Len and I had been fishing an hour and twenty minutes our first time on the St. Lawrence River when I caught a 56 inch muskie. Seven years, exactly one hundred days, thousands of miles and countless cranks of the reel, what have I learned since? And furthermore, what have I done to myself? As I have, you too will need to “grind” your way through this one to find out.

A story no better or worse than your own, it’s only mine, mine alone…
This is a personal retrospective with muskie fishing that best highlights the first 100 days learning the St. Lawrence River.
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EARLY ESOX DAYS.
A Pre Larry Evolution.
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There was no sudden awakening to muskie fishing but rather a transition into it. A first esox love was and in part still is, with pike. A life change in the winter of 2000 moving to a remote, fly-in community in Northern Ontario, the earliest experiences fishing there began with pike. The Attawpiskat, now quite well known for it’s incredible esox fishing, holds strong riverine fish inhabiting it’s entire 700+ kilometer stretch. Each wild bend, back eddy and bay was oftentimes overrun with savage toothies that feed heavily on walleye, whitefish, suckers, rodents, waterfowl and pretty well anything else they can fit in their mouths. A decade of this northern angling enjoyed well before setting out in late 2009 to muskie fish on my own, I would travel and sample some of the best Ontario pike waters imaginable. Again, the Attawapiskat River, Kesagami Lake and Lake Nipigon being the favorites. I’d get good at pike fishing. Fundamentally, pike trolling, casting and even jigging is only down-scaled yet quite similar to what anglers would often do for muskie. There can be exceptional differences though in gear, costs, time, lure sizes, speeds and such which I’m certain most anglers are aware of.

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Growing quickly with these experiences, I soon enough found that the online fishing forums would appreciate any stories and pictures from such outings. Much of an adult life living remotely, contractual and full-time work has allowed for plenty time off, often alone, and writing about fishing has been a healthy hobby to keep the mind busy during the downtimes. Back some years ago, Esox Angler magazine would take me in as one of their contributing writers as well. Totally out of my tactical league between articles from some greats like Pete Maina, Jack Penny, Gary Parsons and Keith Kavajecz, my pike and walleye contributions were more-or-less foreign eye candy for fishing adventurers. Whenever I would receive a copy of the magazine at home, after viewing my own articles to see how they turned out, I’d flip to a Penny pike piece or soon turn to anything muskie. For the most part I found this biggest of the esox quite intriguing, but at that time never knew if life would make any allowances to fish them..?

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During a vacation home to Ottawa, Sunday September 18, 2005 on a partly cloudy, slightly breezy warm afternoon I met up with five other anglers to fish muskies on the Ottawa River. Two boats, our Captain knowledgeable and experienced, I climbed aboard his tiller with another passenger. A second boat with three newbies to muskies and the area, had another seasoned angler at the helm. We split off to fish two separate structures, two different directions, with our boat primarily set to troll a long weedline, while the other would troll some deeper water shoals and humps. Come the end of the day, after burning Fudallys and the like at 5mph, we caught nothing. The other crew, having never been there before but sticking to diving cranks caught three skis. My take away from the experience wasn’t anything more technical than to fish muskies with higher speeds than pike, over depth and structure. The day was more-or-less just a good time socializing while searching for skis.

Two more outings would come way in 2007. The first try a friend and I trolled those same speeds and weeds. After some hours of nothing he offered me the helm, saying that maybe I’d bring us some beginners luck. Not used to trolling fast like we were, zig-zagging and such, I was aimed at a beach and toured in towards it on a high pace. The water depth below the boat was less than three feet and when steering hard to U-turn out of the shallow danger a muskie lashed out at a lure and gave us a rip. For a few seconds it peeled hard but came unpegged. The adrenaline rush of that alone was worth every hour spent. Two weeks later, just four days after my wedding, the two of us would give’r again. By this time I’d already gone into Stittsville to see Gordy at Bits and Baits, to equip myself with one black and one red/white Fudally, I was ready to go! A golden sun setting that evening it happened, the reel peeled on my red & white Fudally and on September 19th, 2007 I hauled in a fiesty first muskie. A bright little 39-incher on one of the two first muskie lures I’d ever bought.

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Now up until the summer of 2009 like I had said, I’d been living for ten years in Northern Ontario. Nowhere near muskie on James Bay, my usual seasons permitted plenty of walleye, pike and sometimes brook trout fishing. When moving home to the Ottawa Valley with my 20-foot long, cedar canvas freighter canoe, endless possibilities for all sorts of new multispecies fishing began swarming around in my head. Once settled, over the span of those first few autumn months it was incredibly difficult to decide what to fish, when and where? But I did try for muskie on the Ottawa. In fact, that first fall home I made it out seven times hooking only one little snot rocket ski with a friend. Last outing was a miserable mid November day, the WarCanoe had been rocking out there trolling for six hours, the sun was early to set around 4:30pm and when finally calling it a season I popped the boat into neutral and reeled in the lure. It was right then and there at boat side as I pulled my crank into the air that I spotted a large, following muskie roll past the side of the boat and sink below. I wanted to cry.

First muskie boat, the WarCanoe rigged and ready to go!

