This has been quite the hectic time, but thank goodness the fishing hasn't suffered too much.  I'll start on a trip that took us all over the state.  We left Waconia early in the morning, headed for the Red River Valley to pick up Josh's ride.  We picked her up and in no time we had one place in mind: Lake Vermillion.  We started to venture across the state passing some of the greats thinking what are we doing, Detroit Lakes, Leech, Bemidji, and finally the big V.  The first night we got out onto the glass like water and began throwing topwater.  Not too long after I was drilled by a upper 30" low 40" class pike that came fully out of the water, I was a little antsy and my nerves got the best of me, finally the fish came down into the water hook-less.  Getting that out of the way was nice as I caught several more smallies and Pike on top and I was finally getting the hang of it.

 Now it got interesting once more, about 7 miles out, the check engine light came on along with the most ear piercing noise you could imagine.  We slowly made our way back to the landing and then tried to figure out what to do.  The plan was to head down to Duluth and have it looked at as soon as possible so we could continue fishing.  Well, it was getting into the late night and it made driving next to impossible, but we finally started to make our descent into Canal park around 3 A.M.  Not wanting to get a room for a few hours, our true college colors shown through as we opted to park and sleep.  It probably looked like a garage sale and a dumpster mixed, we had everything imaginable in the windows to block the street lights, but sleep never felt so good.  The next morning we got the go ahead at the dealership in no time and made the trek back up.

 Not too long after getting on the water we were rewarded with a glimpse of  hope, a very nice fish took interest in my bucktail and followed it around a few times on the 8 only to slip away.  We sat on the fish for a little while longer and had it come up again only to fall back away.  We were on the water for upwards of 6 hours when the conversation turned to the new boat plug rule.  Well it turns out that we didn't quite get the plug back in the boat, but to our amazement we weren't sinking or even taking on that much water!  Now we started to explore some little rock reefs that topped out around 2 feet, we were snagged a few times on top and started to notice a trend.  The reef was so small you could cast across it never getting a follow, but after maneuvering on top of it we saw 3-5 different fish that just sat there.  I knew we could get one of them to bite, but we had to wait for the perfect timing, Moonset!  Until then we hit some more weed spots which were definitely producing more sightings during the day.

 We hit the same spot as in the morning and during the first cast Josh had the same fish come up and follow his cowgirl 4 times around the 8, but that was the last we saw of him.  As the sun went down we made our way to the money spot.  We slowly started working our way around and about 10 casts in, Josh was hooked up.  It was still pitch black out which made it interesting work, but we finally corralled the fish and we couldn't have been happier.  After a few quick shots the 46" fatty was back in big V. 

Now I had taken some time off trying to let the water come back down from the 80's and one night I got the temp at 78 degrees, it was on.  Josh and I headed onto the water, and started working a spot that had most likely been hit multiple times that day.  I had about 5 casts  on the night when I had my bait about ten feet away, and a true giant came up out of nowhere.  It made the lure look like a china doll as it latched on.  I knew this was no ordinary muskie and all I wanted to do was to get her under control.  Josh was scrambling to get the net as I was probably screaming at him to hurry up, just as I had her up to the boat the walls closed in around her.  I started to lift it up for a snapshot and a weird thing happened, I physically couldn't hold it "out" for the life of me, it was a feeling that I won't forget.  All I could think about was getting the fish back into the water and it was probably one of the fastest turn around times I have had.  From the time I hooked her to it swimming away was close to a minute.  I knew this was my biggest fish bar none, but I didn't really know until I put the stick to her.  I had it up to the tail and it measured 52", I was pumped to get another 50" on board!  Wait, there is more to the story, Josh said he needed to get the stick on the nose now, this is when my mouth dropped.  The correct length was 54", a behemoth of a fish.  I was simply in awe of the fish and couldn't stop looking at the pictures, which turned out a little interesting!  It was great to drop the fish in the water and instantly get a bath of water as she took off, the icing on the cake!  From the 50's.....Keep Livin' the Dream!

Well I have been out and about in the last few weeks with some okay results.  I'll start back a week or so when Josh joined me for the day and we started out at a spot that I know hold some nice fish.  The weather was pretty up and down which has really increased the major bites.  We slowly worked the spot and about an hour in Josh was drilled on his topwater by what seemed to be a great fish.  He made really short work of the fish, horsing it in as fast as he could.  It did put up quite the battle, but was eventually overwhelmed and brought in.  We knew it was going to be a really nice fish, but we didn't think it would push the 50" mark.  After we got her back into the water, we brought out the pole and it went all of 51".  I was pretty pumped for Josh to catch his first 50" and to have the first 50" in the new rig.  We fished for a while longer with no luck and headed for home.

