Waneta lake Muskie hunt.

[Beels5]

Went last Friday with a buddy hooked and lost 2 within the first 1.5 hrs both upper 30s around 630 PM. Both in the west side weeds. Water was dirty with slight chop and a front moving in. Will try again tonight.

[Aspiring_Pollack]

Tried again for a few hours yesterday evening, with the usual results lol. 75 degrees at south end, 80 at the north. Figured something would've happened, but pretty sure 80 is pushing it for fish activity. Topwater, gliders, bucktails, and headbangers. Oh, tossed the bondy a bit too. Definitely got the wheels turning, these fish are something else.

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[Aspiring_Pollack]

Well about trip number 15 or 16 now. But i got one! Worst pic imaginable, but probably mid to upper 30s. What a rush! Shark week hit out of the glass calm with about ten feet of line out on a prop bait. Took the rod out of my hands, tailwalking, almost lost my net and pliers... friggin' chaos. Needless to say im hooked! I can't imagine what a 50 feels like. Was hoping for a better pic but snapped that as soon as i got her. Then she went ballistic as soon add i unhooked her and she was gone, almost with the net.

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[whaler1]

That’s the best! Congratulations. You earned that fish. Looking forward to future reports and pics.


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[Chowdaire]

That’s awesome! Congrats


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[manatee]

love reading this thread , finally got your reward ! congrats 

[Aspiring_Pollack]

Thank you all for the congrats, and thank you more for the tips, tricks, and encouragement. It's what makes this site awesome! Now that I have one on the home water, eyeing up some others to try, but I will continue to post pics and updates of significance. With any luck my endeavors will help out someone else.

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[ifishy]

Absolutely fantastic nice catch


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[BlueEye]

Congrats man - nice fish

[glenm]

Congrats on a great fish! They never come easy......when you're trying anyways!

[muskiemike]

Great to hear man 👍. Top water too, thats excellent!  Send us the next one too 

[Aspiring_Pollack]

Well it took many more hours, but got another! Got my own depthfinder too, courtesy of my lovely lady. Water temp seems to be dropping slightly. I had 76 degrees pretty much wherever i went, vs 80 a month ago. This one hit a glide bait. I know the vertical hold isnt preferred, but this one was pretty skinny, not a lot of weight. I will be working on a way to get some photos, without the vertical hold, when im flying solo. 33 inches, and did see one porpoise that dwarfed this one.

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[Tyrrell]

I caught this one on a mini medussa last Thursday. Water was also 76/77. It was my first of 5 teips down there this year.

I fish out if a Kayak to take photos I have a bar with loose zip ties U slide my phone into and use vouce command.  If you have any thing to prop your phone on. It will work i have set it on a tackle box a few times. I use selfie mode so I can see I am in frame say shoot 2 or 3 times and the fish is back in the water. 

 I gave also considered doing a video and taking a screen shot from there. It would give a lot of options over the coarse of holding the fish for even 5 seconds or less. 

[Tyrrell]

I caught this one on a mini medussa last Thursday. Water was also 76/77. It was my first of 5 teips down there this year.

I fish out if a Kayak to take photos I have a bar with loose zip ties U slide my phone into and use vouce command.  If you have any thing to prop your phone on. It will work i have set it on a tackle box a few times. I use selfie mode so I can see I am in frame say shoot 2 or 3 times and the fish is back in the water. 

 I gave also considered doing a video and taking a screen shot from there. It would give a lot of options over the coarse of holding the fish for even 5 seconds or less. 

[Aspiring_Pollack]

Nice fish! And that sounds like a much better way if doing it, I'll have to familiarize myself with voice commands on my phone. Thanks!

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[White Wolf]

FWIW I use a support on my windshield to strap my phone to with a piece of velcro. I take a video and when I bring the fish up pause for just a second in a couple different angles. Then when I get home I pause and screenshot the video to get the pics I want. This gives me both hands and several photo's with fish time out of water under 10 seconds, if removed at all. Even those little guys can/will shake violently and really screw up their gill plate or your hands if you don't have a good hold. Trust me nothing is worse than catching an exciting fish and then having to go home because you need stitches or fishing the rest of the day with a ball of tape on your finger haha

[Aspiring_Pollack]

Well folks, another report, with a hearty dose of negative.

Water temps 69 or 70 degrees. Seeing alot more fish now that they're coming down. Lots of marks over open water, but no bites maand no confirmation they're muskies. I did get a good one in the weeds, but as you may have saw under the taxidermist post, it didnt make it. It was my oversight and thought i'd share to help others avoid it.

Right at dusk this fish hit on a pacemaker. Just what we all love, sunset topwater bites. She hit right at the start of the retrieve, another two crank Boom. Everything went good. Great fight, adrenaline, jon boat being pulled in circles, get her in the net and lifes good. Until I went to reach for my hook cutters, which weren't there. You see, being a gigging guitar player, I was changing strings the other night and didn't have my usual side cutters handy. I thought, "I'll just use the hook cutters." All fine and dandy, until they didn't make it back into the tool kit kept specifically for muskie. Lo and behold, get time for a fishing trip, go catch one, get it in the net and go for them and they aren't there. First time I needed them, first trip without them... and it cost me the release of my personal best, and an all around solid, healthy muskie. Im pushing, if i havent already exceeded, 100 hours of fishing time for this fish. Yes I caught a couple smaller ones, but this is the caliber I've been searching for, and try as I might to not, I killed her, not because she was hooked fatally, but because I was missing one tool.

So I guess I just want to say even if your time is limited, and you don't know you're going fishing until you're loading the boat, and you keep everything ready to throw and go... take the time to check the contents of the essentials as you load up. Might save a whole lot of disappointment in what should be nothing but a great memory. She'll go on my wall, but just as much reminder as achievement. I sure as hell wasn't going to leave her float.

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[muskiedreams]

I see the makings of a blues song and music video that could be posted under the Catch and Release topic. Maybe it could be a hit and a reminder on other musky forums.

[Roys Boys]

Congrats on your trophy!

[whaler1]

Congrats on your trophy!

X2


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[Frogger]

X3


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[laker1]

Congratulations Aspiring,

 

You have joined a select group of fishermen!

 

Your trophies look great but nothing beats your son's smile.

 

Amazing what a little confidence and determination will do!

 

There will be more and they will be keep getting bigger.

 

Again well done.

 

 

 

[Chowdaire]

Congrats on your fish, AP!

 

A shame the fish didn't make it but at least it's going on the wall instead of floating away for the birds to pick on. I'm hoping to get back after them soon and you can see why I haven't even taken any out of the water yet. They're mean looking fish but very fragile.

[Chowdaire]

Took a buddy down to try to get one on Tuesday. On his visit last year we hooked into a good one trolling but lost it behind the boat.

Still couldn’t get him one trolling 5 hours running every bait I had from 5-13” and 5-20’ down.

Tried casting for the last 45min and got one on a 7.5” Phantom Softail. Nothing big but saved the trip.




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[Chowdaire]

Also, finally got a decent pic because I had someone with me. Good release after a few quick snaps.


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