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| I was an early arrival and one of the last to leave. I haven't had that much fun in years, and it sure seemed that others had a blast, too. Here are some highlights that come to mind....
* Amazing facilities! The "cabins" were new, small houses, each with four bedrooms, two full baths, gas fireplaces, dishwashers, ceiling fans, decks, etc. The dock system was also terrific, with electric and plenty of space for everyone.
* It was funny to see my small but proud 14' Blue Fin among all those killer rigs. Jeeze, there must have been a quarter to a half million dollars worth of musky boats at the outing. Even Phish Killer's 14' Lund is a sweet rig, though like me he was forced to fish close to the resort. Due to the wind, the bigger boats were absolutely necessary to run to distant hot spots, and fish safe when you got there. Riding in Mike's Gambler (at 45mph into a 20mph wind) was a real treat. Jason Smith took a lot of lucky people out in his boat.
* We sure had all kinds of people represented at the outing! Old farts, young bucks, get-highs, stay-straights, city people, country folk, cops, hammer-swingers, CEO's, etc. It was great to meet the folks I chat with on the Board. Every single person was VERY friendly and generous with tips, food and beer. No one strutted around like "King of the Musky Fisherman", even though a couple guys are obviously master musky hunters.
* At the risk of bragging....the eats were GREAT. Major mid-day meals included Phish Killers' hams, my triple kick-ass spagetti, Al's hand-cut rib eye steaks, and Treats' grilled salmon. We also had lots of shared goodies, such as Shep's venison sausage and let's not forget the wings. (I made enough "Sponge Bob Spicy Wings" to overflow a 5 gal bucket, and next year I'm going to make twice as many.) We ate up leftovers at night. Pappa Joe and FishOn donated lots of beers, too.
* Cass Lake has a lot of high quality fish. Everyone saw muskies, I had at least 6-8 big follows myself. Pike were very active, as were the bass, and some nice eyes were caught by a few of the guys. It was very dissapointing to see some locals putting out a 300' gill net one evening; Phish Killer was the first to spot their piles of discarded pike and panfish on the nearby shore.
* A seagull tried to crap on FishOn, I was right there and saw the whole thing. That bugger came in on a glide path straight at the bow of the boat, stalled 25 feet out, aimed it's pooper and squired about quarter cup right at Lynn. Just missed. Next year I will offer a bounty - $5 for each seagull you can knock out of the air on a cast.
* Phish On was really tired one afternoon. When a big musky emgulfed his crank bait, he forgot to set the hook. Instead, he lowered his rod tip and turned to his buddy and whispered, "Shhhhhhhhhhhh, there's a big fish right there." By the time he came to his senses, it was too late.
* Al Warner, one of the very best cooks in the gang, caught his fat 44"er on barbless hooks. Pretty impressive, eh? Shady was telling folks to "dull down your hooks", explaining that dull hooks catch more fish.
* MarkH's hooked hand was a bummer, and I can relate. I would hope folks are reminded to use proper care in dealing with the fish. It is very, very easy to get badly hooked, and doing so at the beginning of one of these outings would be a shame. You guys who continue to use bare hands to remove hooks/lures WILL eventually get hooked and have go to the hospital, it's just a matter of time.
Well, that's enough descriptions for now. It was a great trip and I'm going back next year for sure. I'll do the meal planning thing again, too.
Ranger
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| Next time....your first on my list to take out Ranger!![:bigsmile:]
I got to fish with 8 folks from the site, it was a real pleasure to meet the everyone and get to fish with them.
Thanks to these guys for a great time this week in the boat.
Fish On
Unfortunate one
Mikie
Papa Joe
Theddz
Mike
Born to fish
Born to fish's buddy, Kevin
Next year we are going to schedule time..so everyone gets to fish at least a morning or evening with Steve Worrall, myself and other MF pro's we have on site.
Everyone shared alot and I made a point at evening meetings that everyone there at the meeting knew what is working and where. We had a map there with push pins on it and everyone marked where they moved fish. Lots of good fishing minds all joined together for a group cause. None of us had ever really fished the lake much so everything was so new and fun to learn. Water temps were down 10 to 15 degrees since the last two tournaments on those waters this month so a lot of that information did not help much. Water temps were 52 in spots by the end of the week. It was cold, 28 degrees in the morning and windy and 45 in the afternoon with some rain and hail at times. Some days better then others, but no rock solid constant weather pattern.
