| Here's a quick tale for you, something to help the mid-winter pass...
Lst weekend I was ice fishing on Lake X. It was my favorite new musky water last summer, lots of action and no pressure, and I had run across a few really nice walleye. So, back to last weekend, I had tip ups out for walleye, goin' for the big ones with 5" walleye suckers. 10lb mono leader, by jingo. A neighbor said someone had accidentally caught a musky the day before. I was walking a baited tip up to a new hole, and it being real cold and me in a hurry, I clipped my bright orange depth finder on the treble just above the chunky minnow and let her drop to the bottom. I set my little marker bobber below the spool and started bringing the rig up when it became stuck. Thinking timber, I gave it slack to drop out, but it didn't drop. Instead, it pulled back hard, once, and that was it, nuttin' but slack again. I pulled it up and the hook, bait and depth finder were gone, plus about 4 inches of line.
Musky. Big one. I guessed it was about 54 inches, based on the mighty power of that single tug. The line cut off my left pinky. When I bent over to pick up my finger, there she was, looking through the ice at me. She was a 60 incher, lads. I reached for my pinky and that' when she made her move. Hit the ice like a titan missile. I somehow scrambled backward as the ice screamed and exploded all around. She didn't get me but my truck fell through. They pulled it out with a Coast Guard helicopter, cost me $3,200. On shore, I opened the door of the truck and the musky jumped out and bit the back of my neck, flopped onto the ice, smashed through with one mighty blow of her tail and she was gone. I got 79 stitches and a bill for $745 at the hospital but the HMO won't cover it, says "I had it coming." Still woozy from the morphine, I called my insurance man about the truck. He laughed so hard he dropped the phone. Then he dropped my auto policy. Got a $4,621.21 "environmental hazard clean up" "order to pay" bill in the mail from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Couldn't pay it within the 14-hour deadline, got a "contempt of court" fine, $1,200, from the local magistrate. Those 3, the Guard, DEQ and the judge are all in the same building. Next to the hospital. I think they've got a scam goin. And, the more I think about it, the more I believe its the musky thats the brains behind the operation.
Ok, how does that tale rate, whopper-wise in mid-winter, on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being "I was skinny dippin' and I caught a 32 incher on my wang-dang-doodle"??
Ranger
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