Posts: 7092
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | "With one cast you can go from a zero to a hero"
-Steve Herbeck
Though there were no zeros at the June 12th, 2004 Iron Man Muskie Tournament Trail Pewaukee Lake event, there sure was one happy hero who with one cast guranteed his team a cash prize of $2000. With one cast of his heavy spinning rod, using an antique bait, Joe Perry reeled in a victory for Team #6. Conditions were tough to say the least, with many fish moving, but few aggressive strikes, but the 47" very heavy muskie that Joe landed, team #6 was the one team out of a field of 18 to bring a legal (34") fish to the net for a measurement.
As the 7AM start time approached, the conditions seemed prime for a day of muskie madness: low skies, humid conditions with a very thick cloud bank obscuring visibility on the lake but also obscuring light penetration through the green waters of Pewaukee. The air temperatures were around 60 degrees and the surface water temperature was read at 66 degrees on my locator.
After a thorough check of all livewells the teams launched from the start under a no-wake restriction (for increased safety) with the vast majority of teams heading west from the launch point of Smokey's Tackle Shop and Boat Ramp. Working as both a judge boat and the MuskieFIRST Media boat, we were relegated to the East end, basically leaving myself and my partner for the day (Tuffy) alone in the fog, searching for the few teams that decided to try the eastern-most portions of the water.
As we meandered through the cloud cover blanketing the water, early reports from the few teams in our sector reported a few fish on the move, with 3 fish lost and a number of blowups on topwater baits. Though they were showing themselves, and in some cases even opening their mouths, the fish were not very aggressively attempting to feed on the baits presented. A number of follows were reported in additon to the fish that did take chances eating, but the follows too were not that aggressive; mostly being low and slow, showing interest but very little committment. Later reports from those who chose to fish the west end of the lake echoed this type of action. Though the vast majority of the fish reported seen were in the low 30" class, a few fish over 40" did show themselves during the early morning hours.
The fog began to lift later in the day then was expected, which worked to keep the lake relatively free of pleaure boaters, but when it did clear off, the fish followed suit. Soon we and the 2 or 3 boats within the eastern half of the lake were joined by approximately a half dozen more boats, all of whom were working the edges of the weedlines, in depths ranging from around 4ft, to 10ft. The teams' bait selections varied from full-sized 9" suicks and gliders of all sorts, to small husky jerks and slammer twitchbaits. Colors thrown were generally of the bright variety, though some more natural presentations were thrown also. Of the boats we were keeping an eye for fish catching activity, only 2 of the 8 within our field of vision (enhanced by the use of binoculars) were trolling, with the rest casting. As the Iron Man Tournament Trail allows the use of livebait and three rods per boat at one time, a few of the casters were attempting to lure their prey with a live bait dead sticked either under bobber trailing behind the boat, or kept at boat side.
As the sun begin to rise, Tuffy and I gave up our pursuit of bass to pass the time, and just before leaving to scout a new area for trail boats, Tuffy yelled out "they've got one". The Mercury started like a champ and off we went towards the marron and white Ranger 620 of Team #6. As we watched at a safe distance of 20 yards, we were witness to a lengthy (nearly 5 minutes) battle, with Joe Perry giving line as needed from his spinning rod equipped with only 20lb monofilament. The fish made several long runs, with his partner deftly manuevering the boat to keep the fish at a disadvantage. After a number of tense moments and yells of "it's a really nice fish" and "this is DEFINITELY a legal", the fish was slipped easily into the an oversized Frabill net. With the fish safely secured in the net, our first sighting of the fish confirmed that not only was it of legal length, but was also of a sizeable girth. Though hooked well, the hooks of the 1930's vintage heddon vamp (bought on eBay for a single dollar) broke off in the fishes mouth (we did witness the broken pieces being discarded back into the boat), rusted though having definitely served their purpose. After a quick measurement, which showed the fish to be 47" (and potentially pushing the 30lb mark, the pictures which will follow do NOT do the fishes girth any justice), and an even quicker photo session, the fish was released back into the water, apparently not overly traumatized being that she swam off strong and did not resurface.
As the day progressed the sun came out, the temperatures climbed steadily and a small flotilla of pleaure boaters took to the lake. Teams stayed for a while into the early afternoon on the east end, but as the follows and aggressive fish were no longer to be seen, a movement back to the west end began. Before leaving our area, both Mike Koepp and Dan Peckles did manage to boat sub-legal fish, both trolling. Koepp's fish was barely in the 20" range, while Peckles barely missed registering a fish, 33.5" being the length of his fish. This half inch proved to be the difference between a $500 second place finish and going home empty handed.
Though post tourney reports stated a few fish were lost later in the day, amazingly the 47" fish we witnessed was the only legal fish registered throughout the day. Though the teams worked hard to get into the money, with no boats hitting the ramp before the 4PM end point, a day that appeared to hold great potential for a large number of fish to be caught ended up to be one where a single cast with an antique bait with rusted hooks brought in a $2000 fish for first prize.
Thanks to the organizers of the tournament for having MuskieFIRST at this event, and we look forward to covering more IMT Trail events in the near future!
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47Fight1.JPG (60KB - 132 downloads)
