Fishing Forum

I headed up to Pineview yesterday at about 10:30 am with a bunch of new lures, hoping it would be overcast like it was in the SL Valley, but I was disappointed in that regard.

I concentrated my efforts in the narrows and spent a mind numbing 5 hours casting and reeling....casting and reeling....casting....and reeling....with no sign of a Tiger or even a bite. It was the worst time of the day, of course. I threw everything I had with many different types of presentations from delicate crankbaits to monster jerkbaits, to spinners, to jigs, and so on.

At 3:30 or so I decided I should move east a little where the narrows spread out into those shallower bay areas.

At about 4pm I found myself on a nice little windblown point that stretches out with deeper water on both sides. I put on a big Bluefox vibrax spinner and made a long cast down this point. As I was crankin it in, I saw something unusual behind my spinner and figured it was a tiger. Then, I switched to a #6 Mepps Black Fury, the bigger heavy kind with the rooster tail made for Pike.

That did it. I felt one hit.... two hits.... then on the third I was hooked up. Turned out to be a decent tiger, not big, but maybe 3 feet long and the charts put that at 12 pounds. It was a skinny guy though

About an hour later as the sun was getting lower in the sky I got another in the same area on the same spinner. This one was smaller but still had some weight to it. It put up a funner fight with some jumps. Funny how they don't really fight until they see you.

I don't use a wire leader cause they are stiff and the terminal rigging is too coarse with the ones you buy. I use two strands of 20 pound test instead. A split ring connects the leader section to the main line, and a small swivel connects the leader to the lure. When I can get some more braid I'll use that instead.

Attached are some pics, and I apologize about the quality, it's just me and the camera timer, and since they need to be released quickly I only have a couple chances. Unfortunately, the fish don't know this.

I was hoping the one in the water would turn out better, but a funky light trick is being played that makes it look incredibly hammer-handled, which it wasn't.

One major help this time was to bring along a special jaw grabber made for catch and release and easy handling of the fish. It is still desirable to support the fish's body with the other hand, which from that one picture I didn't do to well at, sorry. [:p] Wish I had it for the 42 incher I caught earlier this year.
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I almost forgot to write about the Loch Ness Monster!

Yes, believe it or not, I was watching a windsurfer (don't ask me why he was doing this when it was so cold) when I saw a strange thing in the water.

I recognized it as the giant head of a tiger musky just sticking up out of the water swimming around. It did this for at least 10 seconds before it dove back down and its tail flicked on the top of the water. I would think I was seeing things, but this strange behavior has been documented by tiger muskies before.

[url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO7u77qio0I"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO7u77qio0I[/url]
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Nice fish! I bet you felt a lot better about the day after landing those. Too bad it takes so many casts to catch one of those little buggers
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i saw one doing that at pineview in my tube. but the one i saw had a big lure in its lip. i was going to net it but when it saw me it took off i was going to relieve him of his affliction.
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[quote nobites]Nice fish! I bet you felt a lot better about the day after landing those. Too bad it takes so many casts to catch one of those little buggers[/quote]

Yes, that turned a difficult day into a trip that was well worth it.

So far for me, the "fish of a thousand casts" has lived up to its reputation. However, the excitement of catching them is so rewarding it's worth the hours of boredom. And there's always the chance it will be a monster, and that keeps me going back.

I am determined to beat my 42 inch 20 pound record. I was lucky enough to be Tiger Musky devirginized with that good fish and now I'm hooked!
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Trout_Slayer andi have seen that countless times at horseshoe res in southern colorado. i have made casts off the points there just to see my lure bounce off their heads. ill never forget one swam less then 15 feet from us and our fishing partner BB (our lab rest her soul) sat there and staired dumbfounded at this thing swimming right by her. that was pretty comical.

anyway, is there any explination as to why tigers, and it seems only tigers do this? i have never seen a northern do this, nor a musky (though i have only had the opertunity to fish for musky all of three times in my life) do this. i even asked some of the irish guys at the pub i work at in germany about this. they catch musky and pike in ireland and they have never heard of this, of course they dident know what i tirger musky was either.
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Some dogs never stop chasing their tails, parrots bite their own feathers out when they're stressed... My theory is that this is just another example of something a "little off" in an animal brain. Perhaps these fish need special anti-psychotic meds placed in the perch they eat to help regulate the neurotransmitters in their synapses. [:p] I can see it now, "DWR determines OCD Tiger Muskies need special medication."

Everything with fish, since they have what is called in the world of neuroscience a "reptilian brain" which basically controls reproduction, metabolism, etc. must have some kind of biological/evolutionary connection.

Fish and most animals don't "learn" anything according to human standards, but they can become conditioned to do certain things based on what will help them survive. "If I go here, I can eat this." "If I bite this, I get a hook in my mouth."

They can adapt to different conditions in their environment, but that is it. So what reason could there be for them to stick their head out of the water? They don't have eyes that are designed to see out of water, nor could they breathe well, nor are there fish hovering above the surface for them to gobble up. You'd think they'd only be targets for water skiers and get a nasty bump on the head.

One on hand you have a Pike, and on the other, a Musky. Neither of them do this, and you'd think that offers some protection from predators since younger fish ( I say younger because big pike and musky probably don't have much predators except for man) who did this would be in danger of being eaten. I would think that fish have evolved to be skittish, and only expose themselves when their biology tells them to, like to spawn, eat, escape, etc.

The reason for this strange behavior must have some kind of genetically related neurologic cause, as a result of a tiger musky being a cross breed between a pike and a musky. This hybridization might be causing a negligible defect in their brains that overrides the natural instincts you'd see in either parent, and they swim about sticking their head out of the water.

Another thing that's strange is the observation that fish in this state don't take lures. It's almost like an epileptic disorder you'd see in a person where they just "blank out" for a while, ignoring external stimuli until they eventually snap out of it.
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Nice job Ryan! I figured i would see more pineview reports from ya. You can't stay away from them after you catch a few. The big mamba jambas should be hitting pretty good right now. Fish slower and larger stuff.[cool]
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[quote lunkerhunter2]The big mamba jambas should be hitting pretty good right now. [cool][/quote]

That's what I've heard. Late October to Ice-up and a short period after ice-out are supposedly the best times to find the big boys who want to play. A 52" was caught very recently.
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I'll be up there saturday. I will let you know if they are.[]
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