Some Fishy Excuses

It's mid-winter, and two long hours on my snowblower this morning left me with a sore back and an article idea. And, for whatever the reason, I dreamed up this story idea. It's as timely now as during  any other season.

I've chased muskies in many widely-spaced locations. Most of these trips have been in Michigan, Wisconsin or Ontario, and I've sampled the pleasures of these great game fish in other states as well.

I fished for, caught and lost muskies in Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New York, Quebec and several other places. I'm always fascinated with some of the lame excuses anglers, myself included, have uttered for losing big fish.

 

Someone who is a known angler, and is trying to protect his sterling reputation may call a lost fish "a professional release." Another one may call it a "long-distance" release. Both may have some elements of truth to them, but often other reasons cause people to lose a fish.

Landing big muskies like this demand skill some luck.

We've heard all the common excuses. People have been known to blame too much sun for weakening their line, and one guy offered up the excuse that storing his reels with heavy monofilament near the furnace said nearby ozone weakened his line, which caused him to break off on a big fish one day in Ontario's Lake of the Woods.

Anyone who has cast all day with big jerkbaits or spinnerbaits speak of having a sore arm and wrist from the tiring repetitive exercise of continuous casting. They blame their missed fish on a weak wrist. "My wrist didn't have enough strength left to set the hooks properly." O-o-o-o-K.

Most muskie addicts I know use their whole body to set the hook, and not just once. My tactic is to pound the hook home at least twice.

There are thousands of reasons why people miss muskie strikes. The major reason is people often are asleep with their eyes open. They've become lulled into daydreaming by inactivity and begin nodding off while fishing. They come back with some hair-brained excuse such as:

I laid my rod down with the lure in the water to fire up a smoke. (A good reason to quit which I later did.) Many others are midway through a cast, and as the lure leaves the rod tip, they notice the snap swivel is still open after switching lures. Guess which cast the biggest muskie of the year will hit?

Don't fall asleep with your eyes open while muskie fishing.

You've noticed the line is frayed, and figured: "Hey, the fish aren't hitting. I'll make another cast before tying it again." So, that's when a muskie hits and when anglers lose the lure and the fish. Sometimes, though not often enough, the muskie isn't hooked. He opens his mouth and the lure bobs to the surface, giving anglers time for a spiffy quote. "Boy, look at that. She give me my lure back."

I was fishing Tomahawk Lake in Wisconsin one time, and my buddy and I were working a weed line. I was working a jerkbait, and he was buzzing a spinnerbait, when a muskie was spotted behind my jerkbait. The fish smacked it as it rose to the surface, and I set the hook.

The fish didn't have the lure, and that deadly missile with hooks came flying out of the water at my friend's face who was turned slightly away. I stuck out my hand to keep the big Suick from hitting him in the face. That buried two hooks in my hand, and I muttered some not-nice words while he pulled the hooks out. We poured some iodine in the wounds, put Band-Aids on them, and went back to fishing. Muskie fishermen are tough, and sometimes a bit nuts.

Landing any muskie by hand is a good way to get hooked in the hand or arm.

Another guy and I was fishing at night once for Northern muskies in a Michigan lake, and there can be a coincidence between casting after dark and getting a backlash. He was working on what appeared to be a huge backlash (a.k.a., professional over-run), and his muskie-size Jitterbug lay idle on the surface 20 feet away. He pulled on one of the loops, and it twitched the lure and the line, and the Jitterbug jittered on the surface. A big muskie slammed that lure, gave a vicious yank, and the line broke.

So who is going to believe a guy who says a big muskie hit while he was untangling a backlash? No one except someone who has had it happen to them once or twice.

My wife barely had this Lake Of The Woods muskie hook when it was landed.

I was fishing on a trolling boat on Michigan's Lake St. Clair for muskies one  time, and we were using Homer LeBlanc's method of keeping lures in or very close to the prop wash. One rod on each stern corner is a "down" rod, and it has a heavy weight to keep the lure about six feet behind the boat in the most violent part of the prop wash.

I was bored, and decided to hold the rod instead of leaving it in the rod holder where it belonged. I was looking around at all of the lines when a muskie hit my lure and nearly yanked me overboard. The fish took out 50 yards of line and stayed deep, the sign of a big fish. We eventually brought in all lines, and stopped the boat so I could fight the fish.

Fifteen minutes went by and the fish stayed deep, and then the line started to rise in the water. The fish rolled on the surface, and we'd already landed a 30-pounder and this fish was bigger than the earlier one. It stayed 30 feet behind the boat, and then it rolled on the tight line, and the hooks fell out.

How big was it? Thirty-five pounds, probably, and it could have been even heavier. I looked around, everyone looked at me, and no one spoke until I broke the lengthy silence.

"How can someone have a muskie on for 20 minutes only to lose it right behind the boat and just out of netting range? It must have sprung the snap swivel or broke off a hook."

Yeah, sure, everybody looked away and we began setting lines again as I checked the lure. There were no sprung or broken hooks and the snap swivel was intact. The whole secret to this muskie fishing game is to come up with an original excuse that no one has heard before.

It never works but it makes us feel better if we have a "lost-fish" story prepared ahead of time for just such an occasion. Just make it original, never offer up a story that been used for so many years that even such famous guides as the legendary Homer LeBlanc of Lake St. Clair fame wouldn’t dream of using it.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Some Firearm Season Things To Avoid

Nov. 15 is something very special to Michigan deer hunters. It's the only day of the year when you can hear the sun rise.

Rifle shots, shotgun blasts and occasionally even the flat crack of a handgun going off is an audible clue that the annual firearm deer season is underway. However, all things are subject to change as we edge closer to that magic date.

