Another week long fishing trip had gotten off to a slow start due to high winds and cold weather, but eventually it got tolerable, and we got out. We were attempting to repeat our success from the previous year by using locally caught suckers to catch locally based muskies looking for the locally based suckers. Needless to say it worked again.
It was late in the morning and it had been harder than we expected to catch suitable bait. But something like 15 minutes after the sucker had been rigged and set out, some unusual activity was taking place. The sucker seemed to be making a slow, jerky, but deliberate path up the river. I said something like "Something's not right here" and tested the line for resistance. I found plenty but being reluctant to believe it could be that easy, I let the line go slack again for a few seconds. I tested it again and got the same results, so I accepted what was happening and set the hook.
A few cranks and a good scoop later
and the fish was aboard. The rig cam loose in the net and we never figured
out just how the musky had been hooked, and it's important to note that
the quick strike rig I had tied on had only enough barbs left to secure
the bait. Later, in the middle of the release, the fish became full of
boogie, and exploded out of my hands in a less than graceful release. The
fish swam around the boat for a little bit, but didn't seem hurt and eventually
we lost track of it.
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