July 6 report

[Tony Scime]

Went out this morning and fished from 6am to 12:30. Planned for this morning because all week the weather forecast was for showers and maybe a thunderstorm. I like showers for muskie fishing. This morning the forecast changed to mostly sunny, light sw winds, and a high of 85. A bit sultry, not the best for muskie fishing. But the winds were sw (the best muskie wind in many places), and a front was coming tomorrow. But was it too early for the front to have an affect?

Started with a couple Frenchman's drifts. Nothing. Went up to the Thompson's drift. Funny about the Thompson's drift, it seems that I always hook a fish first drift right at the top of the drift. So I throw out a black monster tube and let it fall to the bottom. Maneuver the boat a bit to move shallower (to about 25 feet). My line goes completely slack. While drifting for muskies with tubes slack line is very good (although very bad while fighting a fish to the boat). Slack line while fishing is most often caused by a fish. So I reel in the slack and set the hook. Yes it's a fish. Fight it to the boat and have a nice forty inch (give or take an inch or two) boat side. Seems to be hooked well. Now most times I wouldn't bother netting and would let the fish shake off (they do that quite well). But I'm in the tagging study so I'd like to tag this fish. I grab the net and as I start to net the fish the netting gets caught in a boat cleat. Have the fish half way in the net but can't get anymore in. The fish shakes and the hooks come out. The muskie, realizing it is free, rests momentarily and then slowly swims away. Usually that's exactly what I want, no fuss, no muss, healthy muskie, healthy me. But no tag. Sorry John J., I'll try to do better next time.

It does seem that my solo netting success has gone way down since I bought one of the bigger Beckman's. It's a great net when using two arms but my old net was smaller and just easier to handle with one arm when fishing solo. Maybe next time I'll bring my old net.  

One or two drifts later I have another fish. Bring it to the boat. It's smaller than the other, maybe 35 inches. Should I net it? I look at it, it looks at me. Usually I would never net a muskie this small, but I would really like to tag one. So I reach ..... oops. It shakes and it's gone. Tagging muskies while fishing alone might be more difficult that I thought. 

A few more drifts with nothing, so I move down to Strawberry. A couple drifts along Strawberry at different depths result in nothing. The breeze picked up a bit (maybe to 8 knots) so I figure I'd try another drift below Frenchman's, which is often productive on windier days (which this really is not). 

It's around 10:00am and I'm sitting in my chair, munching on a granola bar and contemplating an east river troll while dragging a green tube near the end of the Frenchman's drift. I notice that my rod has a bend to it. It was strange because I didn't feel any hit, didn't see any line movement. Just a bend in the rod. Didn't really feel much weight. "Do I have a muskie?" I ask myself. The bend gets a bit deeper. "I think I have a muskie..." I say to myself. "I should really set the hook" I think to myself. So I set the hook, and yes it's a muskie. Sometimes I think tubing is way too easy. I bring the muskie to the boat and it seems well hooked. Another nice plump forty incher (give or take). Okay, I grab the net. Have the fish in the net, it jumps out. Netting muskies is such a stupid thing, I think. But it's still hooked, so I net it.  I want to tag this fish but it has other thoughts and fights hard to escape without being tagged. But after unhooking it I stick it with the tagging gun, but it immediately jolts and twists before I can secure the tag. Shoot. I really don't want to stress this fish anymore than I already have so I let it swim away. It's a lot easier that way, I think.

Sorry John J. But this is my first time trying to tag and I'm gaining invaluable experience. I think I will get better.

I try a couple other spots without success and then do an east river troll from Motor island to the former Holiday Inn. The weeds aren't bad once I'm past the Yacht Club. And really no moss. As I'm nearing the former Holiday Inn I hook, net, and TAG a low 30 incher. 

I think I'm getting this now. At least I got all four fish boatside, giving me a chance to net them if I want.

