The Skunk Monster

March 12, 2012

Excitement about the anticipation of catching fish peaks prior to a fishing trip for just about every angler.  In my case, I stay up late organizing tackle, sharpening hooks, checking line and changing it if need be, doing everything I can to get ready for my upcoming trip.  I look forward to each trip as if it's the trip of a lifetime.  After all that, I can't sleep as I lay there thinking about the the upcoming adventure.

When it comes to fishing, people do so for varying reasons.  Some anglers are just plain happy to get out, to relax, to be with friends.  Not me, although each trip worth the effort, and as the saying goes, it beats work, there's nothing like catching fish.  But when I venture out on my fishing trips, I plan to catch fish.  Don't get me wrong, I value everything there is about a fishing trip, the serenity and peace, fishing with friends, the beauty that God gave us, but catching fish is what's always on my mind.  It's an obsession.

So, what happens when things don't quite work out?  There are many factors that can influence the outcome of your fishing trip, weather, mechanical problems, personal problems, tackle problems, just about anything can turn the most well prepared fishing trip into a giant zero.  Getting blanked, not catching a single fish, striking out, what ever you call it, can happen to any angler.  I call it being attacked by the skunk monster.

For me, it happens so infrequently that when it does, I literally ache inside until my next trip.  That said, the same excitement and anticipation dominates my mind set prior to the next trip and the cycle begins anew.  I probably only get skunked about every five years or so.  My current streak of catching at least one fish lasted about five years, and that streak came to a screeching halt.

I was attacked brutally by the skunk monster.  The skunk monster has extreme powers, many claim that those powers are supernatural to humble even the most accomplished angler.  I don't consider myself in that category, but I still hate the monster.

A couple years ago, earlier in the week, as I put in for leave in advance of that fateful trip, and maybe before that when my good fishing friend, Bob, began planned that trip, the skunk monster was whipped up a whopper of a low pressure system and pushed it our way.  The day prior to our trip, several inches of rain dropped in a very short amount of time, leaving drivers stranded on local roads and causing just about every small stream to flood over their banks, dumping a gazillion gallons of water into the river causing it to flood, and sending the banks of all of the lakes in our area into the trees.

Bob and I had planned to fish for walleye and musky.  Mostly, I wanted to target musky and he was looking forward to mostly catching walleye.  The plan was to take his seven year old son, Carson, along and maybe give him his first chance at catching his first walleye.  Prior to the storm, the water was clear with temperatures rising slowly from our mild winter.  The musky and walleye most likely would be on a feeding binge.  Local fishing reports indicated that might be the case, so we were very excited.

Bob and Carson were after ol' marble eyes.  I had my sights on catching a musky.

Mr. skunk monster had other plans.  Not only did he dump a bunch of rain all around our region, he also whipped up some pretty stiff winds.  When we launched at one of our favorite spots, the water, surprisingly, was still in pretty good shape.  Water clarity wasn't all that bad, even still a bit green, but you could see the sediment building up from runoff.  After we launched and fished a little while, you could see the water level rising, submerging the bases of trees where it was dry just an hour earlier.

At the time of the launch, the winds weren't really all that bad.  You could easily fish a jig for walleye and control the boat.  But that didn't last.  Not even an hour after we launched, the skunk monster unleashed the power of his sustained 15 to 20 mile per hour winds with gusts well over 30.  He unleashed winds that ricocheting off the cliffs, leaving no place to hide, and making boat control nearly impossible much less giving the angler the ability to feel the bottom when jig fishing.

Such conditions make it tough to control the boat, and I have to give Bob a lot of credit on that trip, because he did everything in his power to keep me in a position to catch fish, while still trying to fish himself, and also give his son a chance to catch something.

Early on in the trip, Bob managed to hook up and land a decent beautifully colored walleye.  Not long after that, at our next spot, I had my only chance of the day.  I had a bite that I didn't convert.  It was the only bite that I would feel all day long.

My friend Bob with the only fish of the day, with his son Carson looking on all smiles.  Bob avoided the skunk monster, but Carson and I fell victim!

