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Location: Yahara River Chain | Here is what stugots4u was trying to type.
BY DALE BOWMAN Staff Reporter
The feeding window opened at about 11 a.m. on Oct. 30. By the time it snapped shut 45 minutes later, John Grek and his friend, guide Russ ''Smity'' Smith, had caught and released three muskies, the last one scarred and bloody with teeth marks from the ''Monster Musky of Birch Lake.''
Understand in muskie fishing a feeding window means something like 25-mph west wind exploding and pushing white caps on dense reeds on the east side of Birch Lake in northern Wisconsin. And Grek and Smith were there, and they have the photos to prove something special.
Let's start in the mid-1960s, when Grek and Smith first fished together. Smith became a legendary Wisconsin guide and maker of Smity Baits. Grek, now 72 and retired in Westmont, made Muskie Mauler lures into the 1990s.
They fished together regularly in the decades since. At the end of October, Grek went north for three days of fishing. The window opened on the middle day.
As might be expected, they were casting Smity jerkbaits.
''Within minutes of the wind kicking up, Smity hooked and landed a beautiful 40-inch tiger muskie,'' Grek said. ''No sooner did we get the tiger released than I hooked a second fish, a 37-incher. We got the fish in, but the white caps were pounding the boat into the reeds. Smity released the fish without netting it and soon we had the boat back under control.
''We were back to fishing quickly, realizing the musky were in a feeding frenzy. And having no idea how long the feeding window would remain open, Russ decided to return straight to the reed point/area where we hooked and landed the first tiger.
''Not more then 15 minutes into the area I hooked a third fish. I got a good look at it and thought it might be an inch or two larger then the others. While Smity kept the boat out of the reeds, I enjoyed playing the fish.''
Then things changed as fast as the wind had.
''I was just so excited, we knew we had a big fish on,'' he said. ''It snapped my rod down on the gunnels. For 30 or 40 seconds, I had no control over the fish.
''Suddenly, the fish stripped off 25 to 50 feet of line like nothing, and I was helpless to stop the strong run. I shouted to Smity that the fish was going nuts and I could not slow it down. As quickly as the fish took control, I was able to regain my line and brought a nice 40-incher boatside.''
A 40-inch fish is nice, but an experienced fisherman like Grek, whose biggest muskie is a 48-incher estimated at 28½ pounds caught on Clear Lake, could handle it.
''As I swung the muskie to Smity's side of the boat to allow him to release it, we both saw the huge gashes in the sides of our fish,'' Grek said. ''The wounds were fresh and still bleeding. The monster from Birch had struck my 40-incher. We boated the fish and measured the gashes: On one side 12 inches long, and on the other about 5 inches. We did not see the monster, but we had just met her.''
They suspect the fish that T-boned the one Grek was reeling in was a 40-pound-plus muskie caught and released a couple years back.
''No one would believe us if I said there was a 12-inch gash on this fish, or marks on both sides of the fish,'' said Grek, who never even had a bluegill attacked while reeling it in. ''We had the good sense to take pictures of both marks.''
Then they released the fish.
The winds calmed. The white caps stopped. Fish stopped raising. The window was shut.
Grek said, ''Whatever had happened, it triggered the fish.'' |
