Fall Success

I haven't posted here in a while, primarily because my research efforts have been redirected away from muskies. However, I felt an urge to post here about a recent hard-fought success my buddy had.

In a nutshell, we had excellent fishing weather: breezy, cloudy, bit of rain, stable lake levels (though post-draw down). Fish should have been concentrated in a few areas, but apparently they didn't get the memo. Fished a solid 6-7 hours with nothing; no follows, strikes, or boils. I was ready to call it quits around 4:30 and grab dinner. Brandyn usually keeps us motivated during times of doubt and I didn't mention leaving again (call me somewhat fair-weather, or impatient during fall). We brainstormed about how to spend the remainder of our day and decided on a funnel area. Brandyn let me take the boat and I pointed the bow toward deep water where I was fishing a Bulldawg. Brandyn pitched a 10" Jake tight to shore along a lay-down. Suddenly I hear Brandyn chirp up about a "figure 8!!!!" (said emphatically and with a chuckle at the end). Thinking he was joking around I non-chalantly turned around and nearly had to push my eyeballs back into their sockets when I saw his rod doubled over and a fish headshaking like a helicopter about 2' down. The fish fought well, taking Brandyn from one corner of the boat, up and around the bow, and to the other corner where I scooped the fish into the bag. Sweet victory. Made the 4 hour drive (for me living in Chicago) somewhat bearable... ;)

OK, I guess that was the nutshell + the nut. Enjoy the photos. (I left the sky photo full-size to be used for whatever you wish. It might become my desktop picture! Gotta thank Brandyn for pointing out the lighting.)