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Posts: 317
| I took the family on their first camping trip to Minoqua on a whim. We left Wednesday and let me tell you, camping with two boys under the age of three was not a well thought out idea on my part. Anyways, I had done about two hours total of fishing by Friday, and so the wife decides to take the kids to the kids museum in Eagle River. She offered to drop me and the boat off at lake Tomahawk (At Pete Stoltman's urging, guide at Rollies Muskie Shop) in the middle of a sunny, 90 degree Friday (thanks Love!). I did not have high hopes, but hey, I get to fish right? Pete had told me that the fish were weed oriented, and that several large fish had been caught in the last week, including a 50" Tiger. My second spot was s small deep weedbed that I found a few years ago and I raised a large fish on a double 10 of my design right away at 1:30 PM. She was aggressive, but did not eat. She came up once and was not seen again. I knew moonset was at 3:35, so I camped on that spot and pounded it without seeing her or any other fish. At 3:40, I heaved a bomb cast, and started slow rolling the 10's out over the deepest portion of the bed. I had a hit and set the hook and in an instant she came up to the surface broadside. I about choked when I saw how big she was. She made several power runs and I got her to the boat. I got the net tangled in the cleat and she made a powerful dive, taking a good 10 feet of line. She came up and again I was amazed at her size. I dipped the net but the bag wouldn't unfurl properly. She made another surge and I powered her into the net where she almost flopped out. I lunged at her and she fell into the net. Those of you who know me know that I have lost several large fish in the last two years at the boat, but not this time. I lay down and was hyperventilating when I realized that I had no camera, just my phone. Luckily, some boaters saw the commotion and came over. A large family in two boats came to my aide and we corralled the boats together as I unhooked her. Scott and Lori Rusch from Schofield, WI graciously took pictures and helped me measure her. She was squirmy but bumped at 50"+. I didn't pinch the tail so maybe even over 51". They had kids in a tube behind the boat and they came over and pet the fish as I revived her, and she dove deep and swam away clean. (got great release pics) What a great feeling to get a 50! I have to thank the Rusch's for their help, it was great to share that moment with your family. Two days later, I got a call from Lori, she had the photo's developed and waiting for me at the Woodruff Walgreens-thanks again!
Edited by MuskyStalker 8/16/2009 11:18 PM
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Posts: 32885
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Beautiful fish, great story! |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | BIG fish! Very nice looking, looks real heavy. Way to go!
curleytail |
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Posts: 1030
Location: APPLETON, WI | Awesome story and congrats!!! |
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Posts: 1245
Location: Madtown, WI | awesome story! Congrats!!!!
Cory |
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Posts: 727
| Great ski, congrats! |
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Posts: 395
Location: NW WI | NICE fish...way to go!!! Great story too! Nice to see that when things don't go according to plan...the big one still get's into the boat! |
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Posts: 529
Location: Not Where I Want To Be | Very Nice. Nice to see a guy can fit in a little fishing in between family time. |
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Posts: 199
Location: Nebraska | Nice fish! |
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Posts: 250
Location: Pittsburgh, PA | Hey I was looking at your photobucket pics how big was that one smallmouth? |
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | Wow! Nicely done! That was one beautiful fish to catch. |
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Posts: 317
| 18" Smallie from Lake Norfork, Arkansas. |
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Posts: 101
| Congrats on an awesome fish, and doing it 100% yourself. That is not an easy task. Great story along with it!
~Dawg |
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Posts: 250
Location: Pittsburgh, PA | was the girth 18 too that thing is freaking fat. |
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Posts: 663
| Nice job and cool story. I have a lot of memories of squeezing fishing time into family vacations when the kids were small. Glad that worked out for you! It doesn't get much sweeter than that. |
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Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | and you call yourself a musky fisherman... that boat is too clean. |
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Posts: 1
| Great looking fish. Congrats |
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Posts: 231
| I just seen this now. Congrats on a great fish, Joe!! A real pig!!
Chas |
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Posts: 131
| congrats!that's a great fish! |
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Posts: 56
Location: Oak Lawn, IL | Very nice fish Joe! Congrats! |
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