10/3/15 The Impressive Esox Masquinongy

It was looking like one of those days. The forecast is calling for highs in the 40s. Winds ENE at 20-30 mph occasionally gusting to 40 mph. And a chance of rain all day to boot. So as I arrived in North Webster with rain hitting the windshield and the thermometer reading a balmy 44 degrees, I'm thinking to myself "What the hell am I doing here?" Despite the fact that we are probably at least a little crazy, we were here to do some Muskie fishing. Randy and I arrived at the lake just after noon and got set to head out. Despite the wind, the North and East portions of the lake were pretty calm and looked good. We began fishing the North bank and within an hour we had already seen 2 follows from really good sized fish. We went to fish another main lake point where Randy had recently moved a giant fish. We didn't see any fish there so we headed back to the first area where we had the first two follows. We began fishing and before long it happened. I made a cast to the breakline, began my retrieve, and in an instant I remembered why we were out here in these conditions. I set the hook into a fish and began pulling it to the boat. I couldn't tell how big it was but it stayed deep and headed towards me. As it approached the boat, Randy readied the net. It was now directly underneath us and to my amazement began to pull drag and I could feel it's massive head shakes. I have 80 pound braid on my reel and have my drag almost all the way down so pulling line is quite a feat. It really showed how strong the fish truly was. It came to the surface and we realized how big the fish really was! It gave a couple more head shakes and headed for the net. It was all over in less than 60 seconds, but what a rush! Randy grabbed some pliers and went to unhook the fish. He realized that it had already thrown the hook and was now sitting in the net waiting for a few glamour shots. Missing half of it's tail and with a large notch in it's upper jaw this fish wouldn't win any beauty contests, but it sure was an amazing fish! I pulled it from the net and we got several pictures and measured it at 46", making it the biggest fish I have ever caught. We released the fish back into the water and I stood there shaking from the thrill. Despite our best efforts all we had to show for the rest of the day was a 26" Pike. Any other day I would have been happy to catch it, but after landing a 46" Muskie, a 26" Pike looked and felt pretty small! I can't thank Randy enough for the invite and being the net and camera man both. This trip was something special and I will remember it for a long time!