Fall Fishing

[mjs1973]

I haven't been fishing in 2 years, but a buddy wanted to go muskie fishishing this weekend, so I dusted off my gear and hit the lake with him. As usual, I didn't catch a thing, but my friend managed to land this 45 1/2" monster. This is the biggest one he has ever caught. After a few pics, we put the trophy fish back in the lake and continued to fish. This was the only one we caught the entire day. That's not unusual when you're muskie fishing. This fish is often refered to as the fish of 10,000 casts.

[Copy_Kot]

Michael, that is awesome! Great picture and your friend should be very proud. A huge thumbs-up for letting that trophy go.

[Coastal Flyer]

Only catch of the day, like that one great shot for a lousy golfer (speaking from experience!), it will keep you coming back. Great catch, both the fish and the foto.

CF

[paulnj]

It's quite rare unless you are trolling(which it appears you were) to catch more than one LEGAL musky(or atleast where I fish). I have only caught a few in my travels in NJ/NY and only one just a bit smaller. Those are amazingly fun to catch too!!!!

Great image there and my hat's off to you for releasing it too!

[mjs1973]

Thanks everyone. We weren't trolling in the typical sense. We did have two polls out with suckers on them as we were casting. The lake we were on is electric motors only, so real trolling isn't possible. I have yet to even get a bite by one of these, but the guy in the picture has had very good luck this year. Him and another guy boated 4 in a single day last week. For this lake 40" is the legal limit. We did see a couple of guys that looked like they kept one that they caught. That is very dissapointing. Since all the muskies in this lake are stocked, and don't breed, taking one big fish can have a pretty big impact on the entire lake.

[Loupey]

A great catch for your buddy!

Muskie fishermen certainly are a different breed - and not in a derogatory sense. In the local reservoir where I go boating most often, I see scores of muskie fishermen trolling the banks constantly. But I have yet to see one actually fighting one. Yet this reservoir is known as one the states best muskie fishery as it too is stocked. I have yet to check off this species on my list

Nice that he had someone (you) there to document the moment. Thanks for allowing us onto the boat.