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2010 began with a new ride. “The Bomber,” a 16-foot black Lund Rebel XL with a 60hp Yamaha tiller was a dream boat come true. Went out and bought two more Fudallys, a brown/tan and yellow/orange, as well as a firetiger Depth Raider, one perch and one walleye jointed Believer, two oddball Grandmas and a perch Suick I have still never casted to this day. On the vice at home, over the winter beforehand I’d already handtied a dozen different foot-long, single-blade inline bucktail spinners, I was so ready! That first spring once muskie season opened, friends Grant, Pat, Joe, Fraser and my dad would hop aboard for a fish. A total of ten outings that year between the Ottawa River and the Madawaska, the Bomber would bring in six fish, most of them smaller and coming off the Mad. My friend Joe having never caught anything bigger than a three pound smallmouth hooked into a nice, mid forty inch ski during one sunny afternoon. Sadly for him, I’d knock it off the line with the net at boat side. The best fish caught was a Rideau 40-incher taken while cruising in the WarCanoe. Pulling that same red and white Fudally from 2007, I was out over 20+ feet in mid channel when the lure was struck. That muskie would be my new best.

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2011 proved terrible! Four outings, zero fish. What did I learn..? To focus my fall efforts on Bay Of Quinte slaying easier to catch walleyes.

But something happened in 2012 that changed the game. In the grand scheme, it was by this time that I’d only really dabbled in muskies about 5 of the 7 years, fished them 24 times catching a total of eight with a forty-incher being the biggest. That’s not a lot of time put in if you think about it, yet still rather dismal results in contrast to the fishing I do for other species. With a late September start to the season the Ottawa was giving me nothing and I honestly remember feeling fed up with it. But, then I decided mid October to try road tripping down to Lake St. Clair, eventually arriving there October 25th. Stopping on route in Toronto to pick up a fella whom I’d been in online contact with many times over the past decade, Andy had never been to St. Clair either, but he did have a long history and a plethora of muskie knowledge from his years in the hunt on Georgian Bay. By the time we finished our three days, choosing to sample the Thames, Belle and Detroit Rivers, we’d caught 15 muskies and had 8 more pop off. Andy would lose a 50+ incher but I would catch a new best 45 and him an even larger ski.

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Link on over to…
L.S.C.’s MUNIFICENT MUSKIE INITIATION
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I remember Andy’s words that trip, “don’t go thinking this is how muskie fishing really is.” He was bang on and still is to this day, but after our first LSC showing I was on such a high and feeling more confident about muskies that without question a fire to fish ’em had been reignited. Again, in 24 outings back home I’d caught eight fish over five years, on St. Clair the glorified pike fishing is so easy we’d doubled the catches at 15 fish in just three days. By this seasons end, 30 outings and 23 muskies was the new reality… And sometime over that next winter I placed an order for two new lures because of the urges to fish musky even more. 2013 is when things got interesting…
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THE 100 LARRY DAYS OF MUSKIE.
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That previous trip to LSC with Andy he had said one other thing that stuck with me, “you should fish the Larry!” Well, Andy a man of many words didn’t put it so simple as that, he instead drove that point home during our three days by spilling over with many of his personal experiences and insights from GBay, as well as this one time up on the St. Lawrence. A much more knowledgeable muskie man than myself, the take-away in short was like, “why are you driving all the way down here to fish these runts when you’ve got giants living in your backyard Mister. Go to the Larry and get trolling!”

2013: Sep26 – Nov14
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Now there had been all the intention in the world to go hard at it once muskie opened in 2013… but that was lost. When the Bomber came out in spring, I’d already been over to New York several times for steelhead but then suddenly had inland ice out and Lake Ontario lakers to chase, spawning crappies to hunt, a walleye opener, the end of May laker opener, bass opener and all while in the midst of fishing that smorgasbord, there was one helluva huge gar season going on. By mid June I took off to Nipigon with my youngest daughter and friends, then returned home for a bit more gar and work through July. August rolled in when Brenda and I had booked a fly-in to Kesagami Lake for pike and walleye. While there we actually had that world-class fishery all to ourselves, and Brenda made the best of it with a giant pike. Once home again work jammed me up a couple weeks until taking off early September to fish Nipigon a second time. How skis would fit in to all that, they just couldn’t!?! The 2013 season was toooo jam packed and fishing heavy it was impossible, yet…

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Finally on September 26th, a day I will never, ever, forget, Len and I had been fishing an hour and twenty minutes both for our first time on the St. Lawrence River, when I caught a 56 inch muskie.

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Link on over to…
MY BIG BAD BEST MOOSKIE!
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Now I was fucked! Not right twisted and screwed like some knucklehead ski bolts but, more or less just pointed and pushed to a path leading right on down to that “tool” shed. Besides Len who I think might have suffered a week long grand mal seizure, I told my buddy Mikey first, then my girl, then Andy. It was the drive home talking to him that I outright asked what I should do? “Should I just quit now Andy?” I mean shit, multispecies is more “my” thang, this Larry day one super tanker and a 138 IQ is quite enough to realize a strong probability of never catching better does exist. It’s the sort of fish that really knocks it out of the park good and early, a first inning grand slam, a quick win with a scratch that one off the bucketlist. Going beyond that and deeper down the path so to speak… well, that’s a whole Wonderland of time and expense and for what?.. I think Andy probably asked me to send him the pics first, but then said, “you’ll get bigger Mister,” he always calls me Mister. With that I guess I wasn’t just pointed in the direction anymore, his shove had me stumbling towards that shed… No ragrets though! And a one fish wonder on a day one effort certainly wasn’t going to be enough for me to move on believing I was any kind of an experienced muskie guy. There was still plenty needing to prove to myself.

