ugh 2018

[carl schenk]

Decided to get off the couch and headed down to the boat launch Wednesday night.  Moon was still pretty full and had come up shortly before arrival. I started a cross stream trolling pass going toward shore. Turned the boat outward as it got shallow and was just getting the lure straight behind the boat when a feisty 39" grabbed it. Easy time getting the fish to the boat and I was ready with the net in the water when the fish propelled itself a few feet out of the water and completely over the net, splashing down on the opposite side. Pretty cool to experience right in front of my face but glad it didn't land in my lap. After circling the fish back around the second attempt went smoothly. Five minutes fishing time.. Continued trolling for a short while and the lure was stopped dead. I jerked the rod forward and was solidly hooked up to another muskie.  The fish came to the surface and sort of wallowed at the top, not really jumping but just splashing for quite a while. I kept pressure on and could feel good weight as the fish finally went down and continued strongly jerking its head during the battle. Steadily the fish came up towards the boat and when it was in view is when I made the mistake of grabbing the net. It turns out I could have used one more crank of the handle. The fish was tired and went into a glide towards me and I put the net down into the water. I would have brought the fish more towards the surface but there was too much line out. I pushed the net down deeper into the water and the fish entered beautifully into the opening but just after the gills passed the rim it came to an abrupt stop as the hook not in the corner of its mouth caught the mesh. I tried to scoop it but as I pushed the net towards the fish it simply moved the fish backwards, so now the fish is outside of the net but the hook in the net is remaining attached. I brought it back and forth a few times with the same result. Muskie partway into the net, muskie back out of the net, muskie partway into the net, muskie out of the net, muskie partway into the net, muskie back out of the net..damn. I thought if I somehow spin the fish around I could get the tail end over the net so I pulled the fish in a arc behind the boat and back alongside me. It didn't accomplish the desired result but now the fish was laying at the surface parallel the boat directly in front of me. From the time the fish began the glide to the boat and throughout everything I've done it has remained calm. It was still doing nothing so I figured it might be possible to just grab the handle and hang on. Everything just laying there before me looked like a go,the hook stuck in net and the other hook stuck in corner of the mouth were both visible so I began to lift the gill plate and slide my fingers up when the fish finally decided rest time was over. My attempt to hold on didn't work but at least I remained uninjured in the process. The fish went a bit berserk and threw water all over me as it pulled the hook and started toward the bottom. My feeble attempt to net it again only spurred it into disappearing faster. UGH. Shaking my head and smiling while cleaning the water off my glasses I just sat and drifted a minute before calling Tom for a little commiseration time. After that I finally unhooked the lure from the net and proceeded on to look for another playmate. No more action. It doesn't get much closer and I've decided to count it as a mid 40s Scime release..lol.

[Jay Nannen]

Great story Carl!  I felt like I was sitting next to you.  You got everything musky fishing has to offer except a measurement and a hero shot.

[thomas reinhardt]

 fine account Carl , thought for sure you would get slammed again.  So many times action right off the bat ,then zippo.