Yeah Baby!!!
Travis Frank
What a sweet day to be on the water! Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching the sun rise and set from the seat of my Ranger Boat. Fortunately it was a good day to be spending on the lake, cuz those muskies were darn hungry. I'll start with last night because it is still so fresh in my mind.
Mitch, Kristin, Mike and myself hit the water at about 6:00 pm in hopes of continuing the streak of fish that I have been recently compiling. With high hopes from the great morning that I will soon share with you, we shot out of the access to see what we could come up with. Kristin was our professional photographer for the night, and we were really hoping she would get to put her camera to use. The weather was strange, with high sun, dead calm waters, followed by high winds and storms from many different angles. At times the wind would be from the North, and at times from the East, then West, well you get the deal. Needless to say, it wasn't prime muskie weather, but we pushed on with high hopes.
As the sun set, there was a feeling in the boat that something was about to happen. I went to one of my absolute favorite spots on the lake for sunset bites, and we fished it very slowly. To set the stage a little further, this is only the 3rd time Mitch has fished for muskies, and he has yet to land a beast or see one in the boat for that matter. 
His excitement to see a muskie caught was as high or higher than the rest of us. As we worked slowly down the structure manuevering our baits to the "spots on the spot" I had Mitch cast his bait to a specific weed patch where I had seen a giant earlier. To my surprise, nothing happened. Two casts later he had a muskie crush his lure at boatside and go hog wild. At one point I thought my rod was broken. The fish, while not huge, gave us an adrenaline rush before it shook the hooks. Literally the very next cast, Mike chucked his bait to the spot I had Mitch cast to, and it was all over. The beast decided that it just had to eat. For the next few minutes, it was absolute chaos. Kristin was snapping pictures like crazy, and Mitch and I were running around trying to position ourselves for the success of a net job and a quick safe release. This muskie measured at 51.5, and is Mike's second fish over 50 inches. For such a true monster to be the first that Mitch and Kristin got to witness was surely a life changing event. To see more pictures from last night, check out the numerous photo albums to see Kristin's work. I do believe that the addiction of the muskies just got passed down to another poor soul. AWESOME!
While last night was amazing in its own way, yesterday morning was one of those mornings that I wish would never have ended. Brett, Russ and I hit the water early, and we had fish going nuts nearly every place we went. We saw fish on almost every spot we went to for the first 2 hours of fishing. It was predictable as we would pull up to the spot, and I would point to where they should be sitting. Instantly the fish came screaming to the bait, however they seemed to be extra smart at getting the hooks out of their mouth. Brett was on fire, and he had a solid 15 different muskies attempt to get caught by his magical lure. Although we were all throwing the same bait, Russ and I had only one muskie each attempt our lure, and Brett had over 15. That's just how it works some days, but I am happy to say that I made the most of my chance, with a nice 39 to 40 incher. 
Brett followed up one of the fish that he missed earlier in the morning by catching it the second time around. While not huge, the sub 40 inchers always seem to go airborn, and this fish was no different. We saw some real giants again yesterday morning, but they won the chess match. All in all, it was another one of those days that I will look back on for years with a smile. And, I'm thinking that a few other guys will be doing the same. Gosh are those muskies addicting. Until next time, Keep on Livin the Dream!