As time, work and fishing trips often go, it’s not until usually the fall that my muskie season begins.

Between Arctic char and lake trout while on a July contract in Nunavut, coming home first week of August I’d see the boat into CP Marine, sort fishing tackle, pack the camping gear and do all sorts of meal prep. By mid August I was back out the door for a two week trip North to Nipigon. During a short space inbetween, it was a scorching hot day with Brenda when we decided to slip out for a very rare summer muskie fish. No expectations, a chance to simply whet the lines and lures while just being out there together was my best hope. But I guess Brenda wanted more, so she took our day to a next level catching the first ski of 2020.

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Gone sixteen days afterwards, once returning home I needed a short break week before hopping back into the Lund. Knowing full well of the illness ahead, something which many refer to as “muskie fever,” on September 9th my symptoms began. Not surprising, Brenda would join me again, first to pick up our new tow vehicle before spending a day and a half on the water. We would only manage one fish but it was a short getaway together we really quite enjoyed.

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Happy to have Bren interested in spending more muskie time in the boat, the following weekend we both wanted more. Our first and only three days on the water so far a success, she signed on for a three day road trip fishing combo. A day of sturgeon with a couple days of muskie we did quite well. On the Friday we nearly skunked, managing two small muskies I wouldn’t call picture worthy and having a nice mid to high 40-incher follow. The Saturday fishing sturgeon we boated six, Brenda’s first ever catfish, a couple walleye, a few suckers and an eel.

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Our Sunday was a very memorable outing. Not a lot of fish but the two we did catch were true beasts. Brenda up first she reeled in a heavy ski that alone could have been enough to make our day. Randomly offering my turn to her she refused, and less than an hour later I struck hard into an even heavier fish that was enough to make my year. A great big tank it’d be the one to beat for 2020. Just a beautiful fish that put up one helluva strong and wily fight. We ran some video for the release but my potty mouth acts up when excited so I’ll leave it out… for now.

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At six days logged for 2020, by this point I proved off to a strong start. Muskie fishing can be quite a head game, outside of experience and persistence, confidence can be key to help any angler ride through the slow spots. It’s “a grind” many call it, and they’re right! While not regularly boating fish I find energy starts to slip away, patience wears a little thinner, I begin to experiment more, and more times than not do fail at that. You might begin to question your skills and decisions… when then out of nowhere you hit the right fish doing the right thing. Then, you find a bit of swag again and pick-up your stride through the next round of highs until the process repeats. There’s no other fish swimming that I’ll accept several regular defeats and still walk away feeling that I learned something, or didn’t waste my time trying. These muskies are the apex predator and they take much effort and consideration to catch… unless you’re from Quebec, a place where I seem to witness a much higher confidence level for poaching to get the job done, playing within the rules makes muskie fishing quite a great challenge.

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On the water isn’t the only time to experiment. Past few seasons I’ve taken plenty time to build a “super lure,” one per season. Giant spinnerbaits built on wire frames nearly double the strength and thickness of your average 0.062 gauge wire type lures, my “MooskieBunks” are created to withstand highspeed trolling in heavy river currents without bending out of shape and, they are expected to also stand up to any abuse big fish can dish. Prior to 2018 my lures were smaller, lighter creations on standard wire forms, but pictured here is each build from that day onward. 2018 is about 14 ounces, 2019 is 8 ounces and 2020 returns to 14 ounces. About 12 to 15 hours goes into each lure with parts and materials totalling $90 to $120. Have they caught fish? Will they catch fish???…

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Without my notes handy as I write, going by memory there was a week nearing the end of September when a few trips out produced nothing. It was a slump, one that only lucky Leah was able to break by joining me on an overnighter. Stuck in Zoom classes until 2:00pm for both of her days, I’d start later mornings, fish a little and then go pick her up from the truck once her school was out. We did rather well! The first morning on sidescan I spotted a fish suspended deep. Waypointing it, I repeatedly trolled over top with different offerings yet couldn’t get it to go. So, taking a short break I readied the casting rod and threw on a BullDawg. Returning to the area it was a dozen casts later that I felt some weight and set the hook. A fine catch!

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Before picking Leah up from the truck I’d catch another solid fish that wrapped up bad in the net. Time and effort to release a fish rather similar to the previous catch, I cut hooks and just slipped it back quick. Once Leah came aboard the bite slowed through the afternoon until nearing dinner time. She had control of the stereo, blue-toothing her awesome mix of random 70’s and 80’s tunes when finally a rod fired. Man I was nervous for my girl but she was amazing with keeping steady pressure and reeling in line. Past experiences with Quinte walleye, lake trout, big gar and sturgeon she has surely learned much right from wrong. The end result this day, Leah caught her personal best muskie.

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Coming up on Thanksgiving weekend my muskie season was already half over. After Leah’s and my day I’d have a couple more shitty runs on the water catching nothing. And so I believe it was around this time when Brenda agreed to one final fishing day of her season. A real cold snap which appeared to mark the onset of nastier fall weather, we’d slip away together for her last time. Nothing much happened during daylight hours, but a solid late bite would reward us for going the distance. Myself, I’d return a couple nights later and get a decent fish as well.

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One of Leah’s Birthday wishes over the years is to simply spend some time together outdoors. What she usually has in mind is a day of ATV’ing with a picnic, it’s kind of our tradition. The autumn leaves turning on the trees the two of us took off one day for the Highlands. We’d take some pictures, put ALOT of miles on the quad, enjoy a difficult mountain loop up to Crag Lake then finish our day at the Redneck Bistro in Calabogie for some fish tacos and Chinese nachos. It’d make for a nice halftime break from a month of muskie madness.

