6/19/15 Close Calls, Near Misses, and Eventual Success

I managed to get out on Friday night for a few hours of Musky fishing. I packed all of my gear the night before and went to work early so I could get out in time to hit the water. The temperature was much cooler (low 70's) than the previous several weeks and it was overcast all evening. I figured that it would be a good day to fish. I was not disappointed. I started off throwing the bucktail that I have had luck on all spring. Within the first 30 minutes I had my first follow. The fish seemed moderately interested but never actually hit my lure. Within about 15 minutes I had a small fish follow my lure to the boat. He chased it around an oval a few times before disappearing. I kept going with the oval and after 5 times around I switched it up and started moving the lure very erratically. When I did that the fish reappeared and briefly chased the lure again without hitting it! He had still been there the whole time just watching the lure. It goes to show that you should never give up boatside until you are sure that the fish is gone. After that, I went back to the spot where I had the first follow. On my first cast there was a fish following my lure. I can only assume it was the same fish as before as it was in the exact same spot and looked to be about the same size. The fish chased the lure around and struck it right at the boat. I set the hook and pulled the lure from the fishes mouth. I could actually feel the fish in the rod very briefly so I know I came very close to catching that fish! A while later I had a slow follow by a fish that did not seem really all that interested in my lure. After that I went several hours with no more action at all. I made a complete lap of the lake with not so much as a follow. When I got back to the spot where I had the slow follow, I had another follow by a fish that looked like the same one from earlier. I had two fish that I'm pretty sure followed twice in one day, so another lesson learned is to always return to a spot where you had a follow to see if you can trigger that fish again later in the day. As I was nearing the boat ramp, and the end of the day, I had a massive fish follow to the boat and then disappear just as suddenly as it had appeared. There were 3 people sitting on the boat ramp that were watching as I attempted in vain to get the fish to come back by continuing to figure 8 for quite a while. I was really disappointed and I felt like it would have made a great ending to the trip. At this point I was thinking that there was no way that I was going to catch a fish before the end of the day. Two casts after the follow, I was in the middle of my retrieve when I felt the telltale thump of a fish hitting my lure. I set the hook and the battle was on! This Musky put on quite the acrobatic display with several jumps including one where the fish went end for end twice while in the air! The people on the boat ramp were pretty impressed and were asking me what kind of fish I had on. After a minute or two I felt like the fish was ready to come to the boat. I had my new Lucid grips at the ready. I pulled the fish in close and reached out. The fish thrashed and took off for one more last ditch effort. I pulled it in close again and was able to get it on the grips. It was a beautiful fish! I didn't measure it but it was certainly bigger than the last couple I had caught. I'm guessing somewhere in the high 30 inch range. After giving me a hard time trying to get it's picture, I released the fish and decided to head for home. I had an amazing 4 hours on the water with 6 follows and 1 fish in the boat. Musky fishing doesn't get much better than that.