Worth The Wait...
Travis Frank
Last year I was able to get Mitch out on the water for his first muskie experiences. He was the proud recipient of his first muskie, shortly after that he landed a 50. To this day we have been hounding Todd Siebell, our fellow workmate, to the point that he might as well sell his gear. Todd was suppose to join us one evening, but had to go cabinet shopping with his wife and bailed on us. This, coupled with Mitch's 50, have meant nothing but tongue lashes ever since. It's been great!
Last night all of the chatter and jaw-jacking finally became a reality as both of these boys came out for an evening of muskie hunting. Todd was in my boat, and Mitch went with Mike. Todd had an obvious mission to top his 40 inch personal best, but really wanted nothing more than a fish over 50 to stuff in Mitch's face. The laughs and jokes started immediately, and so did the muskie activity. About 5 casts into our outing Todd had his chance at that 50. The funny part was that he was so flustered that his figure 8 at boatside resulted in a sinking lure with his rod doing circles in the drink. Apparently 50 inchers don't respond well to a figure 8 when you leave 15 feet of line between your rod tip and the bait. Haha! This was just the start of it all.
A few casts later and the next ski was boatside. Again more of the same, and this one didn't want to have dinner either. We kept on, and a few casts after that, another opportunity came and passed as a large muskie tried to eat my weed covered bait. Darn weeds! All of this missing fish finally resulted in our first picture taker about 20 minutes into the day. Unfortunately for Todd, it was a fish on my line. A goofy looking muskie that I think has some form of scoliosis. This exciting activity continued to play itself out over the next 30 minutes of fishing. 
In our first hour on the water we saw 9 muskies with two over 50 and one that I swear will go 55. A feat that Todd was baffled with. Lets just say they were on the prowl.
Fast forward a bit later in the evening to the part that I like the best. As we approached one of my locations Todd was stopped dead in his tracks. Literally! His eyes almost bulged from his head and he was totally overwhelmed. He froze, but the muskie held on. A bit of banter from my end got him cranking on the reel. The fish came to the surface and put on quite a show. I thought Todd was going to wet his shorts, but he managed to man up and battle the beast. The look on this man's face is going to give us something to laugh about for years at the office. Even when the fish was in the net he still looked like he had seen a ghost. It was awesome! To make everything even sweeter, he held the fish as if he was playing a bass guitar. This got Mitch, Mike and I all laughing even more at the end of the night when we looked at the photos. It doesn't get any better than that! While it wasn't a 50 incher, Todd now has a new personal best at 48. What a dandy, and what a night. When it was all said and done, Todd and I managed two ski's in the boat, one that came unhooked, and another 12 close calls. Not to be outdone, Mitch and Mike also had some success of their own, and Mitch landed his first muskie of the year as well. Not huge, but a great 38 incher that still has him jacked up as of this writing. Thanks for the fun night on the water boys, may this not be the last! Until next time, keep on livin' the muskie dream you fishing freaks!