Let me tell you something about Bob's boy, Carson.  He did a fine job casting and working his lure.  Most kids at that age lose interest fast unless there's a lot of action, and even then sometimes they'd rather do something else.  Not Carson.  He fished the majority of the time knowing that he could catch his first walleye ever, and he was determined.  He's going to be some kind of angler when he gets older.  He's very analytical.  He watches, listens, and learns.

Early in the trip, I was casting a huge musky lure, a soft plastic bait called a Bulldawg while Carson looked on.  Like most musky anglers, I worked my "Dawg" back to the boat until I had about a foot and a half of line out, plunged my rod tip a foot or two under the water, and directed the lure in a large wide figure eight pattern hoping that a musky had followed it or was lurking under the boat as they often do.  Sometimes musky will strike in that situation, and you never know when.  I pulled out my lure only to see Carson working his four inch twister tail in a figure eight pattern.  You go boy!!!!

The water rose rapidly and soon changed from a green color with about a foot and a half visibility, to murky, to muddy, in a matter of a few hours.  The window of opportunity shrank rapidly for me.

Musky fishing has an inherent risk when it comes to the skunk monster.  The skunk monster thrives on the backs of musky anglers world wide.  They don't call musky the fish of ten thousand casts without a good reason.  And the skunk monster is to blame!  Or is he?

Fishing huge musky lures like these custom made gliders
won't chase away the skunk monster, but will give you a
much better chance at catching muskies than smaller baits.

It was my choice to only fish for muskies, and I knew the risk.  Musky fishing, as I noted in a previous post, is my newest fishing addiction.  Even in the best of conditions, fishing the best musky holding water, using the right lures and tackle, there's no guarantee that you'll get a musky to bite much less land one.  So, I have to be honest.  My skunk yesterday was mostly me.  And it's OK.

I'm learning about musky fishing, and to become good at it, I have to leave the tackle behind that would tempt me to fish for other more willing species.  I can expect the skunk monster to attack me more often in the future.  I can also expect that, if I stick with it, I'll also catch more musky than I have in all of my years of fishing combined this year.  Well, at least I hope so!

Fish All Day for One Bite?

March 2012

Doesn't sound very productive, does it?  Many have written about musky being the fish of 10,000 casts, including me.  But even if it was only 10,000 casts, tossing lures that weigh as much as my cat all day long will make that 9,999th cast an act of torture.  My signature on a local musky forum now reads, "You know what's amazing about musky fishing?  You cast your butt off all day long, to the point of physical exhaustion, and, in a matter of seconds, one measly bite either makes your day or sends you home skunked."

Ain't it the truth?

I fished hard the other day and my shoulders simply ache...still.  Where is my bottle of Advil?  Is it worth it, such pain, for one fish or maybe two if you're lucky?  Most anglers would not think so, but there are some hard core musky anglers out there that will tell you that it most certainly is.

And I agree.

I wound up nearly pushing the limits on my rotator cuff tossing huge lures all day for what?  My personal best musky, 39.5 inches long, that's what!  Was it worth it?  Heck yeah!

I lobbed a heavy glider and other huge lures all day long.  When they hit the water with a huge splat upon a cast, other nearby anglers were ducking for cover, wondering if the sky was falling.  How many of you can state that they've tossed lures that actually create a wake when they land?  Or, would a better term be a Tsunami?

Gliders are somewhat like subsurface Zara Spooks, that, with twitches of the rod tip, alternating with half reel cranks, creating a series of pulls on the lure combined with alternate periods of slack line that basically send the lure into a zig-zag retrieve.  If the lure is as big as my cat, you can imagine that even that takes a toll on your musculature, much less casting the daggone things.

Gliders, like these made by Tony Ashby, are great for triggering aggressive musky strikes.  Be ready at all times for that one bite.

I did raise one fish earlier in the day, one that rolled on my glider but missed.  Any action gives you confidence and keeps you going.  It's actually almost heart stopping at times.

Here's the deal though; you may cast for hours on end, maybe days, without a single a follow or swirl.  But, you're fishing for that one fish, that one bite, and you'd better make it count when it happens.  You need to be ready at all times.  Then again, one fish isn't enough, because after I've released a caught fish, I'm stoked to catch another one.  Multiple musky days are awesome!

