Preachy Fishing Diatribe

[Scott McKee]

I don’t know where to start with this fishing report.  This has been strange year for me on the water.  My defibrillator fired, I was hooked badly in the palm and I’m catching fish fairly consistently (the strangest of the three).  I thought I was done with the weirdness.  What I want everyone who reads this to remember has nothing to do with fishing success.  It has everything to do with safety.  I was lucky tonight.  Joe Wilczewski was lucky tonight.  I was really lucky to have Joe on board.

Let me backtrack a little.  Joe and I had a bit (eleven years) of a curse fishing together on my boat.  On Joe’s boat at least one of us usually catches a musky.  Last year we caught three together on the Sea Nymph.  On my Lund we have never caught a musky together ever, until tonight.

Joe had three hours left in his Monthly Tournament time and jumped on board with me after I finished bass fishing with my brother Bruce and our Buddy Tim.  I don’t think Joe was too confident.  I mean how long did it take for the Red Sox to break their curse?  I was hell bent on getting Joe a musky for the Monthly and we started with my confidence technique, shallow water trolling.  No dice in UN2 and 13 shallow.

Once the sun had set we went deeper.   We messed around in front of Miller Creek Marina for awhile and then I asked him seventeen or twenty-five?  To your average person seventeen or twenty-five doesn’t mean much spoken as such, but Joe knew instantly what I was asking.  Seventeen was his answer.  We headed upstream in seventeen feet of water just off the weed edge in UN13 along the Canadian shoreline.  At 8:30, about half way to UN2, as Joe was continuously pumping his 10” straight Believer in night shiner that was back sixty-nine feet, he had a fish on.  After a nice fight complete with the fish trying to wrap the line around my VMAX, we landed Joe’s 41-incher.  Jubilation ensued.  We had broken the damn curse and we were feeling really good about ourselves.

After his fish swam away we reset our lines and continued our troll.  We hit the seventeen again to the cattails and “S” trolled downstream and trolled it again, all the way to UN2 this time.  In the Triangle we pounded the humps and the twenty foot ridge.  It was here that Joe suggested I pull his new night shiner Depthraider.  I agreed.

On a tiny little hump even with the middle of Strawberry near Lunge Lane, I called fish on.  It felt huge.  Big fish I thought and I let Joe know that.  When he netted my 39” musky I was a little surprised it wasn’t a mid-forty inch musky.  Oh well, don’t get greedy I thought.  The fish hit at 10:30 and I had eighty feet of line out.

I think this has been a nice report so far.  I’ve been specific with the locations of our fish and I let you all know what we caught our fish on.  With most fishing reports this is all the information you should have to glean.  Pay attention now.

Up until now you know why we were both lucky.  We had both caught fish and we had broken our curse.  Here’s why I was lucky to have Joe on board.  During the release process, Joe was helping me cut a hook buried in the flesh near the fish’s gills.  I was pressing on the skin to expose the barb and Joe was cutting.  I think Joe may have bumped me, but I’m not completely sure he did either.  What happened next happened in the blink of an eye.  I was falling out of the boat.  In I went, ass over tea kettle.

After the initial shock of not being in my boat, I instructed Joe not worry about me and release the musky.  He removed the last hook and grabbed my camera.  I pulled the fish from the net and Joe took a true water release picture.

The fish was swimming on or near the surface.  I wanted to swim to it, but also wanted a life jacket just in case something bad (really bad) happened.  By the time Joe threw me the life vest, the fish was gone.  We looked around before and after I returned to the inside of my boat, thanks to power trim and Joe’s Herculean strength.

We motored around for a few minutes and didn’t see the fish.  I hope it’s okay.

After the fact, we both laughed like hell, but…

If I had been by myself I would have had an even more difficult time getting in my boat.  If I had been fishing by myself and the water was cold, I would have been in big trouble.  If this had happened in cold and rough water, well, I don’t want to think about that.   I’ve always scoffed at wearing a life jacket, although I do put one on when I’m running by myself to keep Carrie happy.  I am going to wear one from now on if I’m alone.  They are bulky and uncomfortable, but who cares.  Like I said, if the water was colder and I was alone, I would have been in big trouble.  My brother purchased a ladder for the boat and I am going to keep it in a spot I can access from the water as well.

Joe wanted me to title this report Presidential Assassination Attempt, but I think I'll stick with Preachy Fishing Diatribe.  If you are out by yourself, wear your PFDs.

We fished until 12:15 AM with no more excitement other than the excitement generated by two friends telling stories, pulling lures with confidence and having a good ‘ol time.  Thanks Joe.  Remind me to give you back your fleece.

