Cleve
Super Member
Today, 9/10 - my friend Marty and I go out in my boat, fishing on xxxxxxxxx
We're fishing crayfish and worms on the shoal in front of the old xxxxxxxxx
I get a hit on a crayfish and hook a nice 3 1/2 lb smallmouth bass - a decent size smallmouth bass by most standards.
Marty and my line get tangled while I'm playing the bass, which forces me to stop retrieving the bass for a few seconds.
I feel a strong pull on my line - I ask Marty to just cut his line, but his line breaks before he can do so.
I continue to play the 'fish' - it rises towards the surface as I reel.
Slowly, a huge shape takes form as it nears the surface - 20-30 feet from the boat. For both Marty and me, it was a "WHAT IS IT????" moment. I'd never seen anything like it in my life. I was actually fearful for an instant - I've watched too many movies like "Creature from the Black Lagoon"
For you see, a GIANT musky had seized the smallmouth bass during the time Marty and I had tangled lines, and now this huge fish refused to let go of the bass, horizontally pinned in the musky's jaws, for all the world looking like a bone in a German shepard's mouth - I kid you not!!!
The musky continues to clench the bass in its teeth - and rather docily allows itself to be reeled to the side of my boat.
Marty stands there, looking at the now thrashing Musky, and dumbfounded, asks me if I had a camera onboard - I said "forget the camera - try to net it!" or something to that effect. My memories of these events are surprisingly foggy.
Right after I said this, the Musky darts for bottom with his snack - but again, I reel the Musky back up to the boat - I think he didn't fight as doggedly as they're renowed for, simply because he himself wasn't hooked, nor did he feel the barb. He probably was thinking (if his tiny brain could cogitate a thought) that his prey was somehow responsible, and he needed to keep up his crushing vise-like hold on the bass until it was subdued.
So now Marty takes my landing net, a high-quality net which has handled many a bass, walleye and northern pike (up to 13 lbs) , and manages to scoop ONLY the head and part of the body into the net. I didn't think we stood a chance in hell of pulling it off - ie, actually boating the fish.
A frantic few seconds take place which is very foggy in my mind - - the Musky now begins to thrash, Marty is lifing so hard, the net handle is beginning to fold and break - so I grab at both the hoop of the net (the handle is bending and about to break) and the fish's tail.
By some miracle, musky AND its bass prey come into the boat, and are plopped onto the floor of my front casting platform.
So I took a couple photos with my cell phone - I apologize for the quality - but I couldn't see the lcd screen in the midday sun...
You can see the smallmouth bass lying next to the musky's huge head - only once it was boated did it finally let go. I decided to keep the fish for mounting - it was actually too big for my 17' fishing boat's livewell
- I had to remove the baitwell from its receptacle, in order to stuff it into the livewell - at that, it barely fit.
So, here's a photo - taken at shore, when a digital camera was available.
The fish is between 51-52" long (depending on how you hold the tape measure) - it read 35 lbs on my scale. The taxidermist who took the photo (the same fellow who did my wonderful 5 1/2 lb smallmouth mount) told me that the fish was probably 30 years old, or older, and that it was a "fish of a lifetime", even had it been caught in a conventional manner - but doubly special because of the unique method of landing.
Also, I was using my Quantum 5 1/2 foot light action rod, and a smallish Shimano Solstice 2000 spinning reel with 8 lb test line - hardly muskie tackle.
Using a gamefish as bait is *highly* illegal - but it certainly WASN'T my intention - this was just a one in a billion thing - I honestly think a man could regularly fish his entire lifetime, or multiple lifetimes, and not duplicate this event - I've read stories in fishing magazines of muskies grabbing hooked fish - that in itself isn't exactly an 'everyday' occurence,but they end with the musky letting go and swimming off. I've seen, 2 or 3 times, a northern pike nail a sunfish or other panfish hooked on jigs while bassing, but they let go. And even had the fish not let go, the line could have broke, the netting attempt failed, the hook could have pulled free of the bass, or the net collapsed.
And please be aware - I am usually staunchly 'catch and release' and preach it to all my fishing friends. Out of all the many fish I've caught, I've only keep two fish in the last 3 or 4 years - my trophy smallmouth, and this monster.
Oh, something else that's kinda weird. It's the 1 year anniversary of my landing my trophy smallmouth. Believe it, or not.
