The Green Hornet Strikes Again!

Forget the rod and reel combos, it's time to go old school!  If you've seen the show Grumpy Old Men, then you know what I'm talking about.  If not, go rent it.  The Green Hornet is the classic jiggle stick with a fish catching attitude.  While I don't officially own a Green Hornet, there is a hint of green on the jiggle stick that I recently purchased, and it has plenty of attitude!

Saturday morning I snuck over to Cabin Fever Sporting Goods just as the sun was starting to rise.  I grabbed a jiggle stick off the shelf, and store owner Jeff gave me a weird look.  "Goin Old School Trav?" he asked.  "Yep, and it's gonna catch me dinner today!" I joked.  As I approached the counter, I asked for a tin of colored Eurolarvae.  I soon was informed that I was not politically correct, and that they are now called "multi-cultural Eurolarvae."  It wouldn't be the same if I walked out of that place without a joke from that man.  Perfect way to start the day!

The panfish activity with this warm weather certainly brings back the old school feel.  Fishing outside was the norm, and hole hopping was the ticket.  With several holes cut out over an 8 foot weed flat, my makeshift Green Hornet and I set out on a mission for fresh panfish.  Joined by several fishing buddies, and my father, this day was nothing short of a spectacular.  The weather called for snow, but it never came.  Instead, we were blessed with a fish catching day in the warm sun. 

The crappies and sunnies were slammin to say the least.  For a metro bite, it is the best I've seen in over a decade.  Quality and quantity in the same 50 foot circle is rare, but on this day it was reality.  To add to the excitement came the over-abundant muskellunge lurking below.  These beasts were on the prowl, and if you didn't hustle to pull your sunfish or crappie in, they were going to get it.  I can't count how many times I saw a muskie under my hole, and several of our fish were stolen.  It was bizarre to see such a sght, but at times there were 2 or 3 muskies below our holes.  The true problem came when they wouldn't leave.  From the confines of our base camp fish house, muskie after muskie would swim past the underwater camera.  We lost a few jigs to them, and Mike battled one muskie on his jiggle stick after it ate his sunny.  Obviously he lost the battle on 3 lb test, but he gave it a pretty good attempt. 

It was neat to witness the underwater strikes, but after a while it just got old.  I have never seen such an attitude from a fish that is suppose to go dormant in the winter.  It was like Piranhas waiting under our holes for any scraps that we didn't want to keep.  The initial battle up the hole would get their attention, and if you released a fish, they were there to take it.  I'm not exxagerating when I say this happened all day long.

As our day came to a close, we laughed about the muskies and the ones that got away.  A few quotes from Grumpy old Men were passed around the circle, and yes Bails, we do know Damn well that you throw back what you aren't going to eat.  It's just too bad that nobody is ever there to see it!  We were happy to be standing on the ice in the beautiful weather, and this time we didn't have to end our day with the infamous quote, "it's just nice to be out here."  Yes, it was nice to be out there, but it's even better when you are catching fish.  We called it quits that day with a pale labeled "dinner for four."  Just the way you are suppose to catch em, the old school way!  until next time, keep on livin' the dream!