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Would finish a short fall muskie run with four outings on the Larry, three on the Ottawa and two days when weather pushed Andy and I off St. Clair cancelling that trip and any ever going back! Ottawa spat up nothing, but each of the four days I fished the Larry coughed up one ski. A nice 48, 46 and a 45. Thinking about that, four days on the Larry and four fish caught bettered any previous best result of any kind, ever. 2013’s super tanker, the introduction to Larry, those big muskies boated and the exceptional feelings of excitement I had with each catch or rip of the reel seemed to all fit into a new plan…
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2014: OCT6 – NOV12
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Falling back to around the time of those first outings I remember asking my buddy about the Larry. “I don’t fish it,” he replied, continuing up with his exact words, “cause they’re needles in a haystack.” And he’s surely right, but over time I’ve learned he’s also wrong, because not all places on the Larry are created equal and that being so, I imagine you just have to go with what you know, or who you know says what about it, and just try! He obviously had little confidence in it, although anglers have known for years the Larry has muskies, big muskies and some guys catch tonnes of them, but I didn’t know that?… I think back on then and realize now that like it is with all fishing, confidence goes a long way. I had little for the Ottawa area and none with Larry, and so the big stage was forgotten awhile, not even a consideration until Andy and LSC gave me some encouragement to “just try.” Turned out, 2013’s 4 fish in 4 outings would be bettered by 2014’s 6 fish over 4 outings, only problem was, there’d be no size to the muskies and two days that were skunks blew me off a sweet 100% catch rate, kinda-sorta?!?! Regardless, “needles in a haystack” I now knew not. Making an effort paid off. Two seasons, eight outings, ten muskies. Over on the “easier” Ottawa and Rideau River that late fall is where I’d struggle catching just two fish in four outings, but they were nice late season skis that got jigged up. Stats, stats, stats, stats, stats, records and more stats I’d keep and continue to try and push for better results. When beating myself up; and that came often enough too, I’d have to remember to stop and consider that most of my days are one rod days and that is a handicap with muskies, anyone would agree. That said… I was also onto something that I felt could possibly level the playing field… Hell, one rod was catching a fish or two, almost every time out.

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2015: OCT6 – NOV7
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Late start, early finish and a west coast sturgeon trip planned right in the middle of fall muskie fishing, Larry days were cut to just three, and the Ottawa River only two. Five outings made up the entire year although one memorable evening I managed two great fish 45 minutes apart off the same spot. The first a thick 48 was followed up with a snake 54.5. Was over the moon excited about it but the solo 54.5 picture at dusk was so sad and unflattering for the fish, yet still a rewarding evening none-the-less. Another trip on the Larry I’d get one more fish and take a skunk on the last outing too. Three days, three fish. Added to the Larry total, 13 for 11. October 6th Brenda would catch the only Rideau muskie of the season, a small one but her first ever. On the Ottawa I’d fish a day for nothing. Can’t say that 2015 brought much new to the game, just didn’t have time for it.

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Link on over to…
B.C. BOHEMUTHS!!! FISHING THE GREAT WHITE STRUGEON
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2016: SEP1 – NOV19
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There were three days in July that I snuck away to fish the Ottawa but otherwise the muskie madness started earlier than usual on September 1st. The 2016 season was a total breakdown. Yes, I eluded above to having figured some shit out, and what that was in all honesty is a tiller advantage, but otherwise the year’s numbers were shite! Swing and a miss you’d think..? Usual years I’d commit 5 to 10 outings but for 2016 that got a boost to 23. Eight outings on the Larry I managed just three small skis and I felt defeated for it… but here’s my catch. Six of those eight outings were on entirely new Larry waters, running one rod, during a high pressure, sunny skies, SW breeze heatwave with daytime temps that consistently reached 21C during November 13 to 19. In retrospect the odds were rather stacked against or, tactically and location-wise it was all the wrong play. Fishing those seven days in a row it wasn’t until the final sunset on a wind switch to the east bringing in clouds, that Brenda with her lady luck managed to save what could have been a full week skunk. The only day she comes out and a fish gets caught, go figure? Last “excuse” I’ll throw in, was a Florida beach shark trip smack in the middle of October during a forecasted hurricane, that reality right there really took my head out of the muskie game for a couple weeks.

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Link on over to…
HURRICANE BEACHING BIG BULLY SHARKS
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And that wasn’t all for the Larry biz! Bren and I actually snuck away one other day fishing late into the evening. The wind picked up, howling in fact and we were forced to work the best calm waters we could find. Around 10pm and heading back to the launch I had Bren reel in her line because I wanted to attack this tricky weed point with just one rod-in-hand. Much of my muskie trolling is done so with one rod, in hand, working both a horizontal and vertical game tight on structures using the tiller to it’s full quick control. Some might talk of advantages with “articulated rod holders” that can help fine tune your presentation well, you can’t be any more in tune with your lure than having the rod it’s connected to firmly in your hand. And on this night I nailed that tricky spot, clean cracking the rod off the Yamaha when a HUGE ski ripped 77 feet of line from me after I’d blazed over it’s head at 5.1mph. (casters think boat-side strikes hit hard, rod-in-hand trollers could tell ya different) It surely took a moment, for it was all I could do to move forward from my seat and pass that loaded rod to Brenda. Soon as she got it in arms though, she started reeling and said, “there’s nothing there..?” I spoke, then yelled, then screamed at her several times to reel, reel, reel, while she nonchalantly took up line repeating, “there’s nothing there.” My headlamp on, shining at the water through the dark night, she brought the weed catch slow to the surface out of nets reach, spotting a few strands of weed on it she says, “see!” But just then at that moment, a huge muskie surely rivaling my 56 but girthier than fawk comes floating up lifelessly laid out straight and stiff but half on it’s side too. Under the lamp we see every elongated piggy inch of the fish there is, on the surface like a log, four maybe five feet too far for the net. Brenda panics and instantly drives a bass hookset into its lifeless, body, waking it up! The fish darts directly under the boat and downriver out the other side, full pole bend-age Brenda tries craning it back with everything she’s got rather than swing the rod around the bow and begin normal play. The rod suddenly just popped up straight as Bren nearly fell backwards. When she reeled in the crank all three trebles were straightened. For a full 48 minutes and 33 seconds I balled my fawking eyes out, Brenda got mad at me for whining about it, until she started sobbing too. A truly once in a lifetime supertanker for her… but maaaaan a real good sign for me. Andy was almost right, maybe beating that 56 could be possible? It had been about 100 hours fishing since that first day on the Larry… maybe it’d be another 100 yet. Pitter patter!

