8-6-2009 Evening Musky Report

So Bill finally got his things done and was contemplating on whether or not to head out this evening, but he finally decided what the hell and gave me a call around 7:20PM asking if I'd want to hit up the musky with him. Of course I wasn't going to say no to that. lol We got out on the water and fished from about 8:00PM until 11:00PM and called it quits after being invaded by gnats, June bugs, and fish flies. It got so bad you couldn't talk without eating a few. Long story short, we fished south of 400 club, and in the general area covering 10-12 FOW trying to stay out of the surface weeds. Seemed any closer in and the surface weeds were all over the place. After dark, Bill wanted to find a spot that was as weed free on the surface as possible since we couldn't see our lures, and to make sure we got to spend more time casting rather than cleaning weeds. We motored around a bit with the spotlight until we found a spot that looked good. We used buck tails and choppers, and I had just put a buck tail back on, and around 9:25PM, I FINALLY lost my musky virginity and hooked my first big one. I fought him for a bit and it made a few runs on the drag. I couldn't believe the fight this fish had in it! I brought him to the side of the boat, and he made one more good hard run out, and he gave me one good head shake as it launched a bit out of the water ten feet away from the boat. After that I got him to the side of the boat and brought it head first into the net, which was on stand-by by Bill. Nice job netting him for me buddy! My heart was racing, I was pumped up, and boy was that adrenaline rush going. Bill was coaching me while I was fighting it, and did a great job, and said he was just passing on what he learned from Brian. Bill did set me straight on one point though. When I landed the fish in the boat, I let loose one heck of a loud YAHOOOOO!!!, Bill said, can't do that unless you want all the other boats to swarm us. lol I think Bill was as happy as me to see me finally get a fish. They call it the fish of a thousand casts, and as I said yesterday, I knew I had to be somewhere in the 900's. I think my guess was right on. lol We got the hook out, and got a quick measurement of 41" ( 40 3/4" solid) with an "estimated" weight of about 18-20lbs. Grabbed a few photos of course as this will be a life long memory for me, and gave him/her a nice release. It swam away uninjured to fight another day. It felt so good to finally nail that first big ski. I am definitely hooked for life now. About half an hour later in the same general spot, I tied into an even bigger fish possibly in the upper 40's, but while adjusting my drag, my line slacked up a bit and off he popped. We moved around a bit after this with no luck, and by this time we were being invaded by gnats so we had to call it quits. Water was like glass at times and very calm, and crystal clear, about 77F. Moon came up a little after sun set and made for a great evening on the lake. Thanks a TON Bill for teaching me your musky knowledge, and for helping me tie into my first big ski, and thanks greatly to LSCN in general for being such an awesome place with awesome people. I'm glad it was on your boat where I got it, you spent a lot of time with me trying to get my first musky. Patience and persistence finally paid off. Talk about a great way to close off a beautiful night on the water. With that being said, enjoy these few photos of my first big musky.