Memorial Day Musky

I was lucky this weekend.  Lucky to have been able to flee Chicago to head north for a couple of days.  Lucky to get to see the northern lights after helping my girlfriends father land an 8 pound walleye.  Lucky to see a black bear with three bear cubs. But most of all, lucky to put a hook in my first musky that pushed fifty inches.

It was a glass calm May 29th and friend Tyler and I had been casting, trolling, jigging, and doing just about everything we could to land a bass or walleye.  I fired up the motor and decided to cut across the 2000 acre lake to a good backwater bass spot.  On the way across the lake I remembered a sunken island that sits 12 feet under water, dropping off to sixty feet or so on all sides.  I coasted up on the reef and watched the depth finder hit 35, jump to 20, then slide right up to 11 or 12 feet.  I cut the motor and we silently drifted onto the center of the island.  Rattle traps, and crank baits were casted to no avail, I suggested my accomplice take the musky rod he had sitting next to him and give the big daredevil a few throws.  Within 5 minutes of him picking up the rod he gasped a big sigh and said "come on!". I turned and asked him what had happened.  He said a "big one just came right to the boat and turned and swam off".  The third musky he had raised that weekend.  I flipped open my tackle box with haste. The last thing I had thrown in there before leaving the dock was a bigger, double bladed, hand twisted Sims Spinner.  I did the photography of the entire product line for Dan Sims, who ties them  with his business partner and sells them to local bait shops.  I had told him I needed something big for aggressive northerns in Yellow/White and he had given me a spinner to test for him.  I tested it alright.

Five casts in I set the hook quickly and hard.  Musky.

After the fish took its first run and I had it under control I flipped open my bag and turned on my GoPro camera, tossed it to Tyler and asked if he would keep it on the fish.

After about 8 minutes of delicate fighting on 12 pound test braid, with no leader mind you, I had the fish in hand next to the boat.  I grabbed pliers and popped the one hook out of the corner of his mouth.  A 50" musky was in my hand, the fish of a lifetime.

I hefted it out of the water for 2 quick photographs and put it back down before it put up a fight.  I let it rest boatside for 2 minutes before he kicked and I let him swim back to the reef he came from.

Take a look at the footage.  You'll see the musky swim by with the Sims Spinner in it's mouth, you'll see some good runs and a beautiful release to the depths.

Musky On the Fly, Zero to Hero

I remember the jolt of electricity the first musky I hooked put through my body.  I can only dream of one smashing a fly.  I've been following the blog these guys write for a while now, you've got to take a look at the trailer for their Musky Country movie.


Musky Country: Zero 2 Hero Trailer from RT on Vimeo.

Northern Minnesota Musky

It seems that just when you think you're on some big fish lately an email rolls into your inbox that makes you think.... "man that King Salmon, that huge one that towed your Kayak all over Milwaukee... that thing only weighed half as much as this fish!"

This is a good friend of mine, a relative of my girlfriend, Rich and his 47" Muskie, tipping the scales at right around 30 pounds.  Looks like the weather was beautiful up there this weekend.  Congrats on another epic fish Rich. 

Rich and I have a little competition going for first Walleye from this lake over 10 pounds or 30".  As he said in his email.... "it's not a Walleye"  but it will do!

Fly Fishing for Musky

Catching a Musky can be a once in a lifetime experience for an angler. I myself have only logged two of them in my lifetime, caught this past summer and the summer before. Catching them using normal tackle or specialized musky tackle is the method of choice to get the job done. Catching one on a fly rod... well that's something else entirely.

Musky Chronicles Trailer from Lee Church on Vimeo.

I've seen photographs of them with big flies sticking out of their mouths but this video is really something else. It's a trailer for a video called Musky Chronicles, enjoy.