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| Pat's more than just a pretty face - he can catch every "species" in the lake with ease. |
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THROUGH ALL KINDS OF WEATHER
by Bob Chochola
MUSKIE Magazine (November 2005)
I’ve Discovered the Most Important “Tool”
In a Musky Hunter’s Arsenal…
Pat and I have chemistry when we’re on the water together. I often refer to it as “Muskie Mojo.” Call it luck, intuition, experience, or a combination of all three, when we share a boat it’s only a matter of time before we find huge fish. Our confidence level is always sky-high and we always have a great time. Hey, why not? We have been blessed with more than our fair share of success, but there’s much more to it than just the catch. I see so many articles about the “nuts and bolts” of muskie fishing, but I rarely see a word about what I consider the most important tool of the muskie hunter trade… a good partner.
My friendship with Pat goes back to our garage band days. Well, we practiced in his Parents’ basement, but you know what I mean? He was just a kid in his mid-teens and still in High School back then. I was in my mid-twenties and steam rolling towards (dare I say it?) the BIG 3-0. Given our ages, it was an unlikely pairing. His keyboard skills were stellar and I decided to forgive him for his private school haircut and “boyish charm” if he could forgive my biker-like demeanor and beer toots.
Come to find out this kid could not only hold his own on keyboards, but was pretty formidable in the toot department, as well. He shared many common interests with me – one being fishing. Now I can’t tell you if he was ahead of his time, or that I was a “slow developer” in the maturity department, although I have a few ex love interests out there who would confirm the latter. Whatever it was our friendship grew out of the fertile common ground that still bonds us together as best friends to this day. Being ten years older than he, however, I still seize every opportunity to remind him how much closer in age we seem now than we did back then. Must be the “old age creeping-up” thing? All I know is that when I’m eighty and he’s seventy we’re gonna have to keep TWO porta-potties on board with us at all times. Maybe we should just replace the seats?
The moment Pat and I discovered that each of us considers fishing superior to practically every other activity on the planet Earth we could think of, there was no turning back. Give us a good fishin’ hole plus money enough for bait, gas, and groceries and we would disappear for days on end. We’ve fished for carp on The Fox River, salmon on Lake Michigan, and hit just about every other species in between the two.
When muskie fishing entered the picture not too long after we had become friends, it was like a huge mile marker in our lives. We didn’t know it then, but that light bulb moment was about to change our world in a very positive way. We’re so tight these days even eight hundred miles of central time zone can’t come between us.
Pat and I have been working hard at the sport of muskie fishing for about seventeen years. Ten of those years spent haunting the coffee-stained Chippewa Flowage in Hayward, Wisconsin and the last seven upon the gin-clear and incredibly pristine Dryberry Lake in Ontario, Canada. We have also done considerable damage fishing Webster Lake in Indiana, but I’ll have to let Pat tell you about that because he’s the King on that pond. We have fished these places with many other people and have battled some incredible muskies over the years in separate boats, but we are downright awesome when we hit the water together and I can’t think of anyone else with whom I’d rather fish.
So what makes a partner good anyway?
Fun is essential while muskie fishing. I believe this because my vacation usually revolves around the toothy beast and a vacation is supposed to be fun, right? There are many product advertisers out there who would have you believe otherwise, that it’s the gadgets and gizmos that make the trip. I’m here to tell you that above all else is FUN. Why would anyone do it if it gave no pleasure? Consider that of all the species out there, it is certainly true that our sport is among the most expensive. Muskie Hunting also often involves traveling many miles into some very out of the way places and it is physically exhausting. Hey, you try casting a ten-inch Grandma Lure for twelve hours straight on heavy gear and see if you’re ready to go out dancing afterwards? Not!
Pat and I decided a long time ago that we were gonna yuk it up out there and we do a pretty good job, if I do say so myself. Between jokes that I’m sure are only funny to the two of us, stories about past muskie hunts, and an occasional outburst of an Eminem tune while retrieving a lure, we pretty much have got the silly stuff covered. It’s a gift – what can I say?
It’s that loose care free attitude that keeps us casting long after most other guys are tucked into their sleeping bags back at camp. It translates to our presentation. It fuels out determination and stamina. I credit Pat with keeping me in the game all the time and I hope I do the same for him.
A good partner is someone you can rely on both in the boat fishing and on shore getting things done right. After all, muskie hunting involves a bunch of grueling work like toting gas cans, cooking meals, doing dishes, stripping line, sharpening hooks, lugging gear, and a million other chores I won’t bother mentioning, but it is important to travel with someone who takes the work as seriously as he or she takes the fishing itself. One of these days I’ll con Pat into doing all the work for me and then it’ll be perfect.
It is also good to have along someone who does not snooze on the job. I’m sure you know what I’m talkin’ about? You work all week for that one big fish opportunity to happen and when it does the goob you decided to bring along takes sweet time retrieving his lure and then can’t seem to get the net put together fast enough. Now the big muskie you were dreaming about all year and finally hooked up with gives you the middle fin and sinks into the darkness, your lure is stuck in a tree because that’s where it landed after jump ten, and you are fuming because your mate lets go with an all too late, “There. I got it!” Great! Now get out of my boat and catch a butterfly – and a Greyhound back to civilization.