Much more of the fall season was spent on the Ottawa, where I have historically sucked ass so bad. Pathetically over fifteen days only two fish got caught, Brenda getting the best one… the best one of 2016 actually. Prior to 2016 all had been going so well on Larry and so shitty on Ottawa, it felt tough to end the season having struggled on both. The overall Larry count dived… 16 for 19.

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2017: SEP5 – NOV8
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Ten days a season wouldn’t do it, twenty wasn’t enough, now it was 2017 and I came into it full fall muskie tilt putting in a physical 33 days out of an available 65 pounding the water. By autumns end I’d answer my friend Christine after she’d asked about fishing goals for the coming year, “wanna fish less but fish smarter.” 2017 was a big growth year, akin to building muscle and endurance after deciding it was finally time to work out. Yet, I counted 24 skunks at the muskie gym leaving just eight days that I actually made some gains. On the Ottawa I slipped out 19 times and boated just three fish, this simply just horrendous, with the exception that Brenda got her first 50-incher (the only one we’ve ever boated on the Ottawa) and, I picked up slender 49 and 48 inchers as well. Three quite respectable fish really. But with all the Hulkster “blood, sweat and tears brothers” I realized, fuck the Ottawa! Every time grinding it out there I wished to be over on the Larry. To top it off, on a final Ottawa outing I returned to the truck to find two fist sized dents on the front left side. Degenerate valley assholes or some territorial dick I’ll never know!?! Punishment like that for smaller fish when elsewhere the PB at 56 stood, well, what’s the point with the Ottawa unless it’s just a fun fish if short of time? That said, it is a fun fish when short of time, and it’s supposed to be a much “easier” fish too; which it technically is… but then again I had to be doing something wrong there to have to suffer such poor results? Learning to muskie fish you pay your dues, shooting to better that 56-incher can break the bank.

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So over on the Larry I’d put in fourteen good days for eight muskies, begin fishing two new stretches of the river, try new tackle options, loosen up the drag some and pick up eight muskies with one 54 and a 53. Worked four different stretches ranging Gananoque to Montreal. Interestingly, most fish came off new spots while the old producers ran dry. Thinking about this… 3 fish in 19 days on the Ottawa, 8 fish over 14 on the Larry. Time spent on the Ottawa after 2017 would drop off dramatically for I’d follow my strengths more to Larry. Many Ottawa muskie nuts might find this all kinda weird, but I’d like to believe the experienced Larry guys reading would be thinking… “shut your mouth Bunk, don’t tell ’em, don’t tell ’em how good it is!” Laaaarrrryyy 24 for 33… 56, 54.5, 54, 53 and an Ottawa 50 in the boat!

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Link on over to…
LUNKERS OF THE FALL
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2018: SEP1 – NOV8
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Like I had told Christine I would, it got scaled back. No 33 days on the water this season I cut it down to 22, but in all honesty 2017 had pushed me all the way into that muskie tool shed. Over the winter after reviewing the journal notes, further researching weather and barometer patterns I came to see that certain trends were forming with my fishing. Could say, when the wind was this and the barometer that, 90% of my largest fish to date had been caught. That said a lot! During 2018 wanting to live by “fishing less but fishing smarter,” I applied that study into choosing higher percentage days. And it worked! On the Larry there was not an outing that I didn’t catch, catch multiple fish, lose or get solidly ripped by a fish, it was 100% contact beginning of season to end. All but five outings on the Ottawa that say two fish boated, it was Tia’s first ever muskie that made me happiest out there. The other 17 days were spent on four sections of the Larry during which 12 skis were caught, and here’s the kicker… five were over 50 inches. Top ten previous big fish catches before the 2018 year having been studied and applied, like I said, it paid off with BIG muskies. Two 55 inchers would highlight the run, a 54, 51 and an immensely fat 50.5 would complete. There was also one special hour and 45 minutes well after the sunset, on an east wind getting bounced around in full rain gear, when I hooked four muskies that were all rod-in-hand crushers which eventually dislocated my shoulder. I lost one after an enormous initial run, the second long fifty-ish arrived near boatside when under headlamp light it tarpooned out of the water and spit the crank, the third was a thick 45 that was tough to unhook so it made a quick release, the final was a 48 that fought harder than most any other ski I have ever caught. The very, very last fish of the season was 2018’s favorite toad, a sundown photo of one girthy girl in her full glory, but Clive’s 54 was a real stunner too, and his bit of experimenting in the Bomber opened up a new door with an old, forgotten tool… Where we at now? 36 skis over 50 days and a buncha 50’s!

