Dreaming of Giants

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James
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Dreaming of Giants

Unread postby James » Fri May 31, 2013 4:04 pm

I have a new addiction in Musky fishing. Thought my fellow beasts might enjoy this recent article I wrote for my blog. Contents posted below, but I'd love a few visits to my site as well - http://www.james-squires.com/2013/05/30 ... of-giants/

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We are exactly one day away from the 2013 Minnesota musky opener. I've never caught one. I've never even hooked one. Yet I find myself filled with the same pre-season excitement I get from the whitetail archery opener, well, not quite, but close!

I have never really been much of a fisherman. A few years back, a friend offered a fly fishing exchange for some bowhunting tutoring. I obliged, thinking it wouldn't last more than a weekend. Prior to fly fishing, my experiences were the bobber and worm sort. You know the type, troll the boat out to a random location, drop the anchor, throw a line in for fifteen minutes. Occasionally a small panfish or northern found it's way on to my hook. That style of fishing was largely boring, so I avoided it most of my life. Through trout fishing I found the dead serious sport that I was missing. It wasn't fishing, it was hunting.

My first musky outing came on a hot muggy morning, thanks to my friend Dutch. We hit a metro lake that he said was chalk full of trophy musky. I was already addicted to trout fishing at this point, so I was approaching fishing with more of a serious attitude. He had a musky follow his lure about 3 casts into our morning. I had no idea what a "follow" even meant, just that he was so excited I thought he had already caught a fish. I would soon find out what that excitement was all about.

Later that summer another friend, Marc, invited me up to Lake Vermillion for some musky fishing. We weren't going to hit it that hard, but decided to try some evenings and a few random day parts. At this point I had only partially seen the one musky follow on that muggy morning in the metro lake. Still, casting the huge lures was strangely addicting, and I could already see the elements relating to my whitetail experience. We studied lake topography and hunted structure, the sort of stuff I do every fall in the woods.

I ended up in his brother in-laws boat for a middle of the day run. It was probably noon or one in the afternoon when it happened. Luke and I were out in the middle of a bay, fishing these humps that came up to a shallow 6 to 10 feet. We were using these bulldog lures, they look ridiculous but the action under water is pretty amazing. Anyways, I was lulled into casting by this point. I won't even repeat that age old casting adage regarding muskies, but it's true. I think it was my first cast on one of the humps, and I was jerking in the lure just as Luke had explained. At first I thought there was a huge piece of drift wood coming up to the surface, but then I snapped out of it and the eyes and face jumped out... MUSKY! Luke dropped his rod and grabbed the net, he was just as excited as me. I started into a figure eight motion with the lure but the giant faded away into the deep, it was ghost-like. He later explained that it was a fish near the 50" mark from what he saw, a trophy.

That was it, that was all. A little nudging from a few friends, but in the end, a single fish following my lure fueled my addiction. I've had nearly a dozen exciting follows since that day on several lakes. It's a day before the opener and I am dreaming of giants.


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Dewey
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Re: Dreaming of Giants

Unread postby Dewey » Sat Jun 01, 2013 12:28 am

Great article! :clap:

I share your addiction to musky fishing and know exactly what you are saying. My introduction to fishing them was very similar to yours as once you get that big fish following you will be hooked for life. I must say that fishing for musky has ruined me for all other types of fishing because as they say......all other fish are just bait! :lol:

Musky fishing is a bond that my Dad and I share and our yearly trips are something I look forward to very much. He is slowing down and can't fish as hard as he used to but still loves the chase and just being out there as much as ever.

I think the reason I like it so much is that it's so similar to chasing big bucks but best part is when you catch one you can release it to live another day.

Funny you mention the Bull Dawg lure as that is what I caught my largest musky to date on! 8-)

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Jackson Marsh
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Re: Dreaming of Giants

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Sat Jun 01, 2013 12:56 am

Great article James! I don't get to fish for Musky very often and it is a thrill to catch one. They seem like a prehistoric hunting machine, I love how they effortlessly glide through the water and then just "explode" into a strike.

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