Ed Lewandoski shared an experience he had, "The trip in January 2010 that Ken and I made to the New River.  We drove five hours the night prior to fishing, and an equal distance to look forward to afterwards.  We only saw one fish, where Ken was able to hook, fight and boat his personal best at 45 inches and change.  It would have been a whole 'nuther ride if it wasn't for that fish!"

It pretty much sums it up.  You can't fall asleep and go through the motions.  You need to follow up on each cast, alert and in tune with what your lure is doing.  Finish the cast with a figure eight, or a wide sweeping "L", some sort of direction change to provoke a strike from a chasing musky.  Don't be lazy on anything.

As Ed notes on the topic, "Are you ready for that big fish on every cast?  Some folks just get tired and aren't ready on every cast and retrieve.  I guess it's a game of odds.  The higher the number of casts and retrieves you are totally set on will improve your odds.  If one random BIG fish is going to test you over ten trips, which retrieve will it be on?  Will it be there on the first twenty casts where you are so into it that nothing distracts you?  Or will it be in that eighth hour, after you have had zero action all day?  Or, will a fish show on the one retrieve where your body is out of position to set the hook properly?  Or, will she show when your rod is pointed in the wrong direction so if you do set the hook, you won't get much power out of it?"

Ed Lewandosky with his personal best 45 1/2 inch musky.  Fish like this might only give you one chance, so take advantage of it and make it count!  This fish was so sweet that I had to share it again with you!

You have a chance at the fish that could make or break your trip, or a fish of a lifetime, and all you may get is that one chance.  Don't blow it.

Not long after I wrote the first blog post on this site, I found a "hot fish".  This fish that boiled on one of my lures on one cast, striking but missing.  Then, a few casts later, he rolled on it twice.  Then, another cast later, he rolled on it again, missing, only to nail my lure a couple twitches later.  Having a "hot fish" keeps you on your toes.  Your adrenaline is high, and you're alert, ready for that strike.

But there are times that border on boring, as if you're simply beating the water with your log sized lures over the Dead Sea.  Those are the times that you need to be alert, so be ready to set that hook at any moment, properly.  the fish could strike at any time, on any given cast.  You need to be ready, to perform a figure eight to draw a strike possibly on each and every cast, and once you hook up, to fight the fish carefully and land it cleanly.  That feeding window could open at any time.

It's hard work, casting the big stuff all day long.  You don't want all of your efforts to go for not, do you?    Now really, I'm only a rookie at this musky thing, so I have yet to experience the dejected feeling that you'd get when missing your only chance on the day, but I'm sure that I will.  After all, I'm human.  I can tell you, because of my own drive to fend off the skunk monster, the very one that I detest more than anything while fishing, that I can imagine how I'd feel if that happened to me.  I'll try and learn from other people's lessons rather than learn the hard way.

You may only get one chance.  And when you do, and it pays off, it's well worth it.  And it could turn your trip from one to forget to one that you'll never forget.

My Musky Addiction

Esox masquinongy, or muskellunge, affectionately known as musky or muskie, often seems like mythological creature to many anglers.  After all, it's also known as the fish of ten thousand casts.  I've only caught a few of them over the years, mostly by accident while fishing for bass or walleye.  Although I've always been fascinated by these magnificent predators, it wasn't until recently that my fascination turned into an infatuation, and even more recently, into an obsession.  And, I think that before long, it will be my next addiction.

One year, my buddies and I planned a trip to the French River in Ontario for a week, and I purchased my first musky rod and reel combination along with a few musky lures.  I didn't get a musky on that trip, but my friend Bob caught one that went about 54 inches long.  A few years later, my brother Kyle decided to target walleye and managed to catch several muskies.  He introduced me to that type of fishing, and that began my infatuation with muskies.  Until recently, we targeting other species and muskies were bonus fish, but our tactics didn't change.  We still fished smaller baits and lighter tackle because, quite frankly, we liked the action that bass and walleye gave us.  Walleye were on all of our minds at the time, but the toothy bigger muskies had my attention too.

