Wait...That's not a muskie!

Where are all the muskies???  Trust me, your questions and emails are not going unnoticed.  I apologize for the lack of toothy critter reports, but don't worry, the time is fast approaching for the big girls to come out, and then there will be no lack of reports coming in.  Thus far I have made it out a couple of times in the last few weeks for an hour here and an hour there.  I've seen some real dandies come flying up, just nothing in the boat on my short outings.  I look for that to change soon.  In the meantime, everything else has been biting really well, and we have been taking advantage of some awesome walleye action and bass action on Waconia and on Tonka.  It has been one of the better years for walleyes for me, and it seems easy to go out and catch 10 walleyes.  When can a guy remember saying that???  Hmmm...I think I'm going to go catch a dozen walleyes quick!   Well, that has been par for the course this season, which is why I haven't been too stressed from the lack of muskies in the boat. 

In the next few days I am going to introduce to you a new fisherman to the Trophy Encounters world.  His name is Young Ben.  Well, actually it is just Ben, but I call him Young Ben, and he is as wacky over fishing as I am.  Look for his grand introduction very soon!  Until next time Y'all, Keep on Livin That Dream!

Bringing Back Some Good Times...Thanks Jack!

So I have been tinkering with many features on many different websites lately, and I have learned a few things.  This video isn't new by any means, but it is very special to me, and I have wanted to share it for some time now.  The great man Jack Popowich made this DVD for me last summer and it is a great battle of his buddy Bob and the mighty Minnetonka Muskie.  The work he put into it is quite spectacular, and as you watch, you will realize that this fish should not have come into the boat.  This is not a typical muskie battle, and I recall many times throughout this fight as I tried to coach Bob through it, that the line was rarely tight.  let's just say that this muskie should not have come into the boat...However, I'm glad it did.  Enjoy!

Until next time...Keep on Livin The Dream!

Keepin On Em...

The last two evenings have been spent doing what else...Willie fishin!  The temperatures early into this opening season has been less than favorable.  It has been hard to establish a real strong pattern of any kind.  One day the water is up to 56 degrees, and the next it is back down to 51.  These fish just can't seem to figure it out, and it has left us searching for the next great bite.  Not that I am complaining, cuz I love the challenge, but it just makes for a little more work to land our fish.  As the first 2 days of season have been showing, we aren't catching numbers of fish, but a very good quality in the ones we are landing.

Monday night we hit Tonka as a little prep work for my trip out last night.  We hit a few spots and found nothing, but kept searching.  Our efforts were rewarded with 5 nice eaters, and one that we released at about 22 inches.  The pattern we found was yet again shallow, but his time in different areas.  The good old faithful, jig and a minnow produced our fish, and the water temps in the bays we fished were about 54 to 55 degrees.

Last night was a little different story.  Yes, we were on Tonka again, and yes we were shallow again, but the bite wasn't quite as good.  There was a cold front that moved through mid-day, and it made for not only a chilly evening on the water, but gave the fish a slight lock-jaw.  I was joined by a gentlemen named Terry, and we gave it our all.    The water temps had dropped again from the day before and we were seeing the results of it in the number of nibbles.  Terry landed the first fish at about 18 inches, and shortly after I missed 2 nice fish.  For me, that was all the walleye action I could muster.  A few bass later and a few spots later Terry landed a very nice Tonka eye that pushed just over 25 inches.  We fished hard into the night, but the fish didn't cooperate any further.  A good attempt  on our parts, but a bad attempt on the walleyes part.  That's fishin, and that's why we keep coming back every day.  Thanks for all the fun the last two nights everyone.  Until next time, keep on Livin the dream!

Opening Weekend...Cold But Successful!

Opening weekend never seems to be one of great weather.  Does that stop any of us hardy fisherman??? Absolutely NOT!  How did everybody fare?  Well, the jury is still out on that one, but I have been hearing mixed results. 