  A few days later, we hit the water again under the cover of darkness looking for something to wet our net.  Same spot, and again it didn't take too long before I had a fish drill my bucktail on the first two cranks.  The problem was the rods in the boat were tangled in the net so I had to take it easy and walk the fish around the boat before we had a net under it.  The problem was during night when the fish eat, they EAT.  The fish had the full foot of bait in its mouth and I started to cut my hook out.  I couldn't have safely released that fish without a good set of hook cutters, and I am darn thankful we did it in short time.  We guessed it to be around the high 30's, a fish before we headed up north for a trip.  The plan was to head up there to fish the evening in a friend's boat and then pick up Josh's boat which was in for repair and was going to be done the next day.  We got out there and hit a few spots before we moved a giant of a fish, easily shattering the 50" mark.  The next spot we saw 4 fish, 2 of which would have done 50"; it was getting out of hand.  We fished into the night with no excitement when all of a sudden Tyler had one explode on his topwater 5 feet from the boat, well it was the fish we saw earlier before, a true giant!  A quick jerk and the bait was safely out of the fish's grasp, a mistake we have all made.  The next morning we hit it early and went back to the same fish which was hot for a few different topwater baits, but would never hit it again.  We packed it in and headed to the Ranger dealership in Moorhead.  Well, really long story short it wasn't ready.  Yes, it was an experience and I'll leave it at that.  It left a bitter taste in our mouths having to leave those fish, but I intend to make the trip again hopefully this time with a few 50"s.  Travis, Eric, and I also spent a night on Mille Lacs, but came home with a few follows and a nice pike that Eric got on a bait that was half the size of the fish.  From across Minnesota...Keep Livin' the Dream!

Fishing has been pretty good with this up and down weather and I'm not complaining, but it looks like summer is now upon us. I was joined by my lovely girlfriend for a morning of muskie fishing and well let's just say I learned a few things that I'm sure you didn't know either!  It was an early start to the morning and I went to pick up Hanna around 4 and she was "happy" to be awake at the moment.  We got out onto the lake and hit the first spot with not too much action and she was quickly losing interest which would surely send her back to her book.  I finally got a signature bump and told Hanna to take a look at my lure and sure enough I heard a whisper.  Well I'm not sure why she was whispering, but I will get to that later.  Not too long after I felt a thwack and saw my bait starting to move sideways in the water, I set the hook a couple of times, but as soon as she was on it was off.  Hanna was pretty excited, but also I could see a little disappointment in her face.

We moved on to the next spot and we worked around the area with no avail, but as soon as I got to a certain point, it broke loose.  I was halfway through my retrieve when I was slammed and the plan all along was to give the rod to Hanna, but as all of you know things happen fast.  It was rapidly in the boat and it felt good to have the first fish on board.  We got a few pictures and the fish was on its way.  A few casts later I was facing the opposite direction when all I heard was "Ben, Ben, Ben....I think I have one"  It was almost so quiet it was barely audible and this was one of the most shocking reactions I have ever heard to catching a muskie.  Well this thing was on mission and did not want to submit so easily.  It darted head on at an incredible pace and all that was going through my mind was reel faster!  Everything was under control until it started to head to the trolling motor, at this point it took a massive jump coming completely out of the water.  I kept telling her to keep her rod tip down and she just kept whispering back to me.  After another leap out of the water it finally got into the net and then the celebration started.  It was a solid 38''+ and a great first time fish.  She did a wonderful job at keeping that fish buttoned down, congratulations on the excellent catch!  After a little apprehension and one glove later the fish was hollywoodized and set free. A muskie virgin dethroned and the fish did almost everything to take that title away from her.  

Now to the interesting part, why all the whispering?  Well it was quite the explanation, and I couldn't help but laugh.  Deer hunting, a game of waiting still and quiet was something that Hanna has done quite a few times so doesn't the same apply to muskie hunting?  She figured that if the fish heard her talk it would decide to become unhooked and swim back into the depths.  An interesting concept if I do say so myself! We cruised around the area and then went back to our original stomping grounds.  It seemed to be slow with the sun high and the winds light, but I had to make the infamous last cast.  Well about 3/4 of the way in, I said "well that was fun wasn't it? Lets head out"  as soon as the words came out of my mouth I was drilled by a nice fish.  

This one was pretty green and lively when it was in the net, but we made a quick turn around and the 44" was back in action.  We left the lake in high spirits, what another day on the water.  Just another quick thing to think about, wouldn't be easier to just hook a Bass on so they would bite faster, its dumb that we throw these big shiny things that don't even look like fish.  Another interesting concept, a bit illegal, but a valid point.  Next time, we have a large fish that ventured its way onto the boat, so stick around.  From the "quiet" waters of Minnesota.....Keep Livin' the Dream!