My brother Kyle with a musky caught from shore while targeting walleye.  It's his fault I'm currently obsessed with musky fishing.

Can you target musky with that tackle?  Yes, but maybe the answer is that we shouldn't.  Catching them by accident is one thing, but targeting them with light tackle is another.  We owe these powerful fish a better chance at survival, and light tackle just isn't going to cut it.  They are not a particularly durable fish, and it's not worth wearing them out just because we can, and just because they will bite smaller baits.  If we use smaller lures to target these beautiful fish, they should be teamed with beefy enough tackle to bring them to the boat quickly and efficiently.

In the past, my lack of success catching size and numbers of musky directly resulted from two factors, logistics and tactics.  With regard to logistics, having access to good musky water is a huge benefit, and in my area having the right kind of boat makes a huge difference.  The first step is to identify the waters local to you that hold muskies and fish from a boat that is appropriate for that environment.

Another option would be to fish from the bank or wade.  Although it's possible to catch them this way, to be effective you'd have to fish prime musky holding water, and there aren't really that many good holes to go around.  There are some though, and savvy shore bound musky anglers have caught some dandy "skis".  Kayaks and other small craft can solve the access issue, and they catch their share of these mighty fish.  If you can find a kayak that allows you to stand, you'd be able to do figure eights, which are touch to do when seated.

My brother with a musky caught on a Rapala Husky Jerk while fishing for walleye from his kayak.

From my point of view, what prevented me from catching more of these fish was a flaw in my tactical approach.  The tactics that I used treated musky as a secondary target, and for me to be successful at catching them, I had to change my tactics.  When the logistics were right, I still brought tackle to fish for other species, ones that bite on smaller baits, like walleyes and bass.  I'd bring some musky tackle along, but rarely used that big stuff.   Why?  Lack of confidence mostly, and without confidence, your musky lures won't be in the water long enough.

I'd typically have good success fishing for bass or walleye, or whatever was biting.  Since those species have higher population densities, and often bite regularly, it was easier to be more successful targeting them.  Like many anglers, I hated getting skunked.  And that was the reason I didn't catch more musky on a regular basis.  To catch more musky, you need to risk getting skunked.  Let's face it, getting skunked is failure adn nobody wants that, not even dedicated musky anglers.  But, when a musky hits and you land it, that makes it all worthwhile.  A good day may consist of a follow or two, perhaps a hit, and even better, a fish to the boat.  Is it worth it?  I say it is.

That said, anything can happen.  My buddy Howard, while we were walleye fishing, hooked and landed two muskies in about five minutes on a Rapala Husky Jerk while fishing from the bank for walleye!  We were targeting walleye, quite unsuccessfully I might add, when these fish made his day.  Unfortunately, for me, I had a run in with the skunk monster.  Yet, those fish made a huge impression on me.  I wanted one, and I've been determined to become a real musky angler.  But this type of success also could lead one to believe that this is the most effective way to fish for them.  But again, it's not that we can't catch them using light tackle, the question remains, should we?  For the benefit of the fish, we should use tackle matched to ensure their survival.

My buddy Howard with one of two "twin" muskies caught on nearly back to back casts while fishing for walleyes from the bank.

When I started musky fishing a few years ago from my buddy's boat, I decided to dedicate trips targeting them, and left the smaller tackle at home.  If you only bring musky gear, and that's all you can toss, then your chances go up.  And mine did.  On my first trip out, I set out to catch a "lunge" and I did.  I forced myself to use the musky tackle, and it paid off.  So now, my confidence is much higher.  Success breeds success, right?

Not a huge musky, but one that caused my current obsession.  This fish engulfed a Musky Innovations Realfish in the sucker color.

I haven't had much experience fishing correctly for these fish.  And honestly, I hadn't researched it all that much.  On that trip, looking back, I did a lot of things wrong.  I didn't work the baits the right way, and I had some preconceived notions about these fish that just weren't the case.  I didn't realize that they were all that active on colder water, and how wrong that was.

