09-12-2009, 03:49 AM
[font "Courier New"][#000050][size 3]BigBassaholic and I met up at 5:15 and then went up to Newton. Just as we were getting to the dam, I saw a bunny (the sky was light enough to see anything at all, by then) hopping off the side of the road. Then when we were just getting off the dam, I saw two glowing eyes on a little black body. First I figured it was a stray cat...until it turned to wander off, and displayed the blatant fact that it was a "POLEcat"! Luckily, we left all the skunk-ish stuff off the water.
Air temperature was 43F when we arrived at about 7 A.M. just as the sun was peeking over the horizon.
Water temperature was probably about 65 or so (didn't have a working thermometer), but felt quite warm for lake water and just about matched the feel of my aquarium at home which is set to 70.
We had 3 poles out, with these lures. "My" pole had the middle lure.
[inline musky-lures.JPG]
At about 7:15, I got the first musky of the day! With as much hype as everybody gave about the fight I'd have (my sister's boyfriend even commented that I'd have to let somebody else reel it in for my wimpy self), it was almost disappointing. Quite a few tugs, but nothing I couldn't handle. This fish we only took pictures of, and forgot to measure. Besides, I felt bad for making the poor thing "suffercate", and wanted to get it back in quick. I was going to gently lower it in, but when it saw the water, got excited and squirmed and...well, I sortta dropped it. But hey, at least it got back home!
[inline vivmusky01.JPG]
[inline vivmusky1.JPG]
At about 9:30, I took over the driving of the boat (rather fun, if you don't count the fact I was anxious about my first time at it), while Don casted towards shore in hopes of getting bass. I don't know the name of the lure, but it was a bright neon green frilly thing with a tinkly/jingly metal disk on it. Didn't bother remembering exactly what time, but he caught a 10 inch one, that I took home to have for dinner tomorrow night.
At 10:40, we were near the dam. Don was just starting to check poles for weeds and make sure the lines weren't tangled and stuff like that. I glanced over and saw that "my" pole was jerking quite a bit. I thought "Hrm...that's not quite how it goes with weeds", so I asked him if that was a bite or not. Sure enough! So he got the pole out of the holder, while I scrambled out from the driving seat. Then we thought maybe it really was weeds, because there was no pull after that...but just when I figured I should reel in anyway and check, there was another tug. We think the fish was probably coming towards the boat. But I did get a little battle after all, as we netted it.
This one we did measure. 12 pounds and about 34 inches (give or take 2", I don't remember exactly...30-somethin'!). Pardon my expression...the sun was in my eyes!
[inline vivimusky2.JPG]
[inline vivmusky02.JPG]
One more circuit of Don driving to continue trolling for muskies, then I took the wheel (I guess he approved of my driving to let me do it again) for our last round of the lake while he tried for bass again. A few times we saw Musky, and presented the lure right in front of their faces (literally!), but nobody bothered. It's my theory that why should they go after a bland (tasting, anyway) plastic lure, when they got plenty of live little bass? There was quite a few schools of small bass, probably only 5 inches and less, around the eastern shore.
What was quite fascinating to watch, is that ever so often a Musky would turn into a dolphin! They would stick their heads up out of the water, and swim along for a few moments.
We finally called it a day at Noon-ish. As it was then 88F, and being dressed in wool long-johns and a thick longsleeved shirt, I was getting rather toasty (and that's after taking off my down coat!). But hey, I was plenty comfy in the morning!
During our fish huntin', we also saw some other critters. A mommy deer and a couple youngin's. I think the bird is a heron of some sort. I also took a picture of the steam coming off the lake...but by the time I figured to do that, most of the nifty effect was ebbing off. But it was still a wonder to look at!
[inline deersies.JPG]
[inline birdy.JPG]
[inline mist.JPG]
Thankies muchly to Don for takin' me.
Now...who's next, and when/where are we goin'? [
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Air temperature was 43F when we arrived at about 7 A.M. just as the sun was peeking over the horizon.
Water temperature was probably about 65 or so (didn't have a working thermometer), but felt quite warm for lake water and just about matched the feel of my aquarium at home which is set to 70.
We had 3 poles out, with these lures. "My" pole had the middle lure.
[inline musky-lures.JPG]
At about 7:15, I got the first musky of the day! With as much hype as everybody gave about the fight I'd have (my sister's boyfriend even commented that I'd have to let somebody else reel it in for my wimpy self), it was almost disappointing. Quite a few tugs, but nothing I couldn't handle. This fish we only took pictures of, and forgot to measure. Besides, I felt bad for making the poor thing "suffercate", and wanted to get it back in quick. I was going to gently lower it in, but when it saw the water, got excited and squirmed and...well, I sortta dropped it. But hey, at least it got back home!
[inline vivmusky01.JPG]
[inline vivmusky1.JPG]
At about 9:30, I took over the driving of the boat (rather fun, if you don't count the fact I was anxious about my first time at it), while Don casted towards shore in hopes of getting bass. I don't know the name of the lure, but it was a bright neon green frilly thing with a tinkly/jingly metal disk on it. Didn't bother remembering exactly what time, but he caught a 10 inch one, that I took home to have for dinner tomorrow night.
At 10:40, we were near the dam. Don was just starting to check poles for weeds and make sure the lines weren't tangled and stuff like that. I glanced over and saw that "my" pole was jerking quite a bit. I thought "Hrm...that's not quite how it goes with weeds", so I asked him if that was a bite or not. Sure enough! So he got the pole out of the holder, while I scrambled out from the driving seat. Then we thought maybe it really was weeds, because there was no pull after that...but just when I figured I should reel in anyway and check, there was another tug. We think the fish was probably coming towards the boat. But I did get a little battle after all, as we netted it.
This one we did measure. 12 pounds and about 34 inches (give or take 2", I don't remember exactly...30-somethin'!). Pardon my expression...the sun was in my eyes!
[inline vivimusky2.JPG]
[inline vivmusky02.JPG]
One more circuit of Don driving to continue trolling for muskies, then I took the wheel (I guess he approved of my driving to let me do it again) for our last round of the lake while he tried for bass again. A few times we saw Musky, and presented the lure right in front of their faces (literally!), but nobody bothered. It's my theory that why should they go after a bland (tasting, anyway) plastic lure, when they got plenty of live little bass? There was quite a few schools of small bass, probably only 5 inches and less, around the eastern shore.
What was quite fascinating to watch, is that ever so often a Musky would turn into a dolphin! They would stick their heads up out of the water, and swim along for a few moments.
We finally called it a day at Noon-ish. As it was then 88F, and being dressed in wool long-johns and a thick longsleeved shirt, I was getting rather toasty (and that's after taking off my down coat!). But hey, I was plenty comfy in the morning!
During our fish huntin', we also saw some other critters. A mommy deer and a couple youngin's. I think the bird is a heron of some sort. I also took a picture of the steam coming off the lake...but by the time I figured to do that, most of the nifty effect was ebbing off. But it was still a wonder to look at!
[inline deersies.JPG]
[inline birdy.JPG]
[inline mist.JPG]
Thankies muchly to Don for takin' me.
Now...who's next, and when/where are we goin'? [
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[signature]