There aren't any pictures associated with this entry, so you know we didn't get one. But Man, was I close! After 5 hours or so of throwing bucktails, topwaters, and trolling, having not seen a fish, I declared "10 more minutes." I also switched from a bucktail to a Shallow Raider jerkbait; I'd convinced myself that it just wasn't a bucktail day, and I'd go out at least having tried an erratic jerk bait. We were in a "new" part of the lake, but over my favored weeds, and clarity seemed a bit better than earlier in the day and in other parts of the lake. It was starting to think about getting dark, and knowing that a single fish could change the day, I was still fishing hard.
I saw her eat my jerkbait on a pause at my feet. She engulfed the bait. I saw it; I set the hook. The result was that I pulled the bait straight out of her mouth, but she was super-motivated and continued to chase the bait. The lure's momentum caused it to break the surface and she followed, half out of the water and rubbing against Numenon's port bow, desperately trying to eat my bait. But she lost sight of it, realized how out of control she was, and shot into the depths.
It was quite a sight, and another feather in my cap of muskie failures. She almost seemed destined to be caught, but I still came up empty. Oh well, Terry enjoyed the commotion, and we'd now had something of a successful day. After all, we were on a streak of encountering muskies on 100% of our targeted trips together. How many partners can say that?
Her appearance bought us another 10 minutes of fishing, and within 50 yards I had another, larger fish strike the Raider about 15 feet off the bow. I had just paused the bait as it came into view, and she flashed up and inhaled it. Again, I saw the whole thing. Wary about setting the hook too soon (again), I waited until I felt some weight. And I waited a little more, and then just a scooch more. Still having felt nothing, but seeing the fish, and not my bait, I swung hard to the side. My rod loaded, she erupted, panicked, shook her head, jumped, tumbled and promptly threw the lure back at me.
I've said it before, and I'll undoubtedly say it again; it was quite a sight, but just another feather in my cap of muskie failures.
*****
A few days later, I had the choice of chasing local pike or trying Lake C for muskies again. I'll be honest, it wasn't much of a choice; I had to go back for more. Even though the cold and blustery conditions were probably more conducive to trolling for pike, and the pike most likely would have been fun and generous, I knew a glimpse of another muskie was worth more than catching some pike, and that the upside of catching a monster muskie far outweighed the current value of the best imaginable local pike excursion. At least to me; T declined the opportunity to join me this time.
Another combination of bucktails and jerkbaits; another couple of fish raised. Both were fairly distant, lethargic followers, and neither seemed too inclined to bite. But one was large, even by muskie standards, and the other revealed itself in a "new" part of the lake. Water temps are still in the mid-50s and so we have lots of time left in the season. I'm doing a lot wrong, but I'm doing more correctly. I'm having fun, making progress, and etching images into the memory bank.
*****
The next trip was a quick, after-work effort, but included my friend J, formerly of C's. It was a beautiful, calm weeknight, with the promise of moonset, sunset and a partial lunar eclipse all coming together. I imagined the water turning to blood and masses of crazed muskies chasing our lures, but I guess because it was cloudy, and visibility was further reduced by an abundance of rural leaf burning and woodsmoke, the muskies were unaware of their opportunities. We raised no fish, but J is an accomplished muskie guy, and I enjoyed his company. I was also pleased to see that my locations, lure choices and presentations were all in the ball-park.
*****
Here's to a prolonged fall. After all, how else can I take advantage of all this, plus the newly opened access to my favorite home-town pike lake?
No comments:
Post a Comment