Pat and I didn’t always spend all of our time in the same boat. In fact, quite often we found ourselves paired with someone else – Pat with his dad and I with my dad, for example. Recently we have been together almost exclusively and that can be dangerous. It really gets interesting after dark and we are the only two hard core anglers on the whole lake. It’s OUR lake at night and between the boat side strikes on figure-eights that come out of nowhere, fish that run head first into our boat chasing lures, and secluded weed beds where we have been known to raise as many as eight muskies in an hour in the moonlight, Muskie Mojo seems to really run wild on us after the sun goes down.
There’s no “I” in Team. There ain't no "we" either...
Muskie Hunting is a team sport. Debate it if you want, but it’s pretty tough to go it alone - virtually impossible (and downright dangerous) on vast Canadian water where a human being is just part of a big (and sometimes hungry) ecosystem. Teamwork is paramount and the better you understand the basic principles, the more success you will have.
The best parallel I can draw would be the sport of hockey. That’s another love that Pat and I share. We are longtime Chicago Blackhawks’ fans, which would explain why his favorite team is the Tampa Bay Lightning and mine is the Flames of Calgary (I am also partial to The Stars living here in Texas and all).
When the Flames and Lightning battled it out through seven games in the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals it was inspiring. There was no shortage great individual talent all over both benches, but when it came down to playing for all the marbles there was no focus at all on the efforts of any one player. The series was an excellent example of unity, chemistry, and selflessness. It was all about T-E-A-M. The focus was on functioning as a unit.
Our trips into the woods are not much different (well, I haven’t had to drop to the ice to block a Martin St. Louis slap shot yet, but I’m ready if and when the need arises). Like I said before, Pat and I have chemistry out there – Muskie Mojo – and I believe the fish can sense it. We’re not about “who” catches the fish, just so long as one of us does. As much as I love to catch muskies, I’m just as happy working the net for my teammate. Call it an assist.
The philosophy extends to our entire group when we go with other people. We love it when the Muskie Mojo is working in two or three boats because it makes for some great parties back at camp. We work together and keep the “one for all and all for one” attitude going and that translates to success for everyone on the team, no matter who catches the fish. Some folks just don’t get it though and they obviously don’t have the Mojo with them.
I am lucky to have a great partner. I’m grateful to have such a close friend with whom I can share the many once in a lifetime experiences muskie fishing brings my way. I wrote this article as a tribute to Patrick because he should know how important he is to every three-thousand-and-six mile round trip I make from Ft. Worth to Sioux Narrows and back again. When a celebration is in order, he is the one I count on to really whoop it up. When the inevitable bouts of frustration come my way (like during the first week of this year’s trip), he’s there to talk me in off the ledge. I owe him a big thanks for all the memories and good times we’ve had and the many more yet to come.
Like I said, a good partner is your most important tool and you should never take yours for granted. I know that I never will.
Team Dryberry 2005 Report:
On September 9th four members of “Team Dryberry” headed for the Promised Land for two weeks of Canadian bliss in the woods of Northwest Ontario. I’m happy to report that we all scored big this time out in spite of pretty tough weather conditions and returned home safely to plan our next adventure. Here’s our top-4 of the trip in proper lunker order:
Mike Davis caught a 51.75 incher just after dark, as an approaching front howled 30-plus MPH winds out of the northeast. Congrats to the former MI member on his BIG catch and welcome back to the Team Dryberry ranks after some time off the big pond. Good catch, Mikey!
Patrick, my partner in crime, bagged the monster in our boat – dubbed “C.O.B.A.L.” (Couple Of Bachelors At Large) – she was a nice 50.50 incher that hit at 3:05pm on day one of the trip. What a great way to start on an unexpected hot and sunny fall day. By the way, Pat nailed a fat 46-incher day two on the same spot, at almost the same time of day (2:50pm). He’s a tough act to follow, isn’t he?
The Muskie Gods were punishing me this time around with the inevitable “reality check.” That’s what I get for being the big stud last September. I waited a good long time before my hook-up and the guys pretty much had to keep all sharp objects hidden. When it was all said and done, however, I was on the board with a real fat 49 incher (named her “Big Head”) that hit about an hour before sunset. We estimated her at a solid 28 pounds (or maybe even as much as 30). I like to think she was 30. What the heck? I can say that… it’s my article. Ha!
Spanky was our rookie of the trip. He had only been to Webster a few times before this adventure, boating a couple of small fish. He lost a nice 50-plus, but redeemed himself with a beautiful 41 incher – his new personal best. It’ll get bigger, Spanky. Trust me. Keep on castin’ and set those hooks hard, son!
We had a great time and plans for Team Dryberry in 2006 have already been set in motion. Don’t worry… I’ve got plenty of pictures coming and I’ll tell you the story of our dealings with the three black bears that raided our camp every night. Really! The Three Bears – I’m not kidding! We named them Yogi, Boo Boo, and Big Mama Bear. Once upon a time there were three bears that liked to eat gas cans, chocolate chip cookies, and toxic fire pit debris… STAY TUNED!
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