First Recapture!

After a long day of tracking yesterday (7/30), I received an email from Ottawa Chapter MCI member Larry Lambourne that he and fellow member Ross Nichols (holding fish), along with John Anderson (left of Ross), caught and released a 48". The same fish was caught previously by us on July 8th on a large bucktail up shallow. The fish was recaptured using the same large bucktail, but the catch location was slightly deeper. What's even more ironic is we just tracked the fish that morning, even stopping to cast at it!

It will be interesting to see where the fish goes in the next little while after being caught a 2nd time. Perhaps she'll be caught a 3rd time? Who knows!

Observation

We tagged a 32" yesterday afternoon and released it near the capture location on the channel edge. This release site was probably just off the channel edge in the main channel. The fish went down and appeared to move around a bit. By the end of the two hours of tracking it had moved to the opposite side of the channel.

Sometimes it's difficult to release a fish in shallow water (i.e., when trolling open water or casting for open water suspended muskies), but where possible I think it's a good idea. A fish can take refuge in cover and regain its composure (get stress levels back to homeostasis/baseline values). Released into open water may force the fish to exert more energy (of which, depending on the severity of the angling event, there may be minimal amounts left) to find an appropriate area of refuge.

Just a thought.

"Make the Next One Count"

As my alarm went off this morning at 6AM, I peered out my window only to see the trees bending in a steady wind and rain falling at a 45 degree angle. Nevertheless, I dragged myself out of bed and over to Matt Clay's house. I was a bit anxious to get to the ramp and see if we'd encounter the same downpours that barraged us inside Ottawa's city limits. Spirits were high though as this was surely looking to be a perfect "muskie" day.

Arriving at the ramp we were greeted with a moderate east wind which, although moderate, was kicking up decent waves. Matt and I unpacked the truck and I took out a transmitter to make sure it worked. As I dug for my backups I realized I only had two transmitters! DOH! What if the bite was hot? What if we caught two 30"ers (still OK, but let's go bigger shall we?) and then caught a 55"? We wouldn't be able to put a transmitter in the 55 because *someone* forgot extra tags!

We fished a couple spots first thing that yielded nothing. Clarity was good, cloud cover was good, rain was OK (not good, but not bad either), and the slight chop was good too. I decided to approach our third spot from downstream and work upstream letting the wind push us along a slow drift. We made it past the "best" part of the structure with nothing to show, but I continued to follow the drift into an area I hadn't fished before.

The steady pull of my Dinnerbell was interrupted by a sharp strike and immediate hookset. In roughly 1 minute we had a fish in the net! Small (36"), but we'll take it! This fish got the "gentle" treatment with no air exposure, so no photo op with the little guy. The next fish would receive the "normal" treatment with 90 seconds air exposure (to simulate picture taking, admiration, and an out-of-water measurement) with time for pictures.

We tracked the fish at the 10 minute post-release mark to find it merely swam to the bottom and sat there. I put the tracking equipment down, picked up my rod again, and bent my bucktail back into its proper shape. Quick boat-side check to make sure it ran straight and I was back chucking and winding.

As we began casting again, I said to Matt, "OK, we just used one of two transmitters on a 36". Now it's time to catch that 50" we've been looking for. Make the next one count!" The Big Guy upstairs must have been smiling down on us....

I launched a cast out and watched the bait bulge back to the boat over the milfoil. In a nanosecond a golden streak of lightening lit up the water behind my bait and nearly ripped the rod out of my hands! As the fish tore through the weed bed both Matt and I kept muttering, "BIG FISH! It's a 50!" As a side note, you know the fish is BIG when they shake their heads side-to-side and there are noticeable pauses between the left and right shakes.

Matt scooped the beast with ease. When I saw the tail go into over the hoop I let out a big sigh of relief. I was literally shaking from head to toe. Matt popped the hook out and worked on getting it free from the net. As he did this the fish thrashed... all I heard as I was busy digging in my sampling kit was, "It's in past the barb." This is something no fisherman wants to hear, so I quickly grabbed the Knipex. Matt had me wait a second to see if he could push the hook through the skin, but the hook point was in parallel to the bone so I snipped the hook and left a little curve of the shank exposed.

So here we are: fisherman with hook lodged in his hand and a giant muskie in the net, AND we still needed to work the fish up. Matt put his discomfort aside and helped me sample the fish. She taped out at 50.25" with an incredible girth (a measurement we did not get). The fish's caudle peduncle was so THICK the needle we use to get blood with barely reached the backbone (there's a vein that runs down the bone which we use to take blood from). I was able to get a tiny bit of blood, enough to take glucose and lactate data, but not enough to fill a vial. I could not reach the backbone again.

The fish swam away strong and actually moved around a bit in the two hours we tracked her. I just received an email from Matt and it sounds like the hook removal was... not fun. Here's to Matt and his dedication to the cause! *Clink*

Enjoy the photos folks. I sure am!

King Midas Disguised as Matt Clay?

It would appear that Matt Clay's presence - be it in the form of physical presence in a boat, or residual presence as in merely touching a lure - brings good luck.

Physical presence examples: the first time with Matt in the boat we processed one muskie caught by Robert Wight and Hedrik; I caught another the same night that we got good blood from (but no transmitter); and the next time out Matt catches the previous entry's dandy 48".

Residual presence example... I was using one of his Cowgirls the other day and forgot to take it off my rod. When I arrived at the launch today to track his fish, and bumped into Matt, he told me to keep the Cowgirl in the boat. I brought along a couple rods to do a little "fun fishing" (hey, I need a break every once in a while too!). So I tracked his 48" and outran an incoming storm, stopping at another spot along the way (I am by myself) just for a few casts. It was between throwing a Top Raider, Weagle, or Matt's Cowgirl for the duration of my short stay at that spot. I went with the Cowgirl. Not 15 minutes into fishing the spot, I am watching Matt's Cowgirl spinning toward the boat when a mouth full of huge teeth appears without warning, grabs the bait, and starts headshaking at Mach 3.

Up until this point I'd never had to net my own fish from a boat (from shore, yes, but not a boat). And when I grabbed the Big Kahuna I realized just how unbelievably huge the net is, particularly with an angry muskie attached to the rod in my free hand. My first try fails as the muskie just turns around and swims away, but the second netting attempt went better and I soon had the fish subdued.

After realizing I couldn't take any data on the fish without someone's assistance, I set up the camera and snapped this quick picture. I had to Photoshop my upright middle finger from the fish's midsection... Someone may have taken that the wrong way :P LOL

Lucky #13

Luck was TRULY on our side today (and a bit of skill)...

Hedrik and I arrived at the launch where we met up with Matt Clay. The day looked promising with a slight easterly breeze, barometer dropping, and partly cloudy conditions. As we drove to our first spot I realized, after 15 minutes of driving, that I forgot to grab the net from the truck bed! DOH! Fortunately, Leather Hands (Hedrik) was in the boat and has hand-landed many fish in the past. He assured us doing so would not be a problem.

Soon the wind died down to flat calm conditions, and our clouds disappeared. Nevertheless, we perservered and continued fishing the spot. Matt was throwing a Jackpot and had a fish blow-up on it, hit steel (get hooked) for a second, then shake the hooks. A little dejected, we pressed on. Hedrik switched to ripping a Believer over the weeds and soon was hooked up to a smallish (~34") fish, which soon threw the hooks. At this point now we are all feeling grim as our bad luck streak that began 7/14 continued.

We found good weeds well away from the main part of the structure and flogged them mercilessly. At one point I looked up to see pointy, red fins break the surface. I yelled, "FISH", and pointed in its direction. I made a few casts with my tube to no avail. I looked up at Matt's Jackpot after bringing my bait in. There appeared to be a wall of water moving behind his bait, which I took to be the large wake from one of the pleasure boats that passed us. When I realized the wake was too "acute" and focused on the lure I screamed "FISH FISH FISH!" Just as I said that, however, Matt reached down to swat a deer fly off his leg, thereby pausing the bait briefly. This must have worked to his benefit as the next twitch caused the fish to EXPLODE forward and engulf the bait, mouth wide open and head shaking. Matt's rod doubled and shook violently with each powerful head shake.

There was no scramble for the net since we had none, so Hedrik and I took our time to make sure things were put away as we prepared to hand land the fish. Hedrik got hold of the fish and subdued it... only to be thanked with a full-body shake and a hook in the arm! Fortunately the hook did not go past the barb into his flesh.

Matt's fish taped out at 48" on the nose. The fish appeared to be a male, too!

50% and a Badge of Honor

Got out with another Ottawa chapter MCI member, Bill Fuller, today (along with Hedrik, my trusty sidekick). Bill took me out last year while here in Ottawa for the American Fisheries Society's annual meeting. Last year, Bill caught a nice 37" on a spinnerbait, I caught a sub-30 muskie on a spinnerbait, and I had one hit a shallow Curly Sue at the boat. Needless to say, my hopes were high that Bill would bring good luck today!

Bill didn't let me down. Although, the fish was a tad on the small side... 22" to be exact. Of special note is it hit a regular Bulldawg that, when stretched out, tapes to 11" or 50% of the fish's body length. So, a 50" muskie would have no problem taking down a 2' lure!

Not to be outdone, Hedrik got one too. Well, almost. He did get two follows. AND he got a badge of honor from a bird :)

Pepe Still Smells... But Not As Badly

Fished with Chris Purdy (aka Pepe) and Ed Lalonde yesterday. Moderate winds on big water = not much fun... And upper 60 degree weather stinks too! Fishing was slow for a while. Ed took us to a shallow weedy bay (still getting hammered by wind) told us to start fan casting. As we did, the Shalow Mag 'Dawg I was straight cranking back HALTED mid-retrieve. As I struggled to start my stopwatch which was buried under the sleeve of my rain jacket, the fish cart-wheeled out of the water sending three large pieces of the 'Dawg flying. One of those pieces happened to contain all the hooks... Mad that I lost the fish, I was even more mad that the 'Dawg fell apart! With a sprinkle of colorful language, I grabbed a bottle of Mend-It I bought just for such occasions (good foresight, eh?) and went to work. In 20 minutes I was chucking the bait as if it just came out of the package. Good stuff to say the least.

We raised four others, including one that rolled on Ed's jerkbait boatside and one that pushed a massive bulge behind Chris's Super Topraider and struck just out from the boat. No hooks in either fish. Had two other follows on a River Rat spinnerbait and a Big Game twitch bait.

We almost have the skunk out of the boat. Still have to keep scrubbing though :D

Tag Teamed

Last night Hedrik Wachelka, Robert Wight, Matt Clay, and I fished from two different boats in an effort to tag team one of the the rivers we are sampling. Just before the cut-off time, Robert landed a nice 38" trolling a 10" Believer over the main river channel. They phoned me so we blasted over, sampled the fish, and released it. I was concerned the tag team efforts wouldn't work, but apparently they do!

Later, after the cut-off time, I caught a 41" that slammed a Weagle. Awesome strike (headshook all the way to the boat). No transmitter, but great blood.

Severe Storm + Spinnerbaits + Speed Trolling = Fish #9

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/story_print.html?id=1782862&sponsor=

While fishing within eyesight of this incident (minutes before the storm), Ottawa MCI member Hedrik Wachelka and I were able to boat a fish. As we exited a no wake zone Hedrik and I decided to flatline speed troll spinnerbaits (http://www.riveratlures.com) over submergent weeds. My bait hit a patch of weeds and I began pumping the rod to knock the weeds off. Just as I stopped the pumping my rod doubled over. FISH ON! I am a caster 98% of the time and this marks my first fish caught trolling, outside of using a guide. The battle was quick thanks to the short amount of line we had out. Blood was taken, transmitter affixed, and off he went. Fish #9 retreated to the weeds and sat there for the next 2+ hours. We returned yesterday to track it and found it a bit upstream of the catch site, but alive. Pictures to come!

I am happy that we caught a fish, but also glad no one was injured in the lightning strike/house fire. That would have put a damper on the day as we pretty much saw the bolt strike the house (and yes, it was eardrum shattering!).

Two Touchdowns and a Fumble on 4th and Goal

A little change of scenery yielded excellent results today. After several hours of fruitless casting (one small pike and something boiling behind a bait) I was able to boat a 44.5" that smacked a bucktail just as I was about to enter the figure 8. Quite the battle as the scrappy male made a couple runs under the boat, dodging the net in the process. The fish was processed quickly and swam away strong. It retreated back to the weeds it came from and continued to stay more or less in the same area for the next two hours.

Hedrik and I continued to fish between tracking periods (10 mins post-release, 30 mins, 1 hour, and 2 hours). I launched a cast with the same bucktail and was greeted promptly by a hard strike. Another good battle ensued, but the fish was hooked well on the front treble. This fish was a fair bit longer than the previous one, maxing out my 48" ruler! Clinging to her was a silver lamprey (see picture), a species native to the area.

As we sat again waiting to track the two fish, our drift down the structure was perfect . As I gathered the materials to process another fish if the opportunity were to arise, I hear an explosion out from the boat and look up to see Hedrik's rod doubled and his Top Raider connected to ANOTHER mid-upper 40" fish. I scrambled for the net, took the first scoop I could... and caught the Top Raider on the net! Yep you guessed it, with one quick flick of the fish's tail it was gone. Rookie mistake and a first for me, but 2-3 isn't bad (beats a sharp stick in the eye)!

Hopefully we have more days like this in the future (minus the netting mishap...)!

Pepe Le Pew

Fished with Chris "Pepe" Purdy today of the MCI Ottawa chapter. True to his name, Pepe left us with the big skunk. How do you get the smell of skunk out of your boat? Haha!

:D

In all seriousness, thanks to Chris for keeping me motivated through the temporary gale force winds and rain squalls. We need stable weather!

Broke the Drought

Today I had the honor of sharing a boat with Hedrik Wachelka and Mark Patry, both of the Ottawa Chapter of Muskies Canada. We were greeted with less than ideal conditions: wind, clouds (that's OK), and COLD temps. Thankfully, no rain. Just as one might expect, the day's action was very slow. We tried weedlines, weed shelves, shallow weed flats, and everything in between. Finally we decided it would be a good idea to re-work some deep structure fished earlier, but do it slower this time. As we worked the structure, I launched a cast and hit a marker sign, thereby snagging my Mag Dawg on the sign. As I limped the boat over to the sign, Mark's Storm Swim Shad was engulfed by a nice 40"er. That was the only fish we saw all day, and makes the third fish with a transmitter in it.

Stay tuned.