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Link on over to…
SEASON’S ENDINGS BIG FISH BENDINGS
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2019: SEP1 – NOV6
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Got an email from a Muskies Canada guy wanting to go fishing. Got a couple guiding gigs in for some newbies. Got a whole bunch of folks suddenly want to go muskie fishing or ask about my muskie fishing. But for the most part muskie fishing to me has mainly been a solo effort. Aside from Andy instilling some Larry confidence while on LSC years earlier, over a decade had passed as the passion for it grew out of many personal efforts that mostly followed 2013’s first memories on the Larry. Trials and tribulations! Effort! Record keeping and experimenting. Lure building and tweaking… every aspect of the fishing and thought going into it much TIME spent! With such a stubborn species too, it would seem that more than any other I have tried and tested, muskies require the greatest work and hours. With more people wanting a piece of that, 2019 I was back to fishing over 30 days during the two fall months available to make a season… But, I never did feel that I could just simply sell it out for an ego stroke or a few hundred bucks, not to just anyone wanting a spot and tactical tour.

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Farting around on the Ottawa more in an earlier part of autumn, I’d shit-stain some piss poor efforts of 3 fish in 7 pooers of fooey-gooey-pooey. Catch more used diapers than I do muskies on that river. Why’d I bother wet napping a clean arse in that cesspool? Probably rectal urgency or diarrhea weather kept me away from my Larry throne, that’s why! But seeing as though many good friends could be trusted not to douchebag me of my efforts, Clive returned, Lenny, Stevie Z came down for four days from Hearst, Seth arrived for a few days from Fargo-ish area Some-Dakota, while Bren and Leah would hop aboard a little more too. Back on Larry now running two rods more often, the hook-ups dropped off a little because aggression was lost with the rod not in hand. Multiple rods tends to be a little more “luck” than “skill” in my opinion, because although an extra rod increases the chances in one manner, the bigger “keys” as I had said earlier are confidence and location. And with rods in the holder a lot of “location” is given up when trolling, and so subsequently confidence is flushed away.

Guys and gals would get PB’s all about in the new boat Bambalam. A real fish machine, the Lund 1875 ProGuide with 90 Yamaha and upgraded electronics fished same as The Bomber but just cleaner, smoother and drier. Sidescan finally came into play and boy o’ boy did that make it interesting. Suddenly I was seeing fish left and right, way-pointing them while drive-by shooting so I could turn around and actually murder a couple on a return. It was awesome, especially Bren’s season best taken this way. Leah caught her first ever skis on some of the homemade lures pictured above. Seth would catch an incredible 54-incher, his third muskie lifetime. Stevie Z would nab a brick 48 and 47 for his first ever effort. The season would end on a best fish for me, the gleamiest and sexiest sunset 53 along with another two 50’s (one notably misplaced) that had joined earlier in the fall. A count of 48 for 74 by 2018’s end with 14 in the BIG GIRL CLUB!

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Link on over to…
MATTERS OF MUSKIE
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2020: SEP9 – NOV6

The efforts and muskie numbers leave me thinking over much today. I can see that my muskies have all been fall fish during those 100 days on the Larry, time divided quite equally between upper and lower stretches too. Couple of solid muskie nuts I fished with this year, Chrish and Trevor, have lead me to question all that I’ve been doing, and when I have been doing it. Their numbers and sized fish are staggering, more so because they add four extra months to a six month season whereas, historically I have been confined to a mid September to mid November period. That and, they’re real muskie smart guys! Unlike those two who fish predominantly muskies I just can’t give up summer lakers, specks, pike, gar, arctic char, sometimes walleye.. and of course work. Chrish and Trev’s fishing styles are rather different from each others, and both differ from mine. There’s now so much new I want to try for 2021 because of them but that could mean straying away from my nutty tool shed and down some other path to their nutty tool sheds. This muskie thing I’m doing works for me and is improving slowly, but it could certainly be better too. It’s good to have friends to share with and so yet again, I do think over that question especially Chrish posed, “what would the numbers, percentages, and big fish catches be if I fished muskies in the summer too?” Well, I don’t! I’d like to, but I can’t! Besides, fall is the time of bigger fish and also the time left available to get after ’em, and I’m already fortunate to have as much chance during then as I do. With muskie fishing autumn is the season when catch rates drop, you generally have to work a little harder in crazier conditions but essentially the challenge and payouts make it all worth it. Muskies, lakers, gar, whatever fish with me, quality over quantity is always the goal.

Other than one escape in August with Brenda to whet the lines, muskie season opened on September 9th. The “Autumn of Discombobulation” I’d dub this one, new input, new anglers, new newbies, new tactics, new tow vehicle, minor motor setback, a tournament plus everything Covid crazy would add on to one illness I’d never totally suffered from so acutely, “Muskie Fever!” In 2020 there were a number of nights I found myself taking a few deep hauls from my flask, in a dark parking lot, the temps hovering above zero before crawling into the new crew cab bed and sleeping ti’ll launch the next morning. Wanting more time on the Larry, less time driving, burning gas, wasting energy and exposing myself to the plague, sleeping in the truck proved actually quite comfortable. There was one morning seven boats launched before I even woke and heard a thing.