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2016

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2018

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2020

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Some funkier shit crept into play after T-Giving. Two buddies of mine were beginning to fill my head with all sorts of new ideas. For the most part, for my years, I’ve been a one man keep to myself kinda muskie show. Quite selective, I’ll surely bring some people in, sometimes thinking to bring more, but for whatever reasons I just don’t find enough follow through for too much of it during a frantic and fevered muskie season. That said, between me and these two fellas there was surely an emerging trust. Obvious we all fish and know about fishing many similar places, what I think we’d learn from one another is we might all fish it differently, or same, but with certainly our own unique styles. The end results are lots of big fish for all. Our sharing was good, and somewhat of a relief for me to talk with guys more experienced with skis than myself. It was only just at first that I believe the info overload threw me off my game because what I do is only fish the fall months, my way, concentrating on big fish and building each year on my own style. After being spun around a little with new ideas, once going back to my confidence zone the next four out of five outings really paid off for myself and friends.

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The red hood overhead, Paul’s fish pictured above was his first muskie ever! Mid forty something and quite thick, for some odd reason it hardly fought at all and just came straight to the net. Still, it was a beauty PB. My friend Jay had come out once earlier in the fall on a day we’d catch nothing, but pictured just above he redeemed himself with that fat ski of his own. It’d be his first muskie too. Trolling back to the launch after sunset that evening, we were about to call it quits when Jay’s rod fired one more time. His second fish was a biggun, long and healthy, and it easily found him in the Fifty Club. He was over the moon, a lifelong bucketlist fish he now finally had a couple he could brag about.

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It was a period of about twelve days that as said I hit the water five… no actually six times! Yeah, there were two skunk days with a different buddy that for whatever reasons we just weren’t off to a lucky start as fishing partners. However, I hadn’t seen my old fishing bud Len in a dog’s age, so it was great to have him join up with me for a turn. We put in a full big effort out there and as luck would have it, he slid the net under another fifty pluser for me. Of all my friends, Lenny can understandably complain that I have a golden horseshoe up my ass. The poor guy has netted so many big muskies with me and never one for himself. Hopefully we’ll change that next season, but if not, it’ll just mean I catch another nice one when we do go!

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Got out with Hazey into a shitty east blow, cold crappy go and took a blank. After that it was time for a change up because there was suddenly a strong desire to chase some eyes. 2019 wasn’t able to get out to Quinte, 2018 I’m pretty sure I had a day with Bren and one with Leah. Weather looking a little dicey for this round, with Shad coming up from Hamilton or somewheres and Abberz willing to just roll out of bed and stumble to the launch, they were both willing participants to play. Well, it was a bit of a bouncy ride yet despite shit reports we did well nabbing five eyes, a half dozen sheep, some silver bass and some lost eyes too. Rain which turned into a white-out snowstorm made tiller time a little pissy and it chased us off a couple hours early but, not before Chris got to reel himself in a nice 13lb, 8oz’er and Shad popped a real boner for a fatty 11. Can’t say the day was at all a waste of time, the boys were great company and it rekindled the romance a little with BOQ.

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Cruising into the end of the month the next outing after Quinte was back to the skis. Half way into the day with some weather approaching, I was making a rip toward the launch when the Yamaha started twitching, kicking then bucking at high speed. Slowing down to half RPM’s it calmed a minute before acting up again. I was left to limp, and not far from the truck at maybe ten minutes out the boat motored it’s way back around 7 to 10mph. By the time I was almost home the Yammy stopped misbehaving, but by this point I didn’t trust it. At home I checked it over next day. A small ring seal that was cracked at the lower end oil intake was the culprit. My gear lube had turned to custard.

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By now it was October 29th with only eight days left in my fishing season. The boat couldn’t make it into the shop for a few days yet so I left it to drain bad oil over the entire weekend ahead. Luckily, as fate would have it, my buddy Chrish would message asking if I wanted to join with him and Hazey to fish the Muskie Capital Cup. Ummmmm, I was like absolutely, positively, hundy percent fuck yes!

Although I could start the nine day online competition with the boys, I couldn’t give them as many days nor fish ti’ll the very end. So much to do before heading away to work in the Arctic, time would fortunately permit me about five days. As it would turn out, that’s all I needed. Fishing with Chrish and Hazey, reeling in three big contributors for our win, I had an amazing run with these two incredible muskie minds. I’m pretty sure we all enjoyed ourselves so much that we’ll be fishing a tonne more together down the road. The big thanks goes to Chrish for the invite, he basically saved the last week of my fishing year.

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Winners of the first and hopefully annual fall online Muskie Capital Cup tournament! Thanks to the boys, truly awesome muskie anglers!

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The boat did return to me November 2nd, unscathed, no alarms or recorded events on the diagnostic, to simply slide it into winter storage, healthy and ready for next year gave good peace of mind. Like so many other autumn fishing seasons, I’d be forced to quit for work by end of the first week. No regrets here though, considering it’s 2020 and the world is upside-down, the family is healthy, my friends appear Covid free, and fishing is pure happiness.

Thanks for reading and keep an eye out in the coming months for a special muskie report. “100 DAYS” is all I will say for now.
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Bunk!
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