[John Pensyl]

I'm right with you Tony. It's amazing how many fish I normally just shake free boatside that I lose trying to get in the net to tag. My numbers are going way down. Lol. I bet I've lost 7 or 8 fish this season I normally would have "counted". The extra "handling" I'm doing tagging these fish os more than I'm used to also. Bagging fish I normally wouldn't bag and then fighting them by hand until they let me hold thier tail is making for some slow releases. Been a long time since I've had to revive small fish. I think I'm going to leave the rest of my tagging until the fall when fish release better.

[John Jarosz]

Man, what a hard-luck story! Obviously, the muskies didn't read your tagging instructions, otherwise they would have known what to do. At least you're successful in catching them.

I was going to take my jon boat solo to Bear this morning & try muskies on the fly, leaving my 5 wt at home after heeding some good advice. The jon is light & so I put it on my utility trailer which I bought a winch for a last year & rigged up for launching & retrieving the jon, but will also double for hauling dirt, stones, roto-tillers, lunches, etc. I checked the air pressure, it was on the low side so I fired up the compressor & started refilling. While the nozzle is on, the valve stem bends over & springs a big air leak. I check it out & it has dry-rot where the stem meets the rim. So I check the other side...same/same.

So much for going to Bear. All I needed was to try loading a jon boat & utility trailer (with two flat tires) into the back of my pickup. Off came the tires & off to Goodyear. The good news, like actually hooking four muskies, is that it was a slow day at the store, two stems were replaced, tires leak-checked & they didn't even charge me.

I texted Dan S & told him it was a good thing he got held up at the DMV yesterday otherwise we both would have been loading up my pickup!

[John Jarosz]

Tony...what are you going to do next time?,,take a different net or work with the new one?

[Tony Scime]

I'll probably keep working with the newer net. I think I'm getting the hang of it again. I may be just out of practice - I don't like dealing with nets if I don't need to and I think it's a lot better for the fish to let them shake off. So I rarely use them anymore unless I'm netting a big fish for McKee at Nipissing!

Part of the problem is that the muskies unhook the tubes pretty easily, so I just let them. With trolling or casting lures with two or more trebles, sometimes you have to net to unhook the fish.

Also, I do agree with John P. I think it might be best to hold off til fall. Right now the water temps are over 70 (my surface sensor read 70 when I launched and 72.5 when I quit). The fish fight a lot harder and longer when the water temps are higher - making it more difficult to net them and more difficult to tag them. It also increases their stress level from the entire process, which raises all sorts of other issues. In the summer, the less handling the better.

[Tony Scime]

Actually, other than the tagging and netting aspect, I thought I was having good luck!

[Tony Scime]

Boatside losses are included in the Angler Diary Study, so please include them! I would include them in the NMA submissions, too, for the data. So don't worry about "losing" them. They just can't count for the Top Ten or tournaments (maybe they count in jojo's tournament).

I agree that the fish will be a lot easier to handle, and will tolerate the handling a lot better when the water is cooler. Right now the less handling the better.

[John Jarosz]

you know, you're right about that. the other year when Dan S & I were fly-fishing Cassadaga, we had 6 follows in one day and no takers and considered that one of our most successful days.

[John Jarosz]

Tony...even though I'm not in the tagging study, I agree with John P also. We've always said at just about every meeting that the health of the fish tops all else. The only person who knows that health is the one in the boat & if John feels it's risky, then it's risky.

[John Pensyl]

Ok that's good to know. I've been including them in the ADS with a notation at the bottom that they were lost boatside. I'll start putting them in the nma reports too but only if they are clearly identified and right at the boat. It does make sense since it still produces all the data the club learns from whether the fish is in the net or swims away without being touched.

[Scott McKee]

I could have popped the 32" I caught on Wednesday with just a pair of pliers since it only had one treble of the rear hook in its mouth. With the water temps rising quickly I urge all tagging participants to refrain from needling 'Ski's until the water temps start falling.

[Frank Stachowiak]

Congrats on a great day, Tony!

I went out with Joyce last night and the first thing she said was: "No musky gear?" No, just out for a ride.  Went to Harbor Place and talked the guy to let me tie up for 30 minutes.  Went to a booth and got Matties Jambalaya. A real nice catch, without a Beckman!