It was the full moon of August 2003, I had recently graduated from college, and was trying to make a living in my home town of Ashland WI.  Of course, trying and doing are never the same thing.  I was cooking at a local restaurant, about to be a substitute teacher, working on some articles in hopes of being published, and of course fishing.

My dad and I had headed out fishing for the morning.  Unfortunately, I was due in the kitchen that afternoon.  Our destination was the Pike Chain in neighboring Bayfield County.  We would fish one of its lakes in our row boat (I was in between motors at the time).  We rowed from spot to spot on the lake.  As we went along, we moved a few muskies and caught a few panfish. Read More→

I walked up the river, casting to any decent pockets I saw.  Most of the water wasn’t striking my fancy, but I came up on a fast run that cut through a deep hole just right.  There was an excellent well defined seam between the calm and fast water, and the fast water was very fast and deep.  I casted into the calm water and worked my Manta towards the fast water.  As the glider hit the seam it started to swing down river.  It made it about a foot before it got clobbered.  The musky was big, got itself into the current, made a break for it, and pulled free from the hooks.  On my next two casts, I hooked and landed 45” and 40” muskies that both struck in the exact same place as the first.  The first one was much larger than the second two.  To this day, it is the only time I have ever taken three strikes on three consecutive casts. Read More→

It has just turned Tuesday Jan 27 2009, and I am writing this after having passed out for nearly three hours due to exhaustion; not from laudanum like Coleridge when he wrote Kubla Kahn. I am somewhere nearing Toledo in a work van packed with tools, luggage, and tired workers.  I fell asleep with the heat on too high in hopes of killing any bugs I may be fighting.  I have waken hot, sweaty, and uncomfortable; but with an idea in my head.  It came to me in a fever dream. Read More→

…..As the water cools in late summer muskies begin to feed much more heavily in their preferred haunts.

In all but the northernmost musky habitats, the heat of summer can be physically tough on muskies.  In the northern extremes of the muskies’ home range, the heat of late June through mid August turns the fish on as waters stabilize in the low to mid 70’s.  This is still within the musky comfort zone and in fact promotes peak activity.  However, there is a fine line between temperatures that promote peak activity and temperatures that stress.  Muskies will tolerate water into the upper 70 degree range, but anything past that will cause them to leave for more tolerable conditions before they begin to stress. Read More→