Joe's First Musky Hunt! - Report - 7/17/10

I knew this kid had something special when he made his first ever cast with a musky rod and reel setup. Joe, who is going into 5th grade this year, bombed the monster Bull Dawg out to the weed edge with authority and then pumped it back to the boat with ease, finessing it over the tops of the weeds. He had natural ability…I have never until now seen a kid throw a big lure like Joe. The wind was blowing out of the W-SW at 10 mph and a few clouds were moving in as we looked out over the horizon. The water surface temperature was reading between 73 and 76 degrees as we started our afternoon fishing trip. For two hours we pounded the water to a froth with only one strike to show for our efforts but Joe and his dad Cal and his grandpa kept at it. At 6pm Joe grunted and I looked over to see his 7 foot St. Croix musky rod double over as he set the hooks on a nice fish! Joe battled the musky in from way out and as the fish jumped I could see she was hooked well. In fact, Joe set the hooks so hard that the reel handles were temporarily ripped off the reel! I netted the fish and soon Joe was holding his first musky on his first ever musky hunt, a beautiful 38.5 incher! The video camera was rolling and the fish was released to fight another day. We continued fishing and at 8:15pm I heard once again the tell-tale whip of the St. Croix as Joe set the hooks into yet another musky! This fish fought even harder as we got her suspended over deep water. Finally the fish surfaced and a dark colored, deep water musky was now in the net. Joe then CPR’d his second musky, #2 for the evening, measuring 37 inches!!! What an evening on the water!…It just does not get any better! Congratulations Joe!!!

Fishing the deep weed edge and then moving out deeper and following schools of suspended baitfish was the key to our success yesterday afternoon. This morning’s musky hunt with Jerry and Cory was no different as we worked the deep weed edge and finally got a 34 incher to grab a deep diving crankbait around 11:30am. Find the food and you will usually find the muskies! Once you determine where the baitfish are holding be sure to continue working these areas during peak times of the day and when conditions change.

Good luck and fish hard!

Chas Martin

http://www.muskymastery.com