We're fishing crayfish and worms on the shoal in front of the old xxxxxxxxx
I get a hit on a crayfish and hook a nice 3 1/2 lb smallmouth bass - a decent size smallmouth bass by most standards.
Marty and my line get tangled while I'm playing the bass, which forces me to stop retrieving the bass for a few seconds.
I feel a strong pull on my line - I ask Marty to just cut his line, but his line breaks before he can do so.
I continue to play the 'fish' - it rises towards the surface as I reel.
Slowly, a huge shape takes form as it nears the surface - 20-30 feet from the boat. For both Marty and me, it was a "WHAT IS IT????" moment. I'd never seen anything like it in my life. I was actually fearful for an instant - I've watched too many movies like "Creature from the Black Lagoon"
For you see, a GIANT musky had seized the smallmouth bass during the time Marty and I had tangled lines, and now this huge fish refused to let go of the bass, horizontally pinned in the musky's jaws, for all the world looking like a bone in a German shepard's mouth - I kid you not!!!
The musky continues to clench the bass in its teeth - and rather docily allows itself to be reeled to the side of my boat.
Marty stands there, looking at the now thrashing Musky, and dumbfounded, asks me if I had a camera onboard - I said "forget the camera - try to net it!" or something to that effect. My memories of these events are surprisingly foggy.
Right after I said this, the Musky darts for bottom with his snack - but again, I reel the Musky back up to the boat - I think he didn't fight as doggedly as they're renowed for, simply because he himself wasn't hooked, nor did he feel the barb. He probably was thinking (if his tiny brain could cogitate a thought) that his prey was somehow responsible, and he needed to keep up his crushing vise-like hold on the bass until it was subdued.
So now Marty takes my landing net, a high-quality net which has handled many a bass, walleye and northern pike (up to 13 lbs) , and manages to scoop ONLY the head and part of the body into the net. I didn't think we stood a chance in hell of pulling it off - ie, actually boating the fish.
A frantic few seconds take place which is very foggy in my mind - - the Musky now begins to thrash, Marty is lifing so hard, the net handle is beginning to fold and break - so I grab at both the hoop of the net (the handle is bending and about to break) and the fish's tail.
By some miracle, musky AND its bass prey come into the boat, and are plopped onto the floor of my front casting platform.
So I took a couple photos with my cell phone - I apologize for the quality - but I couldn't see the lcd screen in the midday sun...
You can see the smallmouth bass lying next to the musky's huge head - only once it was boated did it finally let go. I decided to keep the fish for mounting - it was actually too big for my 17' fishing boat's livewell
- I had to remove the baitwell from its receptacle, in order to stuff it into the livewell - at that, it barely fit. So, here's a photo - taken at shore, when a digital camera was available.
The fish is between 51-52" long (depending on how you hold the tape measure) - it read 35 lbs on my scale. The taxidermist who took the photo (the same fellow who did my wonderful 5 1/2 lb smallmouth mount) told me that the fish was probably 30 years old, or older, and that it was a "fish of a lifetime", even had it been caught in a conventional manner - but doubly special because of the unique method of landing.
Also, I was using my Quantum 5 1/2 foot light action rod, and a smallish Shimano Solstice 2000 spinning reel with 8 lb test line - hardly muskie tackle.
Using a gamefish as bait is *highly* illegal - but it certainly WASN'T my intention - this was just a one in a billion thing - I honestly think a man could regularly fish his entire lifetime, or multiple lifetimes, and not duplicate this event - I've read stories in fishing magazines of muskies grabbing hooked fish - that in itself isn't exactly an 'everyday' occurence,but they end with the musky letting go and swimming off. I've seen, 2 or 3 times, a northern pike nail a sunfish or other panfish hooked on jigs while bassing, but they let go. And even had the fish not let go, the line could have broke, the netting attempt failed, the hook could have pulled free of the bass, or the net collapsed.
And please be aware - I am usually staunchly 'catch and release' and preach it to all my fishing friends. Out of all the many fish I've caught, I've only keep two fish in the last 3 or 4 years - my trophy smallmouth, and this monster.
Oh, something else that's kinda weird. It's the 1 year anniversary of my landing my trophy smallmouth. Believe it, or not.
ity: Me poor, poor wallet.