Monday me and Fish On went to Leech in the afternoon and blanked. Rain and hail, NW winds..35mph
Tuesday we moved about 6 fish and Fish ON got a 38" on Topwater so that was cool. SW wind and blowing
Wednesday I got to fish with Papa Joe and Mikie...a couple of great guys. We moved three good fish, I put hooks in two and came out batting 500. I lost one in the 46" to 47" class then twenty minutes later I got a 48" on a Squirkco. North wind and cloudy
The best was a single breakline I found on Thursday at 2:30 in the afternoon. I made a drift with Mike and Theddz and we saw 4 muskies in the 45" class. We made another drift and saw 3 more, one in the 50" class. Mike Koepp and Sankey drove by and I flagged them down. They started drifting and seeing fish. Every drift we used differnt baits to get something to trigger. I lost a 45" on a 8" Slammer and did a mighty fine tap dance on the front deck.[:knockout:]. Mike follow right behind me on the drift and sticks a 46.5"...gets on the radio and Shep and Cady come for the pics. Nice fat fish. Later Dave J with Shep gets a 40" on the same spot. Worrall and Hintz even joined in on the fun. Total 27 fish moved in 4hrs with two fish boated on 200 yards of shoreline.[:bigsmile:] We moved only two more fish there the rest of the week...[:blackeye:]. Calm in the morning, heavy SW wind in the afternoon.
Friday..flat calm...mile high skys.. I just get done fishing a bar and see Koepp and Sankey pull up and decide to troll to me starting in 80ft of water. I was 30 yards from them and Mike got a 43.5" trolling in no mans land.[:)] Blind squirral found a nut![:bigsmile:]
Saturday Worrall keeped blowing the same good fish all the time. Mike fishing with Theddz also blew a good fish twice. Maybe we should have a discusion on hook sharping on site...hahaha[:p] I also moved a couple a dandys on Saturday in the 50" range but they did not like the color of my boat.[:0] [:(]. Northeast winds 15mph and cool with drizzle.
Lots of the guys went to Big lake also and there were some mid fortys caught over there by duck and Shady as well as some other fish.
Sunday we had to go home.....life sucks sometime.
Great time had by all.
Cant wait tell next year....I locked the dates..22nd thru 30th or so. |
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| Whoops, it was Phish Killer who did the "Shhhhhhhhh.....I've got a bite."
Also, I forgot to mention Mikie's killer homemade cornbread, I think he made at least 6 big pans of it during the week.
Jason, I'll take you up on your offer to go fishing sometime, but I was very content to spend most of the trip fishing in my boat with Al, Lynn and Paul.
When can we send in the deposits for next year?! |
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| In a previous post,I forgot to thank all of the cooks. Well,THANKS!!!! I and the rest of the group at like kings.All of the meals were fisrt class and plenty of food for 2nds or 3rds.I also need to say THANKS to Sponge Bob for the seasonings,you were talked about,(in a good way),all the time,next year,be there!
Jason,thanks for the ride and my biggest pike of the trip.
Ranger,thanks for taking me out fishing and EVERYthing else you helped me with in camp.I will do a U.P. trip next June,plan on it.
And last,THANKS to everyone who attended,you made the trip memorable to say the least.The info sharing was exactally that,sharing spots,lures and techniques.THANKS! Paul
"It ain't easy being freaky..." |
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| Hey, guys! I've not much time right now but would be seriously amiss for not giving a huge THANK YOU! to:
* everyone who came out for the event. Without the numbers, we couldn't have done what we did. It was great to meet you all and put a face and smile with the name.
* Steve Cady for getting this together. He made it look easy, we all know it was not.
* Jason Smith, Muskie Treats, Steve Cady, and DUCK for letting me fish with them in their boats. Words can't describe how much I learned and the enjoyment of watching these guys fish the way it should be done.
* PAPA JOE for his companionship, instruction, smiles, and tolerance (he should have beat my a## at least twice!).
* Gamblin Mike for the opportunity to see at least one more cool boat on the water! Your encouragement and wisdom are deeply appreciated.
* Ranger for being so way-cool.
* Steve Worrall for having it all together. You da' best.
* and the cooks, including Al (thanks for the expert electrical troubleshooting, too), Ranger, Treats, I know I'm forgetting quite a few.
* my cabin-mates for putting up with me!
* Break on the Lake for hosting the event and providing world class accommodations.
* and, of course, the wife and family for giving me 10 days off my normal duties to do what I love (second)best. Without their support, I'd have been home.
Speaking of world class, where could I have gone to hang out with some world-class people who are also real decent muskie fishermen, learn so much, and see such big fish. I'm still a charter member of Empty Handed Safaris, Inc. but I do believe I enjoyed the trip as much if not more than anyone.
Thanks, MuskieFirst.com. You'll always be first, you promote muskie fishing the way it should be done: one angler at a time! mm[:bigsmile:] [:bigsmile:] [:bigsmile:] |
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| Mikie....
Fishing with you is world class!
Your going to get that good one....I KNOW IT![;)] [:bigsmile:] |
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| You're right - even if I have to fight the pole away from you! LOL. I made some real progress with the bait caster by the end of last week, and I'm trying to talk Tony Grant into driving me around The Cave in my Gambler this month.
Daggone, Jason, those photos of you with that 48 and the walleye sure do warm my heart. Thanks again for such a wonderful week. m[:bigsmile:] |
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