the thick stuff was impressive! She took the lure just on the edge in a pocket, and I hit her HARD twice. Everythig felt right, and my son even said, "Got her!" The fish bulled out into open water and jumped almost right at the boat, clearing the water like a missle. I was fishing in an Esox Deep V 20' boat which has a serious nose up posture with an angler in the rear, and was a considerable distance from the water, and that fish was even with my nose as the tail was in the water. Biggest muskie I have EVER seen, bar none. She hit the water, made a run, and suddenly stopped, and started to head shake on the surface. That Undertaker shot past me like a .22, and the fish simply swam back into the weed patch. To add insult, that happened twice. Yes, TWICE. I lost the fish of a lifetime two times in a week on a headshake. I headed back there a week later; couldn't stand it; I WANTED another shot at that fish!!. The weather had turned very hot and still, in fact up to nearly 100 degrees. She was gone. Best we could do was a couple 40" fish in three days. Moved a couple good ones, but nothing like that fish. How big was the fish? I'm not sure. I caught one a few years ago that topped 50#, and this one was bigger. Alot. Wonder where I will be next year over the 4th of July? |
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Posts: 240
| I want to hear the PK STORIE!
Cory |
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Posts: 233
Location: Des Plaines, IL | See both threads I posted under Hulbert/Grant Thanksgiving Extravaganza...It's too painful to type again!
Tight lines to all,
Karen |
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Posts: 827
Location: Minneapolis,Minnesota | Well, here goes.
My " Lost a big fish" story happened at he 2002 Muskiefirst Cass Lake outing.
It must have been the third or fourth day of the outing and so far we had been skunked in my boat. It was hard to get out of that damn bay in my little boat due to the wind. Well, this day was windy as usual and we fished hard that morning with little more than a few follows from small lazy fish. We went in for lunch and after a great meal provided by Esox Maniac of steak seasoned with his special spices I was taking a break on the deck of one of the cabins enjoying a beverage looking at the lake. Just about this time along came a fellow with some other special "spices" and offered me a opportunity to enjoy them with him. Well I knew about these special spices and had partaken in them in the past but not for many years, but I thought what the hell I'm on vacation and what's it going to hurt?
As I was sitting there I noticed the wind had died down so we saddled up and headed out to the main lake. After a 40 minute run with all 25 horses in full stride across the lake we got to a point that I picked out on the map and was dying to fish. We started on the deep end of the break casting a Musky Treat over 25' of water that breaks from a 5' reed point. Well, I'm feeling a bit detached from myself at this time from the special spices and am drifting in my thoughts a bit. Just as I popped my bait and let it slow glide a five gallon bucket came up from underneath it and inhaled it. Holy Sh!t!! I thought, "That was cool" I said, and my partner in the back of my boat asked if I saw a fish. I said "ssshhhh....I got a bite" as I watched the largest fish I had ever seen swimming under the surface of the water with my bait completely in her mouth. I could just see the leader sticking out the corner of her mouth cutting the water...but that was it. The Musky Treat was completely,100% inhaled. At that point I realized that I HAVEN'T SET THE HOOK YET!!!!! STUPID SPECIAL SPICES!!!! As I was picking up line and setting the hook I watched the biggest fish I had ever seen open her mouth and the bait come sailing back at me almost tattooing Iowa Jon in the back of the boat. "DAMN IT" is all I could say.
I don't know for sure the actual size of this fish but did get a good long look at her and with a 48" fish being the largest in my boat I would guess this fish was a 35-40# 50"+ fish. Trust me, I wish it was a smaller fish because I could sleep at night if it was only a 43".
Kids, "just say no" to special spices offered to you by a Deadhead at a fishing outing because you may just forget to set the hook on a fish of a lifetime.
There you go Cady, now everyone knows. I think that fish was out to feed because of the "full moon" the night before...hehe.
That outing was a blast and hope there is another one next year. There are some monsters in that lake. |
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Posts: 240
| This is turning out to be a great thread. Some awsome stories so far. Keep them coming Ladies and Gentelman!
Cory |
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Posts: 1189
Location: Bagley,MN 56621 | The fish that keeps me going back to Northern Minnesota:
It was two falls ago, actually think it was during the MF Outing on Cass. Cady and I are fishing together. I was using my fav bait at the time...a goldfish prism phantom. The lake is a good orange lake and I had some good luck with it earlier in the year on LOTW trip.
Pretty slow afternoon, few smaller lazy follows. I was working my phantom quite aggressively and Cady was throwing an undertaker quite slow, pretty good mix-up.
Late in the afternoon, we moved to a known big-fish spot. I was bringing my phantom in, when about 30' from the boat, she came out of no-where (under and behind it), swung and missed. I saw the whole fish broadside....it was at that time the phrase "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD"...did you see that??" came about.
We finish the drift and head back towards bertha. Cady nails a nice 44"er on the slow undertaker, so I start to slow my phantom down. It was painfully slow...a full second inbetween downward rod jerks and a full 3 second wait after 3 slow pumps.
Getting close to "the spot", my phantm stops dead!! I set and my rod is up at 1:00 bent over big time. It was like I had a stump, no movement for what seemed like forever. I started to reel and the bait came loose with a humongous swirl. I never did see the fish the second time, but it had to be her.
size???......guessing 53-55" but exteremly fat. I have seen 2 fish this summer that were in that length class on LOTW, but neither was as fat.
