Holy Doodle!

The blog has been a little stagnant lately because I've been catching up on much needed writing and spending time with my girlfriend in the Catskills. It was a much needed break as, unfortunately, my break from this C&R muskie study to C&R muskies on Lake of the Woods did not rejuvenate me as I had hoped (though it was delightfully enjoyable!). Sarah and I returned home last night and after looking at the weather for today I decided it would be a good idea to get out and fish. I emailed my trusty sidekick and we made a plan to begin fishing around 1PM today.

When Hedrik and I launched the boat we immediately headed as far south as we could. Within 15 minutes I had a muskie charge a bucktail and nip the back end of the lure, missing hooks by mere millimeters. Little did I know - well, actually I had a pretty good feeling - that this was only the beginning of an outstanding day.

I will keep this brief because I need to apply some Icy-Hot to my muscles or pop a few ibuprofen, but we contacted 20 fish, with 10 strikes, and boated four - 39, 41.75, 42.25, and a whopper of a 48.25"er. As has been the case for the majority of the fish this year, each fish's lactate values were relatively high due to water temperatures. As we enter late summer-early fall, the same precautions should be taken to reduce the stress associated with the angling process. Pay attention to details of the fight (e.g., lots of headshaking, jumping, drag running, etc.) and modify your handling techniques accordingly.

Here are a couple pictures to whet your appetite:

Another transmittered fish recaptured from a past, unrelated project: Gillis et al. 2010

Hedrik's whopper.

To the waters whence you came.