So, this begs the obvious question: Will the firearm opener a week from tomorrow be a noisy affair with many shots at dawn or just  another quiet day? Sunday openers are usually good, and rank high but perhaps just one notch behind a Friday opener which gives hunters a three-day weekend.

High, low or average expectations?

So what can hunters expect from the firearm opener? I'm not a prophet, and never did well at guessing, but I expect a slower than normal opener. Fewer hunters, perhaps a few more deer, and not enough people moving around to keep the deer moving. A heavy snowstorm like last year could keep many sportsmen indoors. It will be a one-day hunt for most people.

However, there are several things to avoid and perhaps these tips may turn the hunt around for you.

Here are some things to avoid.

*Don't wait until you get into camp to sight in your rifle. It should have been sighted in at a target range a month ago.

Shooting a box or two of cartridges just before the deer opener does two things. It helps the hunter get ol' Betsie shooting straight but it also scares the bejeebers out of deer. Gun shots  send deer diving for thick cover, and from that day on the animals will move only after dark, and it may be another long year without venison.

*Stay away from your blind, and remain silent when in the woods. Climbing into a tree stand or clumping around trying to pull together enough cover to build a ground blind leaves human scent in the area and helps alert the deer.

Blinds should have been built long before now. If the weather is mild, set out in a tree stand or find a toppled tree downwind of an active trail and sit with your back to the root wad. It breaks up your silhouette, and anything placed in front of you should be sparse. If it's too thick, it becomes difficult to shoot through and requires too much movement.

Hunt alone.

*Groups of hunters make too much noise. Go off alone, and find a spot where no one else is hunting. The major mistake for most people is they walk through the woods, yakking back and forth as if deer can't hear, and the team effort spooks the animals. Don't slam car doors!

The solitary hunter has a much better chance of shooting a deer than one man in a group of many. One hunter is all hunter; two hunters is half a hunter; and three hunters is no hunters at all. It points out the logic of solitary hunting and why two people make twice the noise of one, etc.

*Never second-guess your hunting location. If it looked good  during the daylight hours, it should still look good as the sun starts rising in the east and the rifles start going bang.

It's rather illogical to sit there as the sun starts to bulge on the horizon, and then suddenly decide another location some distance away looks better. I made this silly mistake years ago, and another hunter moved into my spot as I moved off and he shot a good buck. I never saw a deer in my newest best spot. Stick with your original plan.

Want to shoot a nice buck? It's simple.

*Just be in the right spot at the right time, and have one cartridge in the chamber and none in the magazine.

I started my wife hunting with a single-shot .243 rifle many years ago. She knows she has only one shot and has to make it count. She shoots her rifle long before the season opens, and it is always on and doesn't require any adjustment.

A buck walks out, she aims, pulls the set trigger, refines her aim and softly squeezes the hair trigger. The deer falls over, dead before it hits the ground. She knows she has but one shot, and she takes her time and waits for a good broadside shot. The result can be like the high 12-point rack that is shown in the top photo.

Many people have a lever-action, pump or semi-automatic firearm, and they take ill-advised shots, miss, shoot again, miss, and soon the magazine is empty. They slap in another clip and perhaps run it dry as the deer dodges through heavy timber or across an open field. Deer that stand still are much easier to shoot than one that has already been shot at and is cutting a trail for distant parts.

One shot is all you need if you know your firearm, have it sighted in properly and take your time aiming. Hurried shots seldom put deer liver in the frying pan.

Plan ahead for any eventuality.

I always wear a backpack, and people think it's rather funny. It may weigh 15-20 pounds, but  in it is everything I may need that day.

I may start out hunting from a tree stand so my safety harness is in there. If the wind shifts, and I have to move, I may be sitting in a cedar swamp just about the time an unplanned-for thunderstorm or snow storm rolls through. That's why my rain gear is in my backpack.

Ever shoot a deer way back of beyond, no one else is around and you've forgotten a knife to field dress the animal. Trust me, you can't do it with fingernail clippers. So, do you leave the deer there while you hike out to get the knife and risk losing it to a thief? Or do you muscle it for a mile or more through rugged terrain. Advance planning, and a check of your backpack will prevent that from happening.

*Don't forget to put in 10-15 feet of stout rope in the event you have to drag it out. Field dress the animal, find a stout four-foot piece limb and the rope will enable you to lash the head and antlers to the wood, lift it up and make it easier to drag. Just make sure you position the head so it isn't goring you in the butt or legs with every step.

*Don't get discouraged and start griping about the DNR, the lack of bait, the no-baiting law, etc. Go forward with a positive attitude, and take whatever that day provides.

If anything, become more positive the longer you sit. The more time one puts into deer hunting, the better their chance of success. Don't get bogged down and wallow in self-inflicted misery, even if it snows. You are there to hunt, so do it.

Hunt as if this may be the last hunting day of your life.

Wring everything out of it that you can. Be ever alert, don't get lost in daydreams, and don't fall asleep even though you awoke all bleary-eyed at 4 a.m. Hunt hard, look for movement in the shadows, and horizontal body lines in the vertical woodlot. Look as deep into cover as possible, and anything that moves between you and where you are looking, will be spotted if it does move.

Last but not least: Hunt safely. Be alert to other hunters in your area, and this is one rule that is mandatory: wear plenty of Hunter Orange clothing. Use a light before dawn and at dusk when coming or going to a stand.

If a shot looks iffy, don't take it. A missed shot at a deer is nothing compared to the possibility of shooting another person. Properly identify your target, check what lies behind it, and use an abundant amount of caution.

Good luck a week from tomorrow. Shoot once, shoot straight and don't miss.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors