Ups, Downs, Ups, and Downs!!

Well this week has been filled with many ups and downs!  Last weekend, My dad and I were super excited to head north to do a 2 day float down the Rum River to experience some fishing and camping.  Quality time with the father!!  Well my wonderful Mother drove us north and dropped us and the canoe off around 6 a.m.  We floated for a few hours and managed to pick up a few nice smallies while enjoying the incredible view. 

Things were going awesome when we rounded a corner and came across some really shallow water.  We had to push over rocks in many places to get through the area.  Well a few hundred yards later, it happened again.  It was starting to get really frustrating!!  Soon we realized that the river was not going to get any deeper!  There were no fish present. The average depth was 8 inches to a foot.  The crystal clear water proved there were no fish because we could see they weren't there!!  About 4 more hours of this constant pushing over rocks in the pouring rain, we admitted defeat and called up my wonderful mother to come get us at the next bridge.  Unfortunately it took almost 4 more hours to get to that bridge!!  After the largest upper body workout of my life and about a 5 hour constant rain, we managed 4 smallies and a half dozen small pike.  The website that told us the river was canoeable, was a big fat lie!!  But we did make it safely home and in the long run laughed that we would never forget it!  And that we gave it our all!!

Well that evening, I headed straight out to the muskie waters to put my first one of the year in the boat.  Night number one yielded just one follow.  The next morning gave my dad and I 3 follows.  That evening My dad caught the tiger(see Trav's update.)  Monday evening I was back throwing the big lures again.  Jason, Matt, and I tossed and tossed and tossed.  We finally saw a few fish, but no takers.  We switched up our game plan a bit and the first spot....FISH ON BABY!!!!  I had one crush my bait and instantly come up the the surface doin the muskie shake!!  A few seconds later, I managed to win the battle and we were giving high fives all around the boat!!  A few photos and she swam to be caught another day. 

After getting one on the board, of course I was out last night shooting for number 2.  This time Eric and Derek were with me.  Action on the end of my line sure came slow last night!  But for Eric, he was sure bringing them to the boat.  He managed to hook one and get her about half way to the boat, only to see her jump, throw the bait, smile, then swim back to the depths.  On the very next spot one completely tried to T-Bone his bulldawg about 30 feet from the boat!  Mouth wide open and everything, but somehow this muskie completely missed it.  He also raised 2 beautiful fish to the boat, but they weren't quite hungry enough.  Torwards the end of the evening, Derek, trying to get his first muskie, was casting his arm off!  It was his second time muskie fishing ever.  The first time, last year, he had one hooked for a bit, but it shook the hooks!!  Well this time, it was an exact image of last year!  He set the hook, the fish came up, did the head shake, and then it came unbuttoned!!  Sorry Derek, it will happen sooner than later!!  Hey you can't complain, 2 trips, to chances!! 

Then after being high on life from all the action, my boat broke down on the way back to the access!!  So things will be a bit slower on this end for a while.  They said possible up to a week and a half before they even look at it.  But I still plan on catching the muskies from the back of the boat!!! Until then, Keep Livin' the Dream!!