End of Season Efforts

2013 has clearly been my Year of the Muskie.  Or more precisely, my Year of Muskie Pursuit (since my success rate has been pretty low.)  Regardless, I recognize my muskie fishing (addiction?) as a good thing in my life.  It has provided renewed motivation to my fishing efforts and I view it as a real gift from my new acquaintances.  I’ve encountered (and even caught) some beautiful, large Esox specimens, and certain experiences have been permanently etched into my psyche.  I simply like the equipment  involved in the pursuit, and I love taking on the new learning curve.  It’s a new-found, viable  local option for me, is the basis for a couple of new friendships, and has provided for some new, future aspirations. 

All of these are good things, and they came about because I love fishing.  Given just a bit of information, I was willing to challenge my previous assumptions that muskies weren’t a viable quarry around here, and I was open to trying some new techniques for myself.  I did what I knew and I had some initial success; that experience motivated me to keep trying!  Those continued efforts included an enthusiastic review of available literature, discussions with friends and co-workers, acquisition of appropriate tackle, and embracing the effort through some very lean times. 

All this was driven by Appreciative Inquiries’  Provocative Propositions, “What would it be like to catch one of these beasts locally, from my boat, with my tackle?” and “How awesome will I feel when I release her, knowing I finally got a good picture; and not just a picture, but a picture worthy of her beauty and freshwater might?”  These propositions symbolize a real shot for my envisioned success; of which I am still in pursuit.

First legal muskie in the boat!  But not the picture I'm looking for...

43 inches of muskie, released unharmed.

With West Michigan’s boating season coming to a close, my Year’s End Efforts were directed towards muskies.  My local muskie fishery was very generous in the early season, but it has been doubly stingy from late summer through the fall.  Only a single (although sizeable) muskie has been sighted in months, and there’ve been no hookups or catches.  But if the comfortable conditions of late summer and early fall weren’t productive, then surely the miserable conditions of November should offer more opportunity (?)  At least, that’s what I convinced myself into believing, and so I launched at dawn on Veterans’ Day for seven or eight hours of casting and trolling in the rain, snow and wind.   I still believed when I re-launched at dawn the following Saturday with 25 mph winds in my face.  But as lunch approached, fishless again, I watched several other boats leap-frogging unsuccessfully between muskie haunts.  I suddenly lost my faith.  For the first time, I didn’t believe I was going to catch my next muskie.  I had a choice; burn through the last few hours of boat fishing of this season on this lake, but without confidence; or hop over to another, more friendly lake to troll up a couple of pike.  “Wouldn’t it be nice to catch a fish?” became my adopted Provocative Proposition, and shortly thereafter Numenon was re-launched on the local lake of choice.

Although the biting pike had been suspended in deep water during my previous trip on this lake, I went fishless for quite a while as I plied these waters through several lure changes.  The clock on my season’s end was still ticking, and I was considerably relieved when a rod started bucking in the holder.  This bass had eaten a Rapala DT20 that was rooting bottom in 17 or 18 feet of water, and is this season’s largest bass at just over 21 inches and at least 6 pounds (as measured on my conservative Boga scale.) 

Largemouth Bass!  Finally, a fish in the boat...

Porker.  Pig.  Sow.  21 inches and over 6 pounds.

This lure was a recent introduction to my set, and had really turned around my previous trip on this lake. 

Rapala's DT20 has been hot the last couple of trips and took top honors for bass and pike in 2013!  Both in the same trip!

I was even more impressed when shortly thereafter and very nearby, the drag on this combo screamed out and I came tight to the season’s largest pike, a rotund 36-incher.

Not a muskie, but 36 inches of pike!  I don't often choose to use the net on these fish, but I wanted her in the boat!

Impressive jaw structure and teeth

Beautifully marked pike, released and ready for winter.

There were four other pike of “30-inches, plus” and a nice four-pound bass thrown in, too.  It’s not often that such fish get over-looked (in my experience); the same for the performance of an emerald green Reef Runner presented off two colors of lead on this day.

My season ended with a bang, and I appreciate that.