On my next trip, I learned another valuable lesson.  When using large musky lures and heavy tackle, and even though my chances were much better to catch a musky, there's no guarantee that you'll catch one, or get a bite, or even get a follow, even though you're fishing prime water.  The trick is to obviously learn these fish, what they react to, and how to work your baits in such a way as to provoke a strike.  Going into both trips, I knew that these fish aren't easy to catch for a reason, and I risked getting skunked so that I could learn.

The real learned lesson was that sometimes your big lures catch big fish of other species.  My biggest walleye to date, my personal best, was caught on a twelve inch nine ounce lure!  The lesson was that big lures catch big fish, of all species, even those you aren't targeting.  Now, every bass angler is fully aware of that concept, but it's tough to imagine many fish hitting a twelve inch lure, but they do.  Many a musky angler could easily boast about catching huge largemouth, smallmouth or walleye, on musky tackle.

Using huge musky lures led me to catch my personal best walleye, a fat twenty six and a half incher, not a musky, but a heck of a consolation fish!

My buddy also learned a valuable lesson on our first trip, and believe me, I did too.  At one point, later in the day, we were fishing a spot that we had musky follows in the past.  We knew that muskies liked this spot, and we worked it thoroughly.  My buddy was using a Rapala Magnum X-Rap jerkbait, and had a musky follow it to the boat.  The musky stopped and sat there, staring at his lure that was still dangling in the water.  Had he moved it a foot more, it would have hit.  He's yelling, "Kevin, do you see that?  Do you see that?", as loud as he could yell, not hearing me simultaneously yelling back, "Figure eight!  Figure eight!".  By the time he heard me, the fish sank below the boat.  We tried desperately to raise that fish again, but to no avail.

So, the lesson he learned was to use the figure eight at the end of the cast.  The lesson that I learned was, to do it after each and every cast, not just when you see a musky follow.  Had I done that figure eight at the end of my cast, the musky may have seen my lure and hit it even though he had pulled his from the water.  That way, you can tag team these fish.  Now, I always do a figure eight or some other boat side maneuver.

I was watching Joe Bucher on the television yesterday, and he made a huge point about teaming up on these fish.  If the guy at the front is using one type of lure that draws a follow, often the guy in the back of the boat using a different lure, especially a bucktail, will get that following fish on a figure eight when the fish ignores the other guys lure after his figure eight.  These fish are not shy by any means.

Ed Lewandoski with a 45 1/2" beautiful musky.  You'd be hard pressed to find a more dedicated and knowledgeable amateur musky angler than Ed.  Photo courtesy of Ed Lewandoski.

So, what is all this about my addiction?  Is it the challenge, the fact that they are tough to catch?  Is it the fact that they are one mean toothy predator, and just plain cool to hold and to make for awesome photographs?  Or is it because you can chuck lures that weigh as much as the fish that most people catch and these apex predators will chomp on them readily?  I'm sure that as I grow in this segment of the fishing world, that my addiction will grow accordingly.

At fifteen to twenty dollars a pop, or more, amassing a collection of lures to target these things will be quite an investment, not to mention the other tackle and tools that I'd require.  That's an addiction all its own that I've fallen victim too, the tackle buying addiction, that is.  After all, I find it just plain cool to open up a package and pull out a lure that weighs about a pound.  I'm like a kid at Christmas!

At one time, I didn't have that many chances to be on the water chasing these magnificent creatures simply because I didn't own a boat and had to rely on my buddies that did.  Now that I own a boat, my logistics problem is partially solved.  The rest of the logistics problem centers around finding time to get out and away from the everyday things that keep me off the water, and to balance that time with other types of fishing that my fishing pals prefer.  But right now, all I think about now is solving the tactics problem.  I'm learning as much as I can about fishing strategies, on the internet, magazines, television shows, and fishing forums.  I've been fortunate to meet some great musky minds, like Ed, and have learned greatly from them.

Now that I've caught one while targeting them, I'm hooked.  I've had a good start, and have since caught quite a few (but never enough).  I'm excited about learning more and more about these amazing toothy mystical creatures.  And, as I learn more and my addiction grows, I'll share those adventures and things that I will learn along the way.  It's all I think about, all day, every day...