Adventures of Jack and Walt

Today was the conclusion of another great series of days on the water with Jack and his fellow fisherman named Walt.  We have shared many laughs and stories throughout our time on the water.  Well, mainly Jack shared stories and Walt and I enjoyed hearing them. 

I feel like I am a whole lot smarter, and I could possibly explain our health care system as well as certain functions of hospitals in our country.  Jack can possibly explain every detail about how to catch a muskie by my stories, and Walt has taught me why those little birds chase those big birds around in the sky.  That right there sums up 3 days on the water.  But in all honesty, we did spend 3 relaxing days chasing these toothy critters.  We were unfortunately blessed with one of the most intense cold fronts that I have dealt with in quite some time, and even did some fishing with temps in the 30's one morning.  Quite a difference from the 90's from the previous week. 

We had many chances, and we landed 4 muskies in total on our quest.  We saw little ones, big ones, and some in between.  We fished mainly Minnetonka, but we also did a tour of Waconia this morning and gave Walt some new views on his first trip to Minnesota.  Although Walt had his doubts about catching a muskie, and quite often he reminded us that he didn't want to land one that big, or definitely not touch it, he did finally catch one of our famous fish.  This morning wrapped up Jacks final outing with me this season, and I enjoyed every one of them.  We have totaled 5 muskies in those trips with Jack landing his largest ever at 46 inches.  Truly a great fish and I am fortunate to say that I was able to guide him to the catch.  While we fished very hard this past 3 days, 3 fish came in the last hour or so of our time together.  With the conditions being as brutal as they were, it was obvious that we were going to have to work for our bites which we did.  Today we had decent weather and we capitalized on our chances.  With a 42, a 45 and a sub 40 incher, we had excitement to end our trip that won't soon be forgotten.  It's weird how it happens, but after fishing for countless hours and days, we boated 2 within 5 minutes of each other and lost one more on our last spot for the day. 

We experienced Wind, Bitter Cold, more Wind, and a Storm front that would chase most off the water.  The life long lessons that the three of us shared will be stored in my memory bank forever, and I think Jack and I made a believer out of Walt when it comes to the sport of Muskie fishing.  Thanks for it all gentlemen!  Enjoy your winter down in Florida, and I'll be calling you Walt when I come out to the Rockie Mountains.  One more reminder, I wouldn't hold a cocktail party during a Hurricane just to say you did it.  Apparently it's not all its cracked up to be!