PS: We did okay bass fishing.  We caught about thirty, with ten over fifteen and five over seventeen.

PPS: I called Tom Page after I was back in my boat and told him the story.  Of course he had a good laugh at my expense.  He ended our conversation with, "Let me know if something exciting happens."  Damn do I love a dry sense of humor.

[Mike "the facilities" Fortunate]

This story is great! !!! Glad ur okay i actually a laughed when i read that you fell in! Just think now you and Jones have something to talk about! I always tell chris that if i fall in he would have to drag me to shore with a rope, BUT this gives me hope!!! Lol

[Frank Stachowiak]

Of course we are all happy you got back into the boat but here is the question:  Does this count as a catch for JoJo  in the monthly tournament??? Looks like about 69 inches or so.

[jojo wilczewski]

Good Day

It was a good night. It was a lucky night. It was a night to remember. 

We were lucky to be together and we where lucky the water was a warm 71. This is why the Coast Guard requires us to wear a PFD when the water gets cold. I  also keep a waterproof hand held in my  life jacket, and wear it, when fishing alone. It is very possible to get seperated from the boat. Especially with dogs and trolling alone ???  I am also going to find an easy access spot  (from the water) for my ladder and put it on the boat.  Another safety procedure I foollow is to keep a throw cushion with a floating rope attached to my rear cleat. If the water is really cold you will not be able to grasp a rope for very long so leave a large loop near the end. Large enough  to put your arm and body through, which is very large for us big guys???  All I would have to do if someone fell over is grab it and toss it at them.

And yes I did push him in???  I was trying to get a better grip on the Nipex and then it was all over (board)?  It did not take much. When I release  in my boat I get down on my knees to reach over board. My gunwall is lower, smaller and I am longer then most?

Be carefull out there.

What good  stories we have to tell when you fish with  good friends...

I will never forget the look on his face when I turned to look at him. Utt oh... Utt oh...

he said, as I turned  to see and try and stop him...

ALA BALA BALA

jojoout

[Scott McKee]

Frank, I'm a musky guy... don't short me a few inches.  I'm a 73-inch trophy.

Frank Stachowiak said:

Of course we are all happy you got back into the boat but here is the question:  Does this count as a catch for JoJo  in the monthly tournament??? Looks like about 69 inches or so.

[Joe Z.]

At the rate your going the club should consider taking out a life insurance policy for you . Please be careful we need to make it back up to the Rock one more time .

[John Jarosz]

Scott...you might want to give the auto-inflatable PFD's a try.  They're rated Type III & are also made in larger sizes with more buoyancy.  Reviews are real good & people seem to like them for their comfort.  Of course, if you open a warm beer near the jacket, you might wish you hadn't.  good lessons, there.  When I'm alone, I also keep my dead-man cable hooked to me, in case I go in.

[Scott McKee]

I assume you're referring to the kill switch cable.  Good call John.

[John Jarosz]

Scott...yep, that's the one.  There was a news story a year or two ago about a guy fishing by himself about 3 mi off Dunkirk.  It was fairly calm & he was doing a slow troll.  He almost lost his rod overboard, reached way down over the gunnel to get it & fell over.  While he was treading H2O, he watched his boat slowly troll away.  Someone else found his empty boat a mile off shore, while he had been treading water for almost two hrs.  I don't remember if it was still running. Good thing he was a swim instructor or something like that.  Anyway, he was into swimming but said he was starting to cramp up.  Luckily the rescue people found him a couple of miles out.  Scary story.  I put an extension on mine so I can move around the boat a little w/o killing the motor but if I fall in I know the boats gonna quit.  better to have the motor die than me.

Scott McKee said:

I assume you're referring to the kill switch cable.  Good call John.

[Frank Stachowiak]

Dead man switch also good if you fall in the water.  Better for your boat to stop rather than go in circles and hit you.

[Stephen Glassic]

Scott, It seem that almost every time you have gone out lately has been an adventure.  I missed one day of checking the latest activity and I missed a big one.  I'm glad to hear you are OK.  You must have a little cat in you (or maybe catfish).

[Stephen Glassic]

There was on old guy several years ago who was fishing alone on either Hemlock or Canadice lake who fell overboard.  Someone found his boat nosed against shore with the motor still running.  I don't remember if they ever found him.  Most of the time there are not many boats on those lakes and hardly anyone on shore. So if something happens, you are on your own with a low likelihood of any help.  In the Niagara in November, the chances of getting any help if something goes wrong can be pretty low.  You can't take too many precautions under those conditions.

[Frank Stachowiak]

We still have the TRANX, right??????