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Created by Scott McKee Oct 31, 2018 at 1:09pm. Last updated by Scott McKee Oct 31, 2018.

Thank you, Jay!

This site is sponsored by NMA Member Jay Nannen.

One of my life goals has been to catch a 50" fish in Buffalo Harbor casting.  I have put in considerable time and energy toward this goal over the past decade plus years and have yet to break 45" casting up there.  Trolling, I have been fortunate to have a few nice ones, but the elusive casting fish is always on my mind.   

Since selling my boat recently, I have been perfecting my shore muskie angling skills in between the generous boat outings I have been fortunate to have with those kind enough to invite me (thank you kindly everyone who has taken me).  

Fishing from shore for muskies is not an easy task, and one I would not recommend unless you have handled quite a few fish. The dangers exist for both the angler and fish. I have a really good system that has been working and am fortunate to have caught and safely released a nice number of fish from shore over the past few seasons.   One of the main keys (besides finding fish) is finding a safe spot to land and release them.  I have about a dozen good spots in the river and harbor, but the harbor hasn't produced even a follow in well over five years for me from shore.  

I guess that is why I was so surprised when on my 5th cast of the day my soft plastic bait just stopped dead.  I thought I was snagged but knew better because I knew the spot, depth and lure so well I knew it was in the top 5 feet of the water column.   Slowly the snag comes to the surface and it was a tank of a fish.  Big crocodile head.  Fat beefcake belly. 

She shook her head on the surface, broke the surface,  twisted once belly up, violently, then turned head down and bullrushed toward the bottom.  I saw her big tail kick into the clear waters then she popped off.

I should have set the hook harder.  That was a big mistake.  Since I didn't feel the strike and only felt the weight I hesitated a bit and never really crossed her eyes with a set.   

I can only hope I do not have to wait another 10 years before I get another opportunity like the one I squandered today.  

No matter how many you lose, it always hurts.  But this one is a special kind of hurt.

Josh

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Wow! Almost speechless...

Double WOW!!  Unbelievable!!

You shouldn't feel bad though. It reminds me of when you, I or anybody gives a speech, or gives a presentation, or gives a talk to a group of people. You always give three speeches. The first one is the one that goes thru your mind for days before you give it, with all the innuendos, jokes & sidebars. The 2nd speech is the one you actually give, and the third one is the one that you say to yourself after the speech, when you're relaxing at home & thinking of all the things you should have said, but didn't. The 3rd speech is usually the best.

I look at fishing the same way. 1st, how I'm going to play a fish when I get it. It goes thru my mind for days ahead of time; 2nd how I actually played it when I got it & the 3rd (and certainly the best) what I SHOULD have done but didn't. That one is the most memorable!

Anyway, a BIG CONGRATS for just hooking it. Some people never get to the step 2. 

Maybe you can go knock on her door in a day or two to see if she is home.

Don't cry because it is over

Smile because it happened

I agree with Jay. Enjoy the experience of the event.

It's funny, but many of my "best", or at least memorable musky experiences are of fish that I've lost. You'll wonder forever how big it might have been. Even of fish I've never seen. Haunt you forever in a sense, but a memory which might eclipse those of all the fish you actually caught. I still feel the powerful headshakes, the dead weight below the boat which I just can't budge, the fish that keep running and I just can't stop, the profound disappointment when that hook pops out. And this is many decades later. Still shaking my head. But still relish the experience and the memories of giant fish forever lost.

Sometimes the girlfriends you remember most are the ones that hurt you the deepest?

sickening feeling, but at least you got to see it. had that happen so many times over the last 34 years.at night sometimes its worse when their just out of sight and your line goes limp. hang in there you will get another one!

Josh you are young enough to land one bigger than that. Do me a favor and catch it while fishing with me next season.

If anyone is going out Monday, alone, and has room for me I would gladly tag along. hgad an offer to be number three but two line per person dictates only 2 per boat in my opinion.

Frank 531 2830

good message tony ,right on the money.

Went back today looking for her.  Nada.

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