Shoot2Kill
Active Member
I've been meaning to post these but I keep forgetting.
MN firearms deer season found me in my boat instead of in a treestand because of some details I won't bore you with. The decision to not deer hunt on opener was a good one.
In honor of the firearms opener I just didn't feel right being out that day and not having my blaze orange on.
43"
We lost 3 more that afternoon and saw countless fish - another one of the best days I'd ever had on the water. We were about to call it quits after a dry spell in seeing fish when we talked to a guy in another boat that seemed much more veteran than us. He said another feeding window would most likely open around 5:00 based on what he'd seen fishing this lake very regularly the previous couple weeks. We decided he knew more than us and headed back to where we had seen all the fish that day and dropped the 14" suckers back over the side of the boat giving it one last shot. At about 4:30 my buddies clicker on his reel went "ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip"! We hadn't heard that all day and knew it was a fish and not the sucker getting stuck in the weeds again. Wade stood up and drove the hooks home and I'll never forget seeing that giant head as it surfaced and thrashed all over the water. She went around the boat twice, under the boat, dove deep, and finally came up and I slid the net under her and instantly knew I was looking at the biggest muskie I'd ever seen in a net!
Keep in mind that my friend golfed all summer while I fished....he then joins me for fall muskie fishing and sticks the 49 in the other thread and the next day out puts a 53" giant in the net!
It's not something I typically like to do since muskies are really pretty fragile once out of the water but this was the biggest fish that's been in my boat and it may be a long time before another one of this size makes it into the net so we put her back in the net and let her sit for a while to gain some strength back and I then pulled her back out to get a pic with her and this pic really shows how big she actually was!
The release shot - I about fell out of the boat trying to get it..... She made a very good strong release as soon as Wade let her go which is always good to see.
So the saying goes - DON'T EVER GIVE UP! If we had not talked to that guy we would have probably left the lake and would have never got this fish in the net.
I went back solo 2 days later for more....it's so addicting.
38" that fought as hard as any fish I've caught this year - spunky little gal.
I was having issues with the one sucker I was running at the time I caught this one and was in the process of rigging up another one when that fish hit. So when she went in the net I dropped the other sucker down not really thinking that I'd have a chance at another fish so quickly...but....as soon as I got this fish unhooked the clicker screamed on the rod that I had just put in the water. The 38 was relaxing in the net so I hammered on the rod and had fish #2 on the line within 2 minutes of the 38! I remember looking down at the net at the 38 and laughing to myself and thinking "now just how in the hell am I gonna pull this off!" haha. This fish was considerably bigger and made it about 5 feet from the boat and I watched her open her mouth and out popped the sucker and back down she went! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How I didn't get the hooks in her I have no idea, I guess the sucker was in the way and didn't allow a good hooset. It would have been such a great story to have 2 muskies in the net at the same time.
A friend of mine met me later that afternoon and we never saw another fish all day. I was still running my nearly dead sucker over the side of boat just as it got dark while Nate was casting blades to try and get something to move when the clicker went off again. It sounded like when the suckers get stuck in the weeds so I just gave a little tug and all hell broke loose! This fish was right on the top of the water and when I tugged on the line she shot straight up and scared the living shat out of me! The fight was on and Nate scooped her up and we both just sat down laughing hystarically at how I must have screamed like a little girl. Not the first time I've screamed at a fish is it Thomas?
44"
Look close - this fish is the same one I'd caught 6 days earlier...about 250 yards away!
Still hoping to make it out a few more times this year. I have a muskie lake 19 miles from my house that I cannot buy a fish from this year so I'm going there every chance I get until ice up to try and seal the deal.
Still managed to get out and deer hunt too - killed this slick head on Friday morning 53 minutes after getting on stand. It was a good week!
MN firearms deer season found me in my boat instead of in a treestand because of some details I won't bore you with. The decision to not deer hunt on opener was a good one.
In honor of the firearms opener I just didn't feel right being out that day and not having my blaze orange on.
43"
We lost 3 more that afternoon and saw countless fish - another one of the best days I'd ever had on the water. We were about to call it quits after a dry spell in seeing fish when we talked to a guy in another boat that seemed much more veteran than us. He said another feeding window would most likely open around 5:00 based on what he'd seen fishing this lake very regularly the previous couple weeks. We decided he knew more than us and headed back to where we had seen all the fish that day and dropped the 14" suckers back over the side of the boat giving it one last shot. At about 4:30 my buddies clicker on his reel went "ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip"! We hadn't heard that all day and knew it was a fish and not the sucker getting stuck in the weeds again. Wade stood up and drove the hooks home and I'll never forget seeing that giant head as it surfaced and thrashed all over the water. She went around the boat twice, under the boat, dove deep, and finally came up and I slid the net under her and instantly knew I was looking at the biggest muskie I'd ever seen in a net!
Keep in mind that my friend golfed all summer while I fished....he then joins me for fall muskie fishing and sticks the 49 in the other thread and the next day out puts a 53" giant in the net!
It's not something I typically like to do since muskies are really pretty fragile once out of the water but this was the biggest fish that's been in my boat and it may be a long time before another one of this size makes it into the net so we put her back in the net and let her sit for a while to gain some strength back and I then pulled her back out to get a pic with her and this pic really shows how big she actually was!
The release shot - I about fell out of the boat trying to get it.....
She made a very good strong release as soon as Wade let her go which is always good to see.
So the saying goes - DON'T EVER GIVE UP! If we had not talked to that guy we would have probably left the lake and would have never got this fish in the net.
I went back solo 2 days later for more....it's so addicting.
38" that fought as hard as any fish I've caught this year - spunky little gal.
I was having issues with the one sucker I was running at the time I caught this one and was in the process of rigging up another one when that fish hit. So when she went in the net I dropped the other sucker down not really thinking that I'd have a chance at another fish so quickly...but....as soon as I got this fish unhooked the clicker screamed on the rod that I had just put in the water. The 38 was relaxing in the net so I hammered on the rod and had fish #2 on the line within 2 minutes of the 38! I remember looking down at the net at the 38 and laughing to myself and thinking "now just how in the hell am I gonna pull this off!" haha. This fish was considerably bigger and made it about 5 feet from the boat and I watched her open her mouth and out popped the sucker and back down she went! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How I didn't get the hooks in her I have no idea, I guess the sucker was in the way and didn't allow a good hooset. It would have been such a great story to have 2 muskies in the net at the same time.
A friend of mine met me later that afternoon and we never saw another fish all day. I was still running my nearly dead sucker over the side of boat just as it got dark while Nate was casting blades to try and get something to move when the clicker went off again. It sounded like when the suckers get stuck in the weeds so I just gave a little tug and all hell broke loose! This fish was right on the top of the water and when I tugged on the line she shot straight up and scared the living shat out of me! The fight was on and Nate scooped her up and we both just sat down laughing hystarically at how I must have screamed like a little girl.
Not the first time I've screamed at a fish is it Thomas? 44"
Look close - this fish is the same one I'd caught 6 days earlier...about 250 yards away!
Still hoping to make it out a few more times this year. I have a muskie lake 19 miles from my house that I cannot buy a fish from this year so I'm going there every chance I get until ice up to try and seal the deal.
Still managed to get out and deer hunt too - killed this slick head on Friday morning 53 minutes after getting on stand. It was a good week!
