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| Pat Elza with a 50-inch Dryberry muskie. |
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HUNTERS’ REMORSE
By Bob Chochola
Midwest Outdoors, January 2009
It’s hunting season again, but this time of year always reminds me of one special fishing trip. This is the story of Three Prancing Reindeer, One Really Big Muskie, and Four Not-so-Lucky Bow Hunters from Iowa…
We thought October in Ontario was going to be cold and gloomy. What we got was sun and relatively warm mid day temperatures - almost like summer – most of the time. We met our camp neighbors quickly and every evening we turned out for a gathering that featured dinner, cards, and cold brew on the screened porch until we were too tired to keep our eyes open any longer. Needless to say, we really hit it off.
Fishing was pretty good and we boated a few really nice muskies around the 50-inch mark. Smallmouth bass and bunches of northern pike kept us busy in between muskies.
Bow hunting, however, was not kind to our new-found friends from Iowa.
Morning after chilly morning they would wake-up way before first light and head out by boat to their designated positions in deer stands placed meticulously throughout the forest. Each evening about an hour after dark they’d hear us rumbling into camp giggling and spouting great fish stories, only to be forced to tell us that they had no luck at all. They didn’t even see a deer.
Our fortunes were much better – with one exception. We had located a pretty active muskie on a spot about fourteen miles from camp early in the week. She would follow lures of every kind like she meant business, but never cracked a smile. Every evening we’d return to the spot several times, raise her, and then she was gone. Sometimes we’d raise her three and four times with no luck.
Bow Hunter Otto was particularly interested in our success even though he had never been muskie fishing before. My partner Pat decided to sleep one afternoon, so I took Otto out to do some casting.
We took off from camp straight for the spot Pat and I had been raising the big muskie all week. I figured that I had beginner’s luck riding with me and I would use that to my advantage.
I had to give Otto a crash course in the operation of a baitcast reel and he of course threw his first two casts just like someone who is used to sitting in a deer stand. Cast number one splashed ten feet in front of Otto and I had to hold-in a chuckle.
“Nice and easy – let that big muskie rod do all the work.” I told him as he was undoing a bird’s nest in the reel caused by the wild first chuck.
Cast number two was better – about fifteen feet – but I encouraged a higher trajectory and a little more focus with the eyes on a target area picked in advance. I said, “Look at where you want to cast and then point the rod tip to it.”
Bingo! Cast number three was a dandy and right to the weed point where we had been seeing the big muskie all week long. A couple of cranks of my reel handle later I glanced over my shoulder to watch Otto’s figure-eight (yes, I told him on the ride up how to do it and he did a good job on this first time).
It’s a good thing too, because as his big spinner bait neared the boat I saw our muskie almost on her side, fins spread out like she was in flight, and mouth wide open – one foot behind the lure.
The first left turn Otto made with his lure rolled the fish to the right and under the motor area. Otto made a rookie mistake in assuming immediately that when the muskie rolled in the opposite direction, she was gone. He pulled the bait out of the water. Pat and I have both had experiences like this and we know that sticking with big deep circles and sudden speed changes with a lure can and will trigger a strike. Otto gave-up too soon and lamented his “almost” trophy the rest of the day.
So, we motored back to camp with heads hanging. Actually I was kind of pumped – this was as close as we got to this fish and I knew she was ready for a photo shoot right now.
Pat and I were feeling sorry for the bow hunters by the end of the week. These guys were troopers. While we slept-in, they were stumbling around in the dark trying to get a jump on those elusive deer. All we had to do was roll out of bed by noon and then start casting.
They struck camp a couple of days before we did, but not before we exchanged cell phone numbers for future outings together. We said our goodbyes then Pat and I hit the water, while our friends headed home.
A few hours later we took a lunch break and came back to camp. And guess what we found there? Deer! That’s right – three of them walking right past the bow hunters’ cabin. Of course, we just had to call them on the road to tell them what they were missing – and to let them know they could have bagged a trophy without even leaving the cabin front porch.
Pat and I munched-down a hefty portion of this muskie hunter’s favorite food – chili dogs. Of course, we got a bit of shuteye too. Then we were awakened by the pitter-patter of rain drops taping on the roof of our cabin. A sound we both knew would put our hungry muskie into total frenzy mode. We put on our rain gear and took-off full steam ahead on the fourteen mile journey.
I set up a drift down the rock point that would take us out near the weedy spot in a cast or two. Pat was in the bow and aimed right at it. We joked about how funny it would be if one of us caught the fish on a third cast like Otto did earlier in the day.
Pat let cast number three fly and it landed pretty much in the same spot as Otto’s third. This time, however, I didn’t have to wait for the figure eight.
I watched Pat’s spinner lure (same one Otto was using) start to work with his first crank and almost immediately a huge head appeared and devoured it.
Lessons Learned…
We have embraced a number of fishing facts. And I consider some of these to be “myth busters” that shatter conventional muskie wisdom.
First and foremost is the fact that we still cast into the fall – a lot – when everyone else has switched to troll only mode. We find weeds even in Canada late in the year. Maybe not thick weeds and maybe not rich and green weeds, but weeds still do exist in some places and casting is still a favored tactic, particularly in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and points further south where you can find weeds late in the season.
The weedy point in this story has but one thin line of weeds and is away from the main bed. Even in July this spot has only a few weeds on it. But it is a long under water extension of a rock point with deep water on one side and VERY deep water on the other. We have caught and seen some monsters here.
Another myth shattered is that you can “overwork” a muskie, or that once you no longer see the fish on a spot then that fish has left the area. Not true!
How many times have you left a spot where you have raised a fish, because you think that once the fish has seen your boat, or your lure, it is spooked? Not true either.
Have you had a fish up on a figure eight only to leave the spot quickly in order to not “overwork” her?
I used to think this way too, but have since changed my tune. Once I find an active musky, I like to persist. I will make several passes through the area and maybe change baits a few times.
It doesn’t end there. I like to hit a spot where I’ve seen an active fish several times during the course of a day. Just because there are no fish at 3pm, does not mean there are no fish at 6pm. If it holds fish, sooner or later the beast will show up again. The odds of making contact with an active fish that you have already raised go up by returning to the spot at peak times of the day, or during a change in weather conditions – like bright sun to a light rain perhaps.
I guess the last myth is the effectiveness of beginners luck. Otto raised that fish and so did we - at least twenty times that week. He had the best shot at a trophy though. Until his encounter she had frustrated us as much as those pesky deer taunted our bow hunting neighbors.
I knew all the way back to the dock with Otto that Pat would have been much more likely to bag that fish had he been in the boat. Otto’s rookie mistake had me wondering if I had blown it. We were so close – would she still be there later?
That question was answered in a big way and I was happy that Pat got to hold her for the photos. Sorry Otto.
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