As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
The Viking was writing about fulfilling life's dreams in being a fighter pilot and fishing, I thought I would touch on fishing as the era of pilots is gone like the wild lonesome winter, because what comes next are ground jockeys running the controls of planes that fly so fast they would kill humans.........well unless they are gravitational propulsion systems, but that is a different back engineering.
So I indulge myself in Muskellunge. Yes that infamous Wisconsin little duck eater, and probably state bird of Minnesota loon too, as I remember reading articles that grown men would spend years fishing those things with spoons bigger than most Viking shields and never touch a strike.
For those who do not know, the Pike family, has the Walleye, the Pickerel, the Northern and the Muskie and now through hybrids the Tiger Muskie. Muskies are the big fish and I have always wanted to fish them.
Thing is it takes years to catch one, unless of course one knows the secret.
I begin with little secret first. Long ago in Fur Fish Game a guy posted and article which said, you fish Daredevils or spoons all wrong. What you do is cast them, let them sink for a minute to the bottom and then jerk them hard and reel in fast for 15 feet and then let them drop.......it makes pike strike them by response.
Thing is I was also reading about them Muskies and this dude shows up with all his fancy spoons and going after the mother of all Muskies and this local says, "Muskies? OK but what the heck do you want to fish them spoons for, as I can't keep them off my hook."
Bewildered dude can not figure this out, but apparently you just get these fish sized chubs, toss them out with a big olde cork and them Muskies just figure dinner time has come. Suppose you run a wire leader so they do not bite off, and let them run and swallow it, but that is Muskie fishing.
Takes allot of the glam from it, but when you got Big Mouth Bass biting on plastic worms, you do wonder how stupid fish are when you can fool them. Is like fly fishing for trout. Trout are morons in you feed them corn from a can threaded on a hook or you pop on some salmon eggs and you will have more of those mushy fleshed creatures than you care to eat.
I know the Northern's like them big corks and chubs too. In fact, you get smelt and throw that out on the bottom of the lake in spring or at a creek running out to a lake, and with a Lindy rig weight, you can be dining on them green fleshed fish to your delight.
There is though only so much of the Northerns I can eat. They just seem too sweet.
I got it into my head once to eat pike eggs.....not not raw like caviar, but fried like they do perch eggs. Lord God, that is like eating plastic pellets or I guess chicken eggs if you could get one in your mouth and crunching it down.
I did not repeat that delicacy.
Any way I like perch pike and walleye pike, crappies and blue gills, as I do like eating fish without it tasting like sardines or salmon.........carp.
Last day I went fishing with my beloved Uncle was for Northerns. Best day I ever had and I have been too busy to partake of that pleasure. In my youth, I purchased a 12 foot Lund with 5 horsepower Johnson which is now covered with swallow poop.........flat tire too. Someday TL and I will fish again or for the first time. Think I paid 500 dollars for the whole shebang so long ago before I got internet swindled.
Anyway, I am sure there are Muskies the Minnesota DNR puts into mud puddles, because Minnesota calls anything that holds water a lake, providing it could fit Muchelle Obama's big ass in it. That is where I would do my hunting, with 20 pound test, wire leader, big chub the size of Charlie Tuna, and a beloved Garcia 5000 and a big ole 8 foot surf rod to teach that Muskie to come when I called.
That is the thing about freshwater fish. Everyone fishes them on that perch stuff and then acts like it is a battle, when if you snag into the big fish with something to make them come to heel, there is not that much to it.
Actually found the head of a 5 pound Northern on a walk a few weeks back. Never ceases to amaze me what comes out city dweller vehicles.........other night it was a Tidy Cat plastic tub that now holds old chicken feed...........I am waiting for people to start losing guns out their windows or bags of cash. I have my dreams ok. Muskies and guns make a nice combination.
Muskie Said
I prefer a long rod with a 7 inch chub.
agtG
