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11-20-2010 (Saturday) on Chautauqua

Nalod
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Nalod

Nalod

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Chad and I decided to go brave the stiff morning winds on Saturday and try our luck on Chautauqua. We got there a little late, but still launched and headed up to the flats for a little casting. I have made him do a lot of trolling in the recent weeks. I owed him this casting trip!

At the end of our first pass, I noticed a weird wake getting created behind my bucktail and then saw the head of a beast. This musky had no interest in following my lure, but just wanted a meal. He engulfed the lure and the fight began. The fight was amazing with a lot of line pulled off, great head shakes, and even a couple barrel rolls. You could really see the strength and size of this fish all throughout the fight. I was happy when we got this one in the net though. Once netted, the lure actually fell off in the net. Wow!

It was my personal best at 49" and 24" girth. I knew we could pinch the tail to get to 50", but I want my first 50" to be easily over the mark. It was caught on Mike Sperry's Wooly Bully bucktail in the black and green pattern.

The release also went better than I expected. I was nervous that the length of the fight would have taken a lot out of this one, but I was wrong. Once I put her in the water, she was ready to go.

Actually, I am still shaking! This was an amazing experience that I will never forget.

photo_4.jpg

--Joe

BlueEye

BlueEye

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That was a pretty sweet fish - biggest musky I have ever seen in person. I couldn't get over how big the head/mouth was. I could easily fit my head in it's mouth (not that I tried ;) ). Truly the fish of a lifetime. Joe is looking to have a replica mount of the fish done. Congrats Joe - that was a true hog!

Here is one more pic of me holding the fish right before she was released back in perfect condition.

photo2.jpg

Joe barely had her hooked, and the hooks fell out in the net. This was a perfect scenario for releasing the fish quickly and unharmed. Water temp was down to 44 degrees. Deep holes had lots of marks but I made Joe fish spots that you normally can't get to during the summer due to weed growth (plus he owed me a casting trip). First pass, 5 feet of water around 10:30am is when the fish hit. We also tried our luck later in the day for some walleye/perch. No walleye's but were able to get a couple good size perch. As the season winds down, we might make one more trip up there to try our luck maybe this coming holiday weekend but was the icing on the cake for us this year musky fishing :cake:

zach

zach

Posted
Posted

Man that is a nice fish! Congrats! I can close my eyes and just imagine a huge torpedo wake coming in and that big ole nasty mouth opening up and bam, its on! Looks like it was tough to hold that pig. You deserved it (earned it) by being out in that cold weather! Looks like your the man to beat right now! I don't know if I would have let Chad hold it though, I would have made him super jealous by just letting him look at it!

FLXTroutman

FLXTroutman

Posted
Posted

unbelievable guys, what an awesome fish, watching that beauty swim away after holding her for the pics has got to make you SMILE too, great job

larry

larry

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Posted

Nice catch Joe, I'm glad to see you're big fish tactics casting finally came across something big enough to prove your point. Just remember to use that excuse the next time you don't catch any. You two are crazy going out in that freezing weather but it looks like it was worth it this time by the big smile on your frozen face.

Gator

Gator

Posted
Posted

Wow!! Fantastically cool fish; better than my day spent hanging on for "deer" life.

Congratulations!

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