The Larry would host me for 26 days tallying 15 muskies. I’d come to learn that sucks compared to some real greats! Played on the Ottawa for 6 days catching 4 over there, better numbers than what I was used to, and that I’ll confess was owed to Chrish and Trev. Added to the big ski count would be a thick 54, a 51 and a 50, and during mid October I spotted “Shovelhead,” the biggest muskie I have ever laid eyes on. Absolute freight train that passed under my boat. 47 to 49’ers were plentiful this season too. Now, I’d caught fish cast/jigging late fall on the Rideau before but never actually casting BIG baits. This year I chucked out to two high 40’s casting, one was random and the other a spotted fish on sidescan which I turned back on several times trolling but then gave into trying a cast for. Will admit, loading up on skis this way could be addictive… First timers cruising in Bambalam’s land would see to some gnarly fish, Brenda and Leah too, and come time for the Muskie Capital Cup early November a great Captain Chrish recruited me last minute, and in doing so helped secure our win with the team’s three big fish. Chrish’s vast experience, Trev’s vast experience, my “lucky horseshoe” and lure, a winning combo. A new tournament, a relatively small tournament, there were still a number of great local anglers competing with more years experience than I, so coming out with the win was a firm pat-on-the-back. Anything to help boost confidence with muskie fishing is a welcome bonus right? Hopefully next year the biggest Titans come out to play, cause that’d be incredible motivation!

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Link on over to…
MOOSKIE LOCKDOWN
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After finishing the season and the 26 days on the Larry I was jotting the details into the notebook at home when realizing I’d hit 100 days on that beauty of a river. That’s why you’re reading about it now either all friendly and impressed-like or, grinding your teeth through it, you, you fucking haters! lmao!! Well, control yourselves cause final records show… 61 muskies, 16 over 50 in 100 days, one of every four caught was over fifty, and every six days on the water another Trophy joined “The Club”… 56, 55, 55, 54.5, 54×4, 53×2, 51×2, 50.5, 50×3 and that lone Ottawa 50. With absolute zero doubt there were also four fish over fifty that came off. Bren’s super tanker the biggest, but two more boat-side losses and a jumper fifteen feet away. There have been some intense rippers that popped off too, a few of those giving back straightened hooks. It’s been a grind you bet! Alotta muskies caught, naaah not really, Laz probably does this in his sleep but hey he puts in more days a year than I have in seven. Though it’s not the 61 but rather the 16 that gets me excited, and the fact that these 100 days were just the first 100 days going it alone, starting at ground level, exploring, experimenting and finding results my way. This has absolutely been a study of fish and self. Alotta solo single rod hours out on a big water classroom while pondering-a-plenty about just this one specie of many that I must learn. Am I great muskie angler now, not even close but trying, and I’m happy about following the muskie nut path down into that “tool” shed. Each fish in the net has been something special, especially the big girls, big girls need lotsa loving.
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SOME LESSONS LEARNED!
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1. Have confidence. Know, trust or feel that you will find a way to catch what you’re after. Like anything in life, if you go in thinking you’ll be defeated, you’ve already lost. Believe you will find a way to catch fish and if you don’t, then believe there exists a way to catch fish and eventually that will be revealed.

2. Fish “your” way. Find a style, your style and techniques, then constantly refine what is working to make those work even better. An example, my body, my boat, and early catches have mostly shaped my way. Being a lefty the tiller arm is also the casting arm, and since College a torn left anterior rotator cuff has been an intermittent pain. Casting pounders then manipulating a 60 or 90hp tiller ruins me in a matter of days, if not careful, in hours. Non-stop heavy lure chucking is often ruled out in favor of saving that shoulder to drive the boat. That’s fine though, because with a tiller and muskie fishing, a rod-in-right-hand troll I will last a longer time than casting, cover more ground, and even tear small spots to shreds by more accurately or aggressively trolling weedline depths and other structures without fouling or, even just blowing donuts over known ski towns. Point I’m hoping to make is, knowing what boundaries and capabilities exist for your body and skill and, what best given tools you have in your boat and gear will ultimately shape your own fishing style. So think about that holistically, for how you might best approach and apply when out on the water chasing any specie.

3. Keep an open mind. Another story to relate here… Some friends of mine will remember the troubles I had with a local angler and some of his buddies, shortly after returning home from the north to live. A hard-working guy on any water, a midweek angler often fishing solo, the one dood and his gang really didn’t care for that. So I was shit on by them, in some cases even told where I was not allowed to fish. I’d take some licks, and online even my wife would be a target. Despite first efforts to reason, a friendlier and private approach which was met with insults, despite later venting about it, I was instead made a martyr within a certain fishing group to which I had belonged to for some years. Behind closed doors the slanderous few spewed their shit, loyal friends of mine allowing me in to record it… It was a wrong place to be, such a small few causing too big an impact. These troubles ate me up awhile, I should have walked away sooner. But instead, for a time working through it I fished with a vengeance, incredibly hard, and admittedly pushed back at anyone who tried to knock me down. Wanted to “show” them that their fishing ain’t shit!… And then one day the script just flipped. I woke up to almost laugh about it, scratch my head and think about it. Came to realize that the whole bad experience was also a good one. Not perfect, I needed to change too. All that bullshit and anguish served to do was grow an even better angler, a stronger person, not something bad at all. It motivated! It thickened the skin! Toughened me up, making me wiser to fishing phonies and freeloaders, and yeah it made me more guarded too. Could say it left some distrust which resulted in fishing more on my own but even that too was good and necessary. During the solo times, intensely focused while in turbo drive for catching bigger and better, a more durable, happy and better angler emerged. Who knows if many of the amazing experiences with great fish caught would have happened had there not been that storm before the calm? And so, I reflect on this here and now because of the message, of how I believe it is important, healthier, to keep an open mind and strive to seek some good from any bad. With muskie “hunting” especially, anglers are going to have their tough bouts, long droughts, different insecurities, fatigue and mistakes while slogging it out for that one good thing to happen and simply turn it all around. When things go hard, some of us can be our own worst enemies, whipping ourselves far harder than need be. Instead, try more to accept that your lows are merely leading you to your highs and, that anything in life can be a grind, so better to keep an open mind!

