What's your first muskie?

[Tony Scime]

I remember mine quite well. I trolled and cast for a good 200 hours before I caught her. Of course, this was before the NMA or anyone else who would teach you much. Most of my early muskie info came from Fishing Facts magazine. Including all about Buck Perry's spoonplugs. And I caught him/her on a spoonplug. Frog colored. West side of Strawberry. A gargantuan 22"er! I have a picture of her somewhere. I was very excited. That was 35 years ago. I can't imagine trolling spoonplugs in the summer anymore. Weeds and moss must have been a much lesser problem then.

I had to wait for my first 48"er. By then I was fishing Nipissing. Had action when casting but the big girls would just follow slowly or miss the bait. Then I read "The Summer Muskie" by Tony Rizzo. Something about speed trolling, if you can. Have to go fast in the summer.  And Homer LeBlanc wrote about trolling in the prop-wash. Nipissing is big and weedy, so I thought I'd give it a try. Speed-trolled an old wooden bait pikie, in perch, ten to 15 feet back. Took about 15 minutes ripping through heavy weeds when she hit. Thought it was a snag. It was a thick 48"er! That was quite a thrill, and really opened up a great way to catch big muskies at the big Nip! That was 1983.

My first big Niagara River fish was caught in November. Nobody but me and my dog Charlie fished for muskies on the Niagara in November back then. We were the only boat on the water. Charlie began whining that he had to take a wicked piss (he was a talking dog, we had many and long conversations about many facets of existence, but this was short and simple and limited to pissing). So I said ok, we'll speed troll up to Strawberry (where he could find relief), and I rev'd the motor up to about 5mph going upstream. Charlie seemed satisfied, though somewhat anxious. I was trolling  a Bagley DB06, perch, bouncing bottom in about 15 feet of water. The lure stopped, the drag zinged, and Charlie and I boated a gargantuan (by 1980s Niagara River standards) muskellunge. It had a 48" fork length (I think Larry Ramsell suggested that as a fairer measurement - no problems with tail pinching and the such). Tip of the tail might have been 50. In the excitement Charlie forgot all about what initiated the event. Funny, my largest Niagara River musky would have never had happened but for a dog who had to take a wicked piss. That was 1986. Charlie and I fished together for 15 years. So many Charlie stories. He was big and lean and scared people. I still miss that dog.

Incidentally, the numbers of mid to upper 40s caught this June in the Niagara could never have happened in the 1970s and 80s. Fish averaged 30"s, and a 40 was a rare and powerful beast. Catch and release made it happen.

So what was your first?    

[John Pensyl]

My first musky was an incidental catch in the lower. Was a 47.5" fish from the platform caught on a shadrap while I was banging away at smallmouths. A couple years later I bought some musky gear and my first targeted musky came from the shoreline down there on a double bladed bluefox bucktail. 1st upper river fish was from my little 14 foot aluminum that u may see Cullen out in occasionally now. (He pimped it out). We casted all day and tried to fig out the whole tube thing. At the end of the day we tried to troll the huntly wall and while reeling in my baby d raider that was probably back 300 feet I got a 28-30 incher that made our day..lol