Tom Dietz
10-11-2010, 07:15 PM
My partner Aaron Templin and I took 6th Place in the 2010 Professional Musky Tournament Trail Championship Event on Lake Minnetonka this past weekend. The top 50 teams in the country competed for a brand new Ranger 619VS boat and cash. We battled flat calm conditions and unseasonably HOT temperatures well up in the upper 80's which is the kiss of death for fall musky fishing. We toughed it out and never lost faith, as only three teams boated fish after day one.
On Sunday, we fished a number of key spots and I managed one lazy follow early from a forty incher. We kept bouncing from some deeper water spots to our shallow water spots, and finally, at 12:20pm, I caught this dandy forty-five incher that leaped us up into sixth place overall in the tournament. I was casting a purple/gold Double Cowgirl along the inside edge of a big milfoil bed and the musky roared in and train wrecked me on the figure 8 at boatside in two and a half feet of water. Aaron made a great net job after a violent fight (she ripped out drag twice) and we were able to finish the year on a strong note. We never gave up, and fought the tough fishing conditions to score on a nice fish. It truly shows you that you cannot ever give up because you never know when that active fish will show herself, bad weather conditions or not.
On Sunday, we fished a number of key spots and I managed one lazy follow early from a forty incher. We kept bouncing from some deeper water spots to our shallow water spots, and finally, at 12:20pm, I caught this dandy forty-five incher that leaped us up into sixth place overall in the tournament. I was casting a purple/gold Double Cowgirl along the inside edge of a big milfoil bed and the musky roared in and train wrecked me on the figure 8 at boatside in two and a half feet of water. Aaron made a great net job after a violent fight (she ripped out drag twice) and we were able to finish the year on a strong note. We never gave up, and fought the tough fishing conditions to score on a nice fish. It truly shows you that you cannot ever give up because you never know when that active fish will show herself, bad weather conditions or not.