beginners luck..yay?!!?

[carl schenk]

One of my nieces drove up from Alabama for a visit and wanted to do some fishing.  We decided on Sunday night to take advantage of the free weekend and hit the river for a few hours. She had never caught a muskie but had seen some of my pictures. Before we left I had her view a video that demonstrated the proper handling of the fish just in case. After a couple hours she suddenly tells me "FISH!!".  I look up from the graph and see her cranking the handle basically full speed and figure walleye or bass. Even though half the time she isn't gaining line she is still cranking away and suddenly I see the fish come into view of our headlamps. Nice muskie!! I'm ready with the net and she brings it in as if she's been doing it for years. Initially I thought over 40" but once in the net it was apparent that it was a nice hefty fish over 45".  She left the unhooking job to me, at my insistence, and we just did a quick water measurement showing past the 46" mark with still a bend in the tail. We were happy enough with that and next came on the job training as I quickly demonstrated how to slide up for a grip. She overcame her fear and locked her grip and did a beautiful job of holding and supporting the big girl for the lift and photos. Calm as could be she lowered it back into the water and we watched it slowly disappear. At that point the adrenaline kicked in and she was on cloud nine. That was so much better than it would have been if I had caught it and I kinda think her cheek muscles might hurt from keeping that big grin for the remainder of the night. Now I'm afraid the rest of the relatives are going to expect the same results from Uncle Carl..

[John Pensyl]

Awesome job Carl. Her smile says it all. Well done.

[Jay Nannen]

If she lives to be 100 she will never forget that moment.  Well done Sir!

[Scott McKee]

Ladies and gentlemen, here's the first entry in the Fishing Report of the Year!  WELL DONE, Team Schenk!!!!!!!!!! Great stuff!

PS: You called it, Carl. You will be getting phone calls, texts, emails, etc. from relatives you've never met, "can we go musky fishing?"

[John Jarosz]

Well done! She didn't even need that headlamp. I bet that smile could be seen as a bright light from Niagara Falls

[Carrie Keane]

I LOVE this report!!!

[Tony Scime]

Great job Carl. We all want to go fishing with you!

[John Miller]

Captain Carl great job getting your niece hooked up!