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!

  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!

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!

 Well if you remember I had a little oops on the opener and all I was telling myself was, don't pull it away, don't pull it away, don't pull it away on every cast, and guess what happened?  I waited on it and laid two sets of hooks right into it and the fight began.  For the first fish of the year I was content with a text book fight and landing....no funny business.  It felt good to get back into the game with a nice fat little fish, but we weren't done yet.  No more than 5 minutes later, I heard an explosion and set the hook hard into another fish, but this time the line went slack... I reeled it in with just a swivel attached to my line, the dang leader broke!  I was a little perturbed, but hey, that's fishing.  I had a monkey on my back for a few minutes until once again the sound of rain hitting the water was interrupted with another eruption.

 This time I had hooks into her and it once again must have read the memo, coming into the net perfectly!  This one was a good 40" and again a chunkster.  It was pretty funny that I had all the action, while we were using the same bait.  I gave up my dirty little secret and not too long after Tony had a beautiful big fish come and roll on his bait only to miss and go back down to the depths.  These fish were so hot that we only had one follow and 5 strikes in the first 2 hours.  I gave it another 20 minutes before my line was tight once again with a feisty guy who came airborne a few times before succumbing to the net.  At this point it was getting pretty ridiculous, 3-0, but the score didn't stay like that for long.

 Tony had one come up and absolutely crushed it and the fight was on, like clock work we netted, unhooked, snapped a few pictures and the girl was swimming away.  That put our count at 4 and the morning was still young.  We switched spots and almost right away, one came up and smoked my topwater, but just pushed it into the air without getting its mouth around it.  It was getting later out and I was fooling around just pitching it about 10 or 15 feet and then working it like a pop-r when one came full out air-borne right in front of our faces, but like his friend did not sink his teeth into it.

 When it was all said and done we had chances with 9 of our toothy friends and put 4 into the boat.  A guy can't ask for too much more, and it was a fun morning without a doubt.  The weather has been pretty goofy, and I have heard mixed reports from others, but it has been working for me.  The next few days on the water are filled with some big guys and the dethroning of a muskie virgin!  Stick around...the fun is just beginning!  From the top......Keep Livin' the Dream!

It was jut a wind blow shoreline that the walleyes were stacked up on.  We caught fish after fish with many doubles and numbers of nice fish coming in.  Tom took the cake with a beautiful walleye that ended up sitting at 28".  That night, we hit some shallow pike haunts for a short time and ended up with a half dozen pike and a 25" walleye on a spinner bait... huh?!  The last day we rode around avoiding the wind and rain, and after a trip to the local watering hole we were going to go into the thick of it.  We hit an open water rock pile in the 20 MPH wind blowing across the open lake.  It made boat control tough, but we battled the 3-4 footers and had some great fish.  Kegs drilled a dandy walleye not too long on the spot, and my dad had a mega fish on that became unlatched shortly into the battle.  If you haven't been to LOTW, it is hard to fathom the amazing amount of fish.  Morning, noon, and evening the fish bite.....it is an angler's paradise.  If you ever get the chance to fish the NW Angle...start packing your bags!  Now I have had a couple days on the water and holy man the muskies are snapping.  The weather has been down right nasty and that brings nothing but smiles.  I would keep an eye out in the near future for some muskies to start coming aboard.  From heaven on the water......Keep Livin' the Dream!

We left Waconia after my brother's graduation and made the long trek to Warroad where we caught a few hours of shut eye before making the voyage into the great white North.

We arrived on our first spot and within the minute we had our first fish on.  There were a lot of 15-16" fish, but mixed in were some nicer ones.  After the first day, the weather headed South.  We were greeted with rain, rain, and more rain, and not to mention the good ole' LOTW wind.  This did not deter our fishing at all, we spent some of the day chasing bronze backs and a few walleyes for shore lunch.

Well we did our part catching some smallies with a lot of thick footballs that went easily 5+ pounds.  The fishing for shore lunch went well but the actual shore lunch was called because of rain.  We did have a scary moment when we couldn't find one the boats in our flotilla.  We ran up and down our normal route before heading back to the cabin to regroup and start looking again.  All the bad things were going through our head but we made short time finding them on our second rescue attack. 

 They had run out of gas and the strong winds pushed them against the opposite shoreline out of our initial view.  Today is a new day and I can't wait to get on the water once again!

 The water temperature has been colder than further south by us, but it is really warm for the year.  Considering last year the same week the water was just starting to climb out of the 40's and this year it is in the mid 60's.  You never know what you're going to get in the north woods.  From the Stained 'water of Lac de bois....Keep Livin' the Dream!

 Also I haven't been able to get out as much as I have wanted to chasing around walleyes being in-between boats, but not to fear I am back on the water.  I will be running with Tuffy Boats a smaller company out of Lake Mills Wisconsin.  So far it has been nothing but amazing and muskie fishing hasn't even began.  I am still getting everything rigged up and ready to rock but soon enough it will be running like a top!

 Back to fishing...We started out deep in the pencil grass throwing soft plastics.  5 minutes on the first spot Josh connected with an absolute hog that had his rod nearly flying out of his grasp.  As it turned out, a carp found it's way into the line of his hook and gave him quite a ride.  Josh then horsed out the first bass from way deep in the long stuff and that instantly brought up the confidence level.  We continued to grind and grind and grind the thick weeds pulling out a lot of 2.5 pounders out but they were lacking the fat we were looking for.  We tallied up 15 or so bass in the first hour and then started to work some of the edges in search for a big bite.  Josh was working the spinnerbait and I was just pitching some of the pockets.  The trick was not getting a bite, it was pulling them out of the weeds.  As soon as we would get a bite, that fish would have to be winched to the boat or else your hook would be buried in the weeds.  I set the hook into a nice bass and it had my heavy action rod almost doubled over.  It ended up being a fat 4 lber.  We hit a few more similar weed beds with similar results...a lot of 2.5 pounders.  We moved out to the edges and worked some large swim baits in search of a mega bite and were rewarded with some fish that we could upgrade our bag with.  We ended up with a 14 lb. bag and a win in the tournament.  I am not too much of a tournament angler but one idea that stuck out in my head was confidence is the greatest lure in your tackle box, it ups your odds before you even drop your boat in the water!

Muskie fishing is so close, the smell is in the air, I will be in Wisconsin sometime this week trying to slap a band-aid on my toothy fishing disease.  After that Minnesota opens and hopefully some fresh slime to go with it.  From bucket-mouth's of Minnesota.....Keep Livin' the Dream!