Cold Streak Finally Warms

Last week I was finally able to track down suitable sized suckers for our live-bait study. I traveled 1.5 hours both ways to pick 12 suckers up. When I returned home I dropped them into a large container with water from the baitshop and an air stone pumping oxygen. Got up the next morning and drove to check on them... Half were dead! We fished with six live suckers and six dead ones. The dead ones we rigged on quick-strike rigs and cast, the live ones were put onto a mixture of circle hooks, quick-strike, and J-hook rigs. All our action came on the casted dead suckers now dubbed "Zombies". We had several hits that first day, but nothing could stay connected.

The above scenario has replayed itself several times now. The fish just don't seem to want the live stuff!

Today was a bit different, however. We had four pick-ups, but either the fish dropped the sucker after a short run or we whiffed on the hookset. Two were likely pike picking up the suckers judging by the unknown fish's inability to pull the float beneath the surface. The other two hits had more UMFFF behind them: one hit caused the float to rocket below the water and hang suspended about 2-3 feet down and the other hit sent line peeling from my reel like Jaws plucking a bluegill from beneath a bobber (before deciding the snack wasn't worth the effort).

Despite our failures to connect with any fish using live-bait, we had a bit more luck using artificials. At one point during the afternoon as we drifted a lush weed flat, the Bulldawg Hedrik so kindly lent me was smashed just as it was parting the water. The fish was small (under 30") and promptly got off. We took this as a good sign that the muskies might be starting to turn on. Towards the end of the flat, as I methodically worked Frankenstein (Hedrik inserted two screws into the Bulldawg's head to keep its nose down and prevent it from popping out of the water), I watched as a muskie slowly rose behind the bait, open its mouth, and quickly snapped it shut on Frankenstein. I hammered the hooks home and the fight was on! It was immediately apparent that the fish was hooked well, so I drew the fight out to test the fish's ability to cope with long fight times in cool water (just above 50F). The fight lasted almost four minutes.

What I caught was one of the (no offense to the muskie) gnarliest looking muskies I've ever caught. Skinny, splotched with scars, and weird "cracking" of its slime coat along its body made this one of the strangest fish I've ever encountered. In fact, it was so skinny that it looked much smaller in the water than it actually was. I was guestimating 38-40 inches as I was fighting it, but it taped out at 43 inches. The fish also appeared to be a male. If it's a male then in all likelihood this is an older fish which could explain why it looked so peculiar.

Regardless, it was another fish for the project! For those curious, the fish's glucose values were low and its lactate (7.8 mmol/l) was perhaps slightly above average, but well below the maximum we've seen (10-11 mmol/l) despite an almost four minute battle.

Back at it again tomorrow!