4. Fish it all! Dream big and fish bigger! Muskie is one of the most amazing freshwater angling experiences but yes, a lake trout or char living in the arctic, a great river sturgeon and even our Great Lake salmon and trout species are truly remarkable gamefish as well. Some of them considerably more powerful or tricky a test when on the line too. Multispecies and trophy size fishing for many species can help your overall fishing…

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5. Make mistakes!!! Before hitting publish on this story I was listening to a JP Bushey Facebook Live post. A Georgian Bay muskie guide, his talk on trolling tactics stressed the importance of “familiarity breeding success” when it comes to knowing your baits hows and wheres as they travel through the water. He’s spot on, we can agree this is key! JP spoke of covering depths with precision, and being a longtime fishtician his experienced words had me cruising at 5mph from waypoint to waypoint in a seasoned and smooth, linear flow. Everything said made perfect sense, his personal programming reinforcing his accurate “familiarity” concept. But somewhere in the midst of this talk he made comments along the lines of there being little room for error. That sure, you will catch the odd fish making mistakes, but ultimately it is “familiarity,” (akin to “be dialed in” or “perfectly programmed”) that is where an angler needs to be for success. Again, JP’s 100% right, yet this is where I’ll take it in a different direction for the sake of your thoughts..? First, think of the lessons learned above, “fish your way,” “keep an open mind,” “have confidence” and now consider this… Most “hardcore” muskie anglers trolling do so from consoled boats. Rods are in the holders, baits are set with familiarity to their depths, familiar programs to fish then put in forward motion. Everything going according to plan and experience, the angler in control is accurately now running those baits which have succeeded time and time again until ooooops, he dropped his Budlight in his lap, it wet-tickle fizzed his crotch, he accidentally tweaked the wheel left and eyes down drying his seat drove in too shallow, looked up, corrected hard, knows he knicked the weeds foul on that port side but HOLY FAWK he managed to pop a 52-inch bage baby out of his wild damage control… Did he make a “mistake…?” Seriously, did he make a mistake? Most trollers adjust baits to depths and work the depth “safely.” Because a lure is at say 15 feet down, they may prefer to stay in waters 16 feet or more, or maybe choose to run a little road rash in 13 or 14 where bottom permits. For the most part though, they’re locked-in to a depth troll be it with blades up high to cranks below. Well I’ll tell ya, it’s a grind but alone and sometimes with partners when I have to, about half of the fish caught in my tiller have been rod in hand while making “their” mistakes on purpose! Aggressive attacks on weed and structure most trollers would not do for fear of fouling. Speed differences by regularly pumping the rod to trigger followers. Blowing tight donuts over spots. Waking double 10’s and spinnerbaits, swinging them in and out of the propwash, pulling them forward and dropping them back. Safely working vertical contours by implying a simple rise and fall of the rod tip. Similarly, just adding irregular depth changes for the fuck of it. These examples and more are now in the wheel house when your lure is directly connected to your brain that’s instantly controlled by your CNS wired right down to the fingertips. Body and lure, one synapse… Ask yourself how many times this has happened? An angler gets a bite when they check the rod for weeds? Gets a rip soon as they engage the lure once it resets into the holder? They have a deep diving crank randomly taken at boat side after throwing the boat in neutral and reeling it up before a lure change? These are a few weird and unexpected ways when muskies chose to attack. Many anglers might consider these fish flukes, maybe even “mistakes,” I know I have! Well Hell, what is a figure-8 boat side take anyways, if not just a lures change of speed and direction that caused a following fish to finally commit, like a fluke or mistake maybe? Is it not plausible that while actively trolling fish, they can be triggered in such ways too? A bait set to a depth certainly works, keeping it in “the strike zone.” Do prey fish swimming or better yet fleeing in the water always stay to one depth though? Alotta predator fish chase upwards as much as across. A rod fished in-hand can purposefully create a series of such “mistakes.” It allows for strange play options that fish may not be accustomed to, unless an angler otherwise drifted off their program by maybe spilling their drink..? So its my opinion, that some unfamiliarity like intentionally making mistakes to catch fish, makes them no longer mistakes and instead tactics. And as it is true that a series of tested, familiar and proven tactics put into play is a “program,” I’ll further add that you can make an actual working program out of unfamiliarity, mistakes or unusual choices, and have some decent success with that too. In fact, until you are perfect in every aspect, you will continue making some perfectly good mistakes. Muskie angling keeps growing as it is, pressured fish in our future may give some of us no choice but to be totally different than any others out there. Keep an open mind, have confidence, fish your way, make those mistakes, allow your fishing to evolve to the working programs of others, but more importantly to your own.

