Fishing gurus, experts, or just hacks like me???

[dpear]

OK,sort of related to this topic I guess.Was asked to find the 'Big Mother' interview.Here's the unedited version.



AN INTERVIEW WITH BIG MOTHER
For years I had heard about her.Often on the dock at days end,’that Big mother got away’,but heck I’ve heard ‘Big Mother’ stories wherever muskie gals and guys gather.Over the years I’d likely even had a glimpse or two of her but then,last summer on Lake Of The Woods,I had her on briefly in a sad, heart wrenching experience I wrote about last issue.Still pondering that experience,I thought,if only I could talk to her,get an interview,get her side of all these stories,get answers to those key questions I have every time I head out looking for her,answers from her perspective,a look at fishing through her eyes,wow!
Then I thought,why not?So I put out some feelers and by gosh she granted me an exclusive interview.What follows here are her answers to many of those questions that haunt all of us.Think and enjoy.
DP: Big Mother,I know you’re about ready to head into that Bay over there to spawn so I appreciate you taking the time to meet me here in this adjacent deep hole and answer some questions before ice out.Do you mind if I address you as ‘BM’?
BM: That’s fine,ask away.
DP: BM,I’m a PC guy and know some ladies are sensitive about their weight but I’ve been fishing your kind for a long time,and while I catch(and release)a fair number of muskies,and a few nice ones,frankly I rarely see and never catch any your size-why is that?
BM: Ha,well that’s a broad question,writing a book?Anyway,let me start out by saying a big reason is you don’t practice what you preach.You preach’ thinking’and do very little of it.You advocate having a plan,yet rarely follow or stick with one yourself.I see you around occasionally but you’re almost always in such a hurry you don’t see me.Heck,most of the time you just drive right by,going only you know where.
DP: Ouch,is thinking or having a plan the wrong way to go?Can you get into a few specifics here?
BM: No,thinking and planning is the only way to go-absent blind luck-but you must practice what you preach.You don’t have to make it rocket science either.I hate to sound Al Goreish or like a ‘green’ weinie,but never forget, ‘environment’ means everything to us.We are ectotherms after all.
DP: Ecto what?
BM: Ectotherms.Often we are referred to as cold blooded(a misnomer),but really it just means we have no internal system to regulate our temperature and therefore depend on outside(ecto)sources to establish our temperature(therm).We pretty much are what our environment is.If the water is cold,so am I,get it?I think you do,I’ve read your writings on our ‘comfort zones’ and what we like and dislike,yet you really don’t seem to keep the importance of our environment in mind when fishing.I’ve been around a long time,I’ll be 26 in May,and I’ve learned how to deal efficiently in my environment.At my age,I don’t have to struggle and scramble for food,I wait til conditions suit me before I feed.You know pretty much what conditions I like,wouldn’t it make sense to focus on them more?To always consider them?To consider the effects weather and other factors might have on them-and therefore on me?Some conditions cause stress and make me react differently,if you want to find me under stressful conditions,you have to know and understand my environment-and just how I react to change and stress.
DP: Ah,I get it.Okay lets talk a bit about your environment and conditions that stress you out.What are they?
BM: Well there are a number of them,natural and man made but a main one is weather.Weather is something you should always consider when looking for me.Before and during your fishing trips.Of course it’s a broad subject-I guess winter and ice conditions are an extreme example of ‘weather’ with profound implications on my location and activity level- but I’d suggest you focus your questions on fishing season issues.
DP: I agree,well let me go right to the dreaded ‘cold front’ issue.Do cold fronts really have a significant effect on you?
BM: Ha,a Bozo question,what do you think?I could spend an hour on this but to avoid more stupid questions I’ll just discuss it generally.
First,as you hopefully know,a cold front is a low pressure system that most often brings with it high humidity,wind,rain,and warm temps.Its ‘change’ but change that’s largely good for me in terms of comfort be it temperature,oxygen,water pressure,PH,light penetration,whatever.This affects prey as well.It almost always is a period of great activity underwater and presents me with a significant feeding opportunity.Never forget,my computer has a chip that contains a genetic program developed over eons of time and through experience that tells me when and where to go to have an advantage over my prey.Sweet huh?Give me a comfortable opportunity to pig out and I’ll be there.Smart fishermen will be also.
