If I ever had a day where I had no business fishing, it was today. I’m just back from fifteen fun days of adventure fishing at Gangler’s in Manitoba and leaving right back to Canada on Saturday to British Columbia to help Team USA Master Fly Fishing defend the gold medals we won last year in Italy. But if I didn’t fish today, I would have exactly zero days fishing on my home waters in September. That would be unacceptable.
Bob, Howie and I met at 7:30 am in the pouring rain. Hideous weather seems to be on my tail of late. But here in northern Wisconsin, the first real bad weather can mean musky on the fly. A day like today is the true kick off of fall fishing and that’s always the best.
The fishing started with a jolt. Howie patrolled the bow and Bob rowed as we left the boat launch. Bob and I are determined to get Howie his first musky on fly. While Howie was casting to a deep structured bank, I was poking my hot pink Man-Bear-Pig in the top inch of surface water out in the middle of the river. Though mid river, the water looked kind of fishy to me. And it was. Right next to the boat a good size musky came to the surface and ate and rolled on my fly. Next to the boat!
I’ve stuck a few monster pike the last two weeks and strip set this fish no differently, but sometimes the fish gods aren’t kind. While I felt the fish come tight the fantastic feeling didn’t last. Suddenly my line went limp. I didn’t hook the fish after all. However, no doubt, that eat has left me with a lifelong visual memory. In fact tonight as I write this blog, every time I close my eyes I see the replay. This could become haunting!
The missed fish was the first of a double curse. The second step was when Bob got excited and exclaimed, “Yeah! The musky bite is on!” You guessed it. The next musky that we saw was around 2 PM and Bob didn’t connect on that one either. In fact our only catch at that point was about a 10” smallmouth bass.
We got rained on hard for at least five straight hours. In midafternoon it lightened to drizzle and thick fog. Howie was rowing and we were in site of the take out. I had a final push hot streak in me and stuck three smallies. This one here will be a nice one to end the smallie season on. Smallie fishing typically fades after the first blasts of fall weather.
Seconds after I watched this smallie swim away I chucked a cast to the backside of the same log jam he came from. There was as swirl and I went tight. A mini musky. Yes! Were weren’t blanked on our target fish!
Due to our late in the day catch we worked the last hundred yards of water methodically. I took over the oars and we fished down to the boat ramp on one side of the river. Rather than quit, I rowed back up as far as I could and we fished the other side. We even fished below the boat ramp and I rowed back up. But the dream musky bite we hoped for, simply wasn’t on. We called it around 3:30.
It was great to get on my local water at least once in September. And it was great to hang with Bob and Howie. Now its time to cram in a few last minute projects and get packed for BC. Next post should be Monday from Kamloops.