I will consider my opener a great success.  Taking it from the top.  To continue the tradition, of midnight start times, we did it in style this year.  As I reported in the last update, we had fish within minutes.  I boated a nice 21 incher about 7 minutes into the season, followed by a surprise in a 28 incher.  Sweet, and I figured that would be top dawg of the night.  Boy was I wrong!  Dusty followed that up with a very long and unfortunately rather slim 31 incher.  A great fish for sure, but just a little too slim for him to consider for the wall.  A great opening run, that we continued hours later.

After about an hour nap, we were up again by 4:00am and heading for Tonka.  This was in the plans, and we were pretty jazzed from our large catches already.  Once on the lake, my gut took over, and I went to a most unlikely spot.  The results???  We made the right choice, and thank you to my gut for that call.  We all threw a nice 18 incher in the boat almost instantly.  These fish came from less than a foot of water.  Wow were they shallow, but par for the course with this cold water temperature.  After fishing for a few hours longer and trying some new spots, we picked up a couple more before we headed in for our fish fry.  We brought back a perfect meal of 6 eyes for breakfast.  A perfect start to the season, but would it continue?

After our opening day walleye feast, we napped and headed back out for the afternoon and evening bite.  To sum it up, it stunk.  Our hot hand was cooled by the blowing wind and pounding rain.  The lakes water temp dropped from a chilly 56 degrees, down to 49 by the evening.  That never makes for good conditions.  I boated a healthy 22 incher, and we caught a few bass, but all in all, it was pretty darn tough.

Sunday morning was a morning that could have made someone question their sanity.  I met a couple of hardy fisherman by the names of Chuck and Mike.  This brother fishing combo resides in Chicago and Plymouth, MN, and they were destined for success right out of the gate.  We laughed when the 39 degree wind almost knocked us over at the access at 5:00am, but they said that they still wanted to give it a go.  Surprisingly, we made a great decision.  Judging the conditions, I figured that it would have been tough to coax even a perch into biting, but that was not the case.  We used the wind to our advantage, and even though we couldn't feel our fingertips, we trudged forward.  The sun came up and the walleye mouths opened up.  For some reason, only the big fish felt the need to bite, and these boys landed some trophy caliber Walleyes and Bass.  Before our morning was through, we landed a couple of 24+ inchers, a 26 incher, and Chuck's largest ever at 27.5.  Throw some 19 and 20 inch bass on that, and you have good fishing!

Looking back at the opening day and following morning, I am not sure if I would consider it normal by any means.  We didn't land a ton of fish, in fact I think we only had 15 total, but the size was great.  We had many over 20 inches, including a couple of 21's, a 22, 2 over 24, a 26, 27.5, 28, and a 31.  We had enough under 20 to have a big walleye feast on saturday morning, and I found out that my new rain suit works pretty well.  My fingers still aren't back to normal, but the camera is full of new pictures.  I am going to consider this another very successful opener.  Thanks to all who made it so great including Mike, Sean, Dusty, Chard, Dougy, Anna, Mike and Chuck. Stay tuned, the dream continues the next few evenings as we try to continue with success...

IT'S OPENER BABY!!!! GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY!

Opner is just hours away!  What has seemed like years to get her is now just minutes away.  As I write this article I figure the majority of you are feeling just as antsy as I am to hit the water.  Many have skipped out of work and are hitting the roads heading northbound.  The rest of you, I feel your pain, cuz its gonna be a few hours before I get to start my yearly ritual of events.  A few last minute pieces of advice.  Fish shallow this year if you are heading north, or just fishing locally.  The water temps will be cool, and any shallow lake or warmer bay should produce better.  Also, focus on areas with running water.  These are places the fish congregate around to spawn, and they won't be far from it at this point.  Fish slow, and when you find one fish, odds are you'll catch several.  With the ice still covering many of our lakes, its going to be a different bite than most years.  With that said, we may be surprised to hear some great stories and hot bites in lakes that aren't typically hot on opener, and also a  few that probably stunk it up.  That's fishing, and that's what keeps us coming back.  For me, I will be staying local and fishing my home waters of Tonka and Waconia.  I anticipate a great bite, and I look forward to the camaraderie that always takes place with the opener.  I wish everyone the best of luck in the next few days, and as always, I will report back with my results.  Good luck, and remember, we are livin the dream out there this weekend.  Let's go enjoy it!