6. Research. Fishing is 10% mental, 90% being mental. But that 10% grey matter matters a tonne! Too many internet fish-eyed Go-Pro Superman Posers nowadays it’s hard to know who has genuine substance between their ears and who just hired a guide, has a lucky spot, or weekend warrior’d themselves into a fluke catch or two. We all “follow” people in some way, no one is a true pioneer of every aspect of their fishing. Most muskie thinkers online know who the real deals are to subscribe to. Most I find have eons of time on the water and experience yet there are others who have fished far less although are equally as impressionable simply because they’re totally cerebral. Information doesn’t just have to come from the aged, the lifetime grinder, T.V. personality, hot stick, You-Tube sensation or the tournament winner. You can add others to the list who have experimented and failed more than they’ve succeeded or, who are hardly on the water at all but always successful when they go. That could include your buddy, neighbor, a random local who knows, the quieter guy in the room or fishing forum, and sure, maybe even the odd one or two of those hotsticks who post ultra exposed fish pics. There’s also some science nerds that just know fish or who are truly fish out of water themselves. Give a little attention to everyone if you can, weed through and figure ’em out, or at very least consider that knowledge doesn’t always have to be fed to you by the shiniest spoon. Tips are tips! Any angler who constantly strives to be better tomorrow than today, they consume any info-meals every day. Those who think they know it all and just pick at certain offerings, they’ll find themselves starving eventually.

7. Full control. This should come as no surprise to anyone. Your safety, fish safety, boat, gear, electronics and momentum always require your best attention. Fishing friends of mine who say I got a lucky horseshoe up my ass, they’re wrong! (well sorta) Hard work beats talent! Laziness rarely catches muskies or releases them alive.

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8. Lay plans, set goals. Simple or complex just do it. Shouldn’t have to explain that any further, so won’t! My goal for 2022 is same as always, fish smarter! Not until this past year have I even bothered to pay attention to majors and minors, so it’s time to do that and see what happens. Also have plans for a few different style lure builds to hopefully improve success during periods I tend to struggle.

9. Rod choice for in-hand trolling… If interested, ask in the comments for the what and why opinion on that and, how you can spare yourself and rod from a bit of the beating.

10. Record Keeping. Could have thrown this in with research I guess but it’s important on its own because this here is what separates an angler from someone who likes boating. Why, because again this falls into information, except it’s info only you can prepare and feed yourself with. Record keeping in a catch-and-release day and age is the harvest. If you’re not willing to record and examine your fishing, try to understand and make something better of it, then you’re not really that into fishing. Does anyone think that muskie legends like Mike Lazarus, John Anderson, Maina, Saric or the likes don’t or never have kept strict or specific records? These guys started well before the days of internet mattered, most certainly without all the fancy gadgetry in their boats that make fishing easier today. These guys had to have kept records because networking was only as encompassing a thing to do as visiting your local tackle shop or fishing club down the street. I believe they all learned to be top of the class because some manner of record keeping was the school work by which they laid their foundations to build themselves up. I provided an example of this above during 2018, and how examining my records helped me fish less but fish smarter that season. It takes little effort after a day on the water to just write on the calendar a quick… “St. Lawrence. 67F. Brenda. 49, 47, 1 lost.” (date, where, with who, water temp, what ya caught, etc) End of the week, month or season, revisit these quick reminders and you’ll remember to move them along to your personal fishing journal and rewrite… Sunday October 1st. St. Lawrence, Gan. Noon to 9pm. Brenda. Water temp 67F. Evening 49 & 47, sunset lost a possible 45 boat side, all on RS Prototype… Later, in your downtime over the winter perhaps, you can revisit these dates for when the best fish were caught. Then, searching places on the web you can find moon phase, winds, barometer, temp and weather, whatever you want to re-examine looking for any possibility of trends. You’ll learn shit about YOUR fishing, trust! And I’d surely go so far to say that, one’s personal study through examining their own successes and failures, often leads to a more easily accepted and positive adaptability. Self study is as of equal a benefit to a muskie angler, as is relying on the information of everyone else. Because again in essence, no one can understand you, guide you, teach you or change you better than you can yourself. You need to be master of your own domain before mastering someone else’s, and studying your notes is one way to help you do it. If that makes sense two years of health philosophy paid off and you shouldn’t be putting much thought into what I have to say anyways… because you’ll realize it’s more importantly, about you!

11. Lake St. Clair is a trophy pike fishery… A fun fish using super-sized walleye tactics. Need to go back to play there sometime and really up the numbers.

12. Until the Legendary Laz is gone, there’s always gonna be a better muskie angler than every one of us. I’ll admit, when not catching fish and it’s getting tough out there, that inner voice will occasionally ask, “what would Laz do?” If you ever read this Laz, I’ve had my Covid vaccination and we can be closer than six feet in your Ranger now. Haha! But seriously, for anyone, any of us catching muskies with regularity on your waters, hold that head up high cause you’re doing something right with your fishing too.

13. It’s just as OK to be passionate, serious, intense or ambitious as it is to relax, have fun and take in the scenery. There does exist a healthy relationship with both. Reading a post like this one could give an impression that it’s all business on the water, but now turn the page and read one of the travel pieces like any Solo Roady, Arctic char write up or WarCanoe journal and see for yourself that it is absolutely not. Each specie, be it a fun crappie or perch fish with my daughter, a remote and exotic fish adventure with Brenda, or the challenge of big lunge, just share and enjoy fishing in your own special way!

Thanks for hooking up here!
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Bunk.
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