However,whether listening to politicians preach it,or fishermen praise it,never forget that ‘change’ is a two edged sword.The problem isn’t cold fronts,it’s what follows them.High pressure,’high’ skies(increased light penetration)and lower temperatures among other changes, combine to stress me out.When water temp drops,so does mine.Remember though,its not only the drop in temperature,which sometimes isn’t that drastic,it’s the high pressure(air and water)that affects my bladder and therefore my neutral buoyancy-talk about a gas problem!The more drastic the change,the more it affects me.The pressure may actually cause me to change depth ,or it just may make me lie dormant in place, but it’s a serious gas problem.Throw in blinding bright light,a likely PH change caused by the fronts accompanying rain,and you have a situation where my sisters and I aren’t much interested in your feeble presentation efforts.Oh sure,we may have a few young,small, nephews and nieces running around still chasing things,despite their reduced metabolic rates, but usually even they get the word and lay low until they can adapt and conditions improve.Does this help you appreciate the effects of a cold front?
DP: Indeed.It makes it seem nearly futile to fish after such a front.Is it a waste of time?
BM: Well its sure tougher fishing and its very unlikely you’ll ever get me but,to be honest,every now and then a sister does get caught in post front conditions.Anticipating some questions,let me give you some general rules and ideas.
First,there’s no excuse for not being aware of an impending front and taking advantage of the increased activity preceding and during the front.Hate to admit this,but I’m more vulnerable then than any other time.
Next, don’t automatically assume I’ll go deeper post front.In clearer water I may,but other times I may go shallower to warm up in the sun.
The more drastic the ‘change’,the more profound and longer the negative effect on me.
There are areas where the post front effects are minimized.If I’m in such a spot,I just may grab your lure.For instance in areas where there’s significant water movement(I read about your ‘chaos and turmoil’ theories),wouldn’t water temps,oxygen,PH,etc. be ‘mixed’ and therefore change minimized?Ditto on light penetration?Ditto on water pressure?Wouldn’t prey be concentrated?Think Bozo, think.
If my metabolic rate has slowed,I guarantee I’ll move slower and travel less so think about what this means in terms of your presentation.However,I’m rarely inclined to pass up a free morsel right in my face so….Can you say ‘reduced strike window’?
Time heals all is an old phrase that holds true.I’ll get more active as time passes and I adapt.Combine that passage of time with other environmental ‘edges’ such as dusk and a surface bait and who knows what I might do?Like most females,I’ve been known to lose control.
Are you done soon?
DP: Heck no,I’m just getting started.I’d like to chat about some other conditions that cause you stress-and how you react to them.You said there were a number of natural and man made ones.What about thunder and lightning?Algae growth?Wind?Fishing pressure?I even want to chat about the ‘Cowgirl’ thing a bit-that must cause you some stress.
BM: Well right now I’m short on time and I have a date in yonder bay but I’ll meet you after spawning IF you agree to leave the Cowgirl type baits and questions at home.
DP:Wait,wait,wait,what do you mean leave those kinds of baits home,are they causing you that much stress?
BM: Shut that recorder off,we’re going off record.NOW!
Well folks,that’s it for now I’m afraid.She was mad and went into a rant about the ‘Cowgirl’ type baits(in fact she fumed about more new ones coming out,Gerry's Girls,Turbines,etc)She was upset about the fact few of us,if anyone,had a clue as to why a number of her sisters had succumbed to them.How she had nearly bit one and on and on.I tried to placate her by saying I understood that they must nearly short circuit her lateral line but that only led to a further rant about how little I(we)knew,how we should know that her swim bladder,like her lateral line,is very sensitive to ‘vibration’ and is also connected to her sensory system and then,suddenly she stopped talking and said” that’s it,I’ve said enough,I’m done talking.”
She did promise to talk further after spawning so tune in next issue,I’ll get the answers.
Good fishing!
Remember:thinking is just being thoughtful.
Dick
copyright DP