July 11 fishing report

[Tony Scime]

At times, due to the weather forecast, I don't know if I should go fishing the next morning or not. I'll wait til morning to decide. This morning was one such time. Forecast was for the winds to increase to 15 to 20 knots from the southwest. I like the southwest wind, but 15 to 20 knots often seems to be closer to 30 mph which makes getting my boat in and out of the Tonawanda boat launch rather challenging. So I figured that as long as I wake up earlier enough that I could decide in the morning.

Well, I woke up this morning at 4:30 and checked the wind conditions. Morning winds were calm and forecast to increase to 15 to 20 knots, with higher gusts, in the afternoon. That would give the fair weather musky fisherman (is that an oxymoron?) a few hours of comfortable angling. So I hitched up my boat and off I went.

And it was a beautiful, placid morning indeed. Sun was bright, winds were calm, the birds were chirping, and the bass were jumping. The first few hours of angling maintained the serenity of the day. I hooked nothing but moss and weeds but what a great day to fish for muskies. I then decided to leave the nearby popular drifts and try an area where I usually hook into a fish or two. 

That is the area that I used to call Staleys but more recently changed the nomenclature to The Trench. It's a few miles down the west river and almost always produces, but last year I caught nothing there and I haven't tried during my two previous trips this year. It's always been one of my favorite areas. A two mile drift with lush weeds along the shoreline which drop quickly into depths of 30 feet or more. I've fished it day and night over the past four decades and it has almost always produced. And rarely is there ever another angler in sight.

Half-way along the first drift I noticed a slight breeze breaking the calm. Suddenly I have a fish on. Like the other fish I've caught this year it fought larger than its size. But don't most muskies seem to fight larger than they are? After one of the most embarrassingly inept series of netting attempts I finally netted the fish, which stubbornly wouldn't swim into the net to make it easy for me. Nor would it unhook itself which would have been just fine. Wasn't too big, 39 inches. But made me happy and gave me a thrill. And I love all muskies. I love catching forty inchers becuase they are fun to catch, decent size and fight hard. I love catching smaller fish because they are the future of the fishery and I love seeing them in the fishery. I love catching bigger fish because they are less common and something to be proud of. So all muskies have a reason to be loved. 

I tried a few more drifts there and elsewhere without success. But any day I catch one I consider it a successful day. Hell, any day I spend on the river I love is a successful day.

Moss was a nuisance everywhere. 

[John Jarosz]

Great report, Tony. An excellent read.

It seems to me fish are a lot like people, or maybe it's the other way around, but the smaller (& younger) the fish, the fiestier the fight. The younger the man, the fiestier they are & the older we get, the more subdued we are.

[Stephen Glassic]

Tony, You are fortunate to have the luxury of picking the times you go out. Being that you are retired and the fishery is in your back yard. Too bad Scotty can't beam me over for a few hours.

I don't know if I will be doing any musky fishing this year with the price of gas. I don't know if I can justify a gas bill of more than $100, plus other expenses, for one day of fishing for muskies. The increasing average time to catch rates statewide doesn't help either.