The GB fish reminded me of her, but dont think she was quite as long, but similar girth.
"oprah" I'm coming for you..............
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Posts: 305
Location: Illinois | I can honestly say that in over 15 years of ski fishing I have never had a 50 inch fish on. It could be the waters I fish or the fact I am not that great but I did see a giant fish lost once in my boat. I was trolling with a buddy and we were in an area known for cribs. Several times over the years we have caught cribs and sure enough on a pass my buddies lines stops dead. It wasn't screaming the other way in jagged fashion the way a fish feels but was more of a steady drag. After hitting nuetral my buddy says he has a crib. It would not budge. I turned the boat around to get over the crib and he says he feels some movement. I saw a fat white body about 15 feet away and the musky was huge. The musky dove to the boat and resurfaced coming straight up from under the boat staring right at me , net in hand but gave me no room to swing the net under her head first. I could have netted her from the topand trapped her I guess but the only thing I saw was a completely vertical musky swimming straight up with the lure in the corner of her mouth. Two head shakes above the water and the lure was in the boat. The fished wallowed inches beyond my net reach and slowly swam/sank.Two weeks later a fisherman caught 52 inch fish in the same spot. |
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Posts: 354
| I wish I had some great details to tell you about. Unfortunately, it was one of those experiences that you just had to be there. Why? The sound. I'll explain. I was fishing in October of 2002 on a NE Wisc. flowage. My partner and I were drifting our way down a spot on a shoreline that we had been told held fish. I had many, many, hours on this body of water and had never seen anything on this spot. There was one small patch of cabbage no bigger than my boat. I had a large 18" sucker trailing straight
out the back of the boat. It was approximately 20' behind us. The sucker was up high about 3' down. I just made a cast when we heard the loudest topwater strike of my life. Topwaters are my favorite baits. I've caught
fish on globes, creepers, flaptails, topraiders, hawg wobblers, etc.
I have never heard a strike like this one. The only thing I can figure was
that this fish came up off that patch of cabbage and just hammered that
sucker at the surface. I instantly turned my head and all that was there
was a huge bathtub boil on the surface. My float was gone and myline was
just screaming. This fall my partner had a fat 44" fish just hammer a sucker right at the boat and it didn't compare to this fish. The line is
screaming and I picked it up and set twice as hard as I could. I didn't
even budge this fish. Absolutely no movement. Later my fishing partner stated he had never seen anyone set the hook as hard as I did that day.
The next thing I knew the fish had changed directions and it headed back to the boat and then turned and ran parallel to us. I could nothing with
this fish. It simply flew by the boat and all I could do was hang on.
Tremendous power. Then, just like that the line went slack. I couldn't believe it! My partner stated just let her sit and sure enough she came back and hammered it again. Have you seen the movie Jaws? The scene where
those barrels are being pulled away like there tied to a rockets ass. That's what it looked like! She then dropped the sucker a second time
and was gone. I never saw her. Part of me is glad too. Another part of
me will of course always wish I had just gotten one glimpse. I pulled in
the mangled sucker and found a very clear set of bite marks on its belly.
The bite marks were 5" wide. I've heard some people speculate that even
a small fish can leave large marks. I don't know? I do know that nothing
has before or since made that sound or had that power. I took pictures
of the hammered sucker and that was it. All and all it was still a very
exciting experience.
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Posts: 116
Location: winnipeg manitoba | we all have our tales , but we are out there to make it happen.i was guiding a young fellow 3 years ago. we were speed trolling a sunken islad at about 25 feet, i cruise quickly and we often get snags. this kid yells i have a snag. i check the situation out , watch as line is peeling off the rod, slow down then put the unit in reverse, i must have backed up 75 yards, he continued to reel in. as we got above the snag he jerked his rod up and down trying to free the lure. several times his line was totally slack.finally i told him to just reel up and bust the line. he arched the rod back and it started to come up. i thought he must have hooked a tree. he continued to retrieve the bait with the rod arched over like it was ready to burst. i wanted my lure back so i went to the side of the boat hoping to grap the tree but instead saw a log appear, no wait it was a fish, i hollered he continued to pull and i grabbed the beast by the tail, no struggle no fight only 53.5 inches of muskie with a 26.5 inch girth. i still can't believe we landed the fish that way we did everything we could to break our line.......a couple pictures and away she went....i still can't belive it but it did happen |
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Location: Hayward WI | My story starts during my introduction into muskie fishing from my now wife. She was born and raised in Hayward, and after a few years of dating, figured I had the right stuff to be a muskie fisherman. Anyways, it was July of 1994, fishing the Phipps Flowage north of Hayward. I was casting yellow bucktail I picked up on the way to her place, trying not to get another backlash and pretending I knew what I was doing. Beginners luck struck and so did the muskie, somewhere in the upper 40" range. Chaos insued as it was the largest 'ski the wife had seen hooked on "her" river. She grabbed the net and in the excitement took a stab at the fish as it made a pass by the boat, and half the fish was in, but the bucktails hooks were caught in a non-coated net and a good head shake and my first muskie was history.
Here's a cool picture of the fish seconds before the premature release occured. You can see the yellow bucktail just inside the hoop.
Edited by erico 12/17/2003 9:49 PM
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