Kiss the Musky Jitters Goodbye

I made a goal last night as I bedded down, guide my two buddies (regulars on the blog), Mike Neuman and Matt “Howie” Norton, to their first muskellunge on the fly.  Not an easy task being Neuman is new to chucking the big fly rods and Howie is jinxed with the elusive freshwater giants.  To give you and example as for how bad it’s been for Howie, two years ago I watched a big musky eat his fly and Howie got weak knees and didn’t set the hook.  The musky spit the pile of feathers but then tried to eat it again.  This time Howie stopped stripping because he froze up which in turn his fly looked like a dirty sinking sock.  The musky left seemingly disappointed Howie didn’t want to catch him!

 

Today I rowed the boys on yet another spectacular October day.  Unless you’ve spent a day on a northern Wisconsin river in late October it’s hard to explain.  The air is cool and as fresh as you’ve ever breathed and other than a few oaks, the deciduous trees have lost all their leaves.  The tamaracks are bright gold in color and the sun stays so low in the sky that even at noon it casts the golden light you only experience at sunset during summer.

 

We pushed off in my blue boat at 9 AM for a long float.  The water is very low on all our rivers and occasionally the guys got out and wade fished deep holes while I moved the boat.  In the beginning fishing was surprisingly slow.

 

As we moved downstream there’s fewer shallow riffles and more deep holes.  The very first we came too I heard Howie’s feet move and the sound of his warm jacket crackle as he strip set.  It was a great hook up but wasn’t his first musky.  Howie landed a beautiful pike that was close to 30”.  We planned to measure it but the pike had other ideas as you can see from this photo.

 

Neuman followed up not long after with a smaller pike of his own.  Then it happened.  I heard a sudden move from the back of the boat and groan.  And then a “Yes!”, Howie had just strip set on a solid fish.  A musky to be exact.  And he drove the hook home and the musky was on!

 

I’ve caught enough muskies to know they fight harder than pike.  They usually jump and make several hard short runs.  Now a days we often fish 40lb leader with 40lb wire and put the heat on these fish in order to land them quick for release.  But this fish was having none of Howie’s game.  He ran.  He charged the boat as Howie tried to get him on the reel.  This musky was playing havoc rather than coming in for a quick release.

 

At first when I saw the fish I thought wow – a nice 35” fish.  When I got my second look and saw the width of its head.  No.  This was a rare river fish that would be close to 40”.  Four minutes into the fight the long predator jumped.  It was so big only half its body cleared the water.  This musky was over 40”!

 

My net is big but by no means a professional musky angler net.  You might be thinking why not?  Well, the true musky nets could net a small child and they don’t exactly fit in my tiny drift boat.  My regular net you see here has had no issues scooping pike up in the mid 30” range.  This was going to be a new one.

 

Luckily for all of us, Neuman used his skills and got the net completely under the musky and when he lifted up the fish folded and fit.  The next concern was the weight of the massive musky snapping the handle.  You can see Mike moved his right hand way down near the net and rather than lifting, I rowed us to shore and Howie hopped out so the fish never left the water.

 

I’d say the three of us were shocked with the size of this musky.  Its not easy to measure a brute like this but it was no less than 45” and Neuman thought he saw it stretch to 47”.  With those two observations, we called it 46”.  A true river monster.

 

Mike and I blasted away with our phones getting the shots.  I jumped out of the boat and took a bunch of close ups.  This is obviously an old fish and both sides showed a lifetime of war scars.  I don’t know how long musky live but there’s rumors they are old and though they can obtain lengths in the mid 50 inches, usually those specimens come from big lakes.  No doubt this fish is likely in its final river years.

 

What’s amazing to me is that I didn’t see a single hook scar in the mouth.  Usually fish that have been around a long time have damage to the face and mandible.  One triple treble hook lure with barbs leaves all kinds of rips and tears but there was nothing.  And I’m happy to say that Howie’s fly left nothing either.  I got out my jaw spreader and looked down its throat to dislodge the fly and believe it or not – the fly wasn’t even hooked anymore.  It was just floating in the muskies mouth.  We were lucky on this one!

 

There was a hole in the side of this fish that stands out in our photos.  When we started the release Howie flipped the fish to face out to the current and we got to see the giant’s other side.  This flank also showed signs of a long exciting life.  There was at least another more fully healed wound.

 

The cold water, cool air and the care Howie took in handling this fish made it easy for release.  Howie admired the fish from head to tail.  Then like his pike earlier, the muskellunge made one swoosh of the tail and took off like it escaped.  We watched it work its way upstream a ways then it slid off into the deep.

 

There’s nothing like catching a fish of a lifetime.  Especially when it’s a species that’s been difficult for you personally.  A fish that’s toyed with your sanity.  One that’s given you chances but you couldn’t convert.  One that’s caused you to make all the mistakes.  Boy do I know the feeling.  But when it does happen, man, Howie was as pleased as an angler could be.  And Neuman and I were right there with him.

 

Believe it or not, that was the last fish we saw all day.  A total of two pike and one musky today.  There were no missed fish no follows.  The three fish were it.  So I got one of my boys on their first musky.  But not Neuman.  The good news however is that Mike and I will be back on the water in the morning.  Stay tuned. . . .

 

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing