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| Pete Maina: we knew him when... |
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MUSKIE MYTHOLOGY
by Bob Chochola
MUSKIE Magazine (July 2005 Issue)
We Musky Hunters are a strange group. We will rush out to buy the best gear, we will grab the newest lures on the market in a rainbow of peculiar colors that are “sure fire” fish attracting (or blinding) combinations, we will plan a strategy months before a trip and convince ourselves that this time we are going to catch a new record. Once on the water, however, old habits and routines take over and the inevitable musky rut is where we can be found. All the lures in the tackle shop can’t get you out of it either. I know you know exactly what I’m talkin’ about… All I can do is break my old habits and maybe help you out of a rut in the process.
First I’ll make a stop on the majestic Canadian Shield. This beautiful and magical place has arguably the best fresh water fishing in the world. It is here many musky myths are born. Myths that rule in a place where there really are no rules – not for creatures that think every living thing that swims, treads water, or flounders about on the surface is food. Muskies have no natural enemy here - once they reach maturity they are indeed the bullies of the deep. To them, the Canadian Shield is nothing more than an all you can eat buffet and they don’t have to pay the check or leave a tip.
For years my group of musky hunting buds would break up long hot summer days on Dryberry fishing for small mouth bass in between hours of casting. There are many great places to round up smallies on the lake, cast-after-cast for as long as you can stand hauling in five-pounders. It’s that good in some of these areas and you can easily forget what species you came for by the time you boat bass number forty. I began to wonder why we never fished for muskies in these areas? I wondered why I never saw anyone else fish for muskies in these areas either? Then I was enlightened by an experienced angler who told me, “Muskies don’t eat smallies, they cohabitate.” No Way!
I bought into the theory until my partner saw a rather large toothy critter “cohabitate” with a five-pound smallie in a weedy bay one evening. Then I began to incorporate the areas where I suspected these two species were sharing common turf into my evening hunt. It didn’t take long… first time out on one of our usual smallie spots and I hooked-up with a 52-incher. Similar spots met with the same results – big muskies.
So, you see, overcoming Musky Mythology is all about breaking with convention and paying attention while others are overlooking the obvious. Myths can also come in the form of a widely used and embraced technique. Call it what you want: run and gun, search and destroy, pattern development… this tactic is used to cover a large area of water in a short period of time, while making a minimum number of casts. To be honest, I think it wastes a whole lot of gas.
While I understand the principle, I have had little need to put it into practice and the reason why is that I come prepared. Hours, days, weeks, and even months leading up to a trip are often spent setting a strategy. We chart moon phases and peak fishing times, track weather, and research the task ahead of time. We mark maps. We call other anglers as they return from trips and gather information. We take notes. Let’s face it, we know the lake very well and have fished it at all times of the year – we can usually spot a pattern or pattern change quickly.
It’s much more productive to arrive with a plan, than to waste time sightseeing while you try to put one together on the fly. Experience is key. Last fall on Dryberry I had to be very careful. My partner had just missed an entire year of fishing because of back surgery. Run and gun was out of the question with any real chop on the water and I didn’t want to stray too far and have to fight a 40mph wind 14 miles back to camp. I hit a concentrated area pretty close to home where we could effectively execute our game plan. Fortunately everything clicked right away and we wound up covering only about 20% of Dryberry’s acreage over a two-week period (and saved probably 80% of our fuel cost too). In years past we would often cover her end-to-end in just one day.
Don’t make it harder than it has to be. Draw on your experience and the experiences of others and leave home with a plan. You can narrow things down quite a bit ahead of time and save money on gas in the process.
Musky Mythology is everywhere. It’s on the lake where we fish and it’s in the tactics we use. Don’t let it steer you away from success. I often chuckle at anglers who think you can spook or overwork a musky. Not a chance! Muskies are fearless. I have had one follow my gas motor prop through a bay. I have had several run into the side of my boat and had one hooked that nearly jumped into my boat. Once during a serene sunset hunt I fell off my casting deck into the bottom of the boat with a crash so loud I was sure they could hear it back at camp. On the very next cast my Dad hooked a 46-incher.
Muskies are at the top of the food chain and as I mentioned earlier, they have no natural enemies. This species can be quite bold. Last fall my partner and I worked a fish on the same small clump of weeds for nearly two weeks. We raised her every day – sometimes several times on the same visit. Finally, after relentless bombardment of this tiny weed edge, my partner bagged the 51-incher.
How many times have you left an area where you have raised a fish, because you think that once the fish has seen the boat it is spooked? Or you’ve had a fish up on a figure eight and you leave 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 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 or 9pm. 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 conditions.
So, my partner Pat and I raised the 51-incher on this tiny weed line sticking out from a rock point on the first day of our trip. Every day we’d show up and every day, well almost every day, she’d be there. It was like clockwork. He’d raise her out on the deep edge and two casts later I’d find her tucked behind the rocks in shallow water. Then he would raise her in from the weed bed and I would lure her from out in deep water on the next pass. It went on like this for two weeks, but we just couldn’t get her to go.
With two days left on the trip we had a very warm bright day. Pat decided to stick close to camp and chill. I grabbed one of the deer hunters from the next cabin over (Otto) and took him on his first musky hunt ever. I set out for the fish that had been haunting us for nearly two weeks figuring the beginner’s luck factor was with me this time.
Otto’s first cast fowled and his second went ten feet – expected for the first time with a bait caster. His third cast went about thirty feet. As he brought the bucktail back to the boat I looked over and here she comes, this time the monster is rolled to one side six-inches behind the lure, her gills are flared, and her mouth is wide open. The musky was charging, but Otto made the rookie mistake of pulling the bait out of the water. I watched the fish cruise under the boat out into deep water.
Two more trips to that spot later that day produced nothing. We didn’t even see her. Was this the “big one that got away” we’d be talking about all winter?
We still didn’t give up, not with one day left. Our last day brought clouds, rain, cooler temperatures, and wind – a perfect weather change. This time with a much more experienced angler on my bow, a third cast was met with a crushing strike. I saw Pat doubled-over the bow locked-up with a monster thrashing and throwing white water all over the place. Sweet success! And yet another Musky Myth bites the dust.
Don’t get hooked on Musky Mythology. Where muskies are concerned, all bets are off. As you can see, even the words of experienced anglers, tried and true tactics used by pros, and things we all so often take for granted, can lead us down a narrow path when we should be open to the many possibilities this kind of extreme fishing often brings. Muskies are pretty good at doing exactly the opposite of what we think they’re going to do. Just when we thought we had ‘em figured out – right? That’s when they’ll surprise us again. Hey, it’s what keeps me coming back for more.
Be prepared, be persistent, have an open mind, and keep it simple.
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