back of the bay. There was a slight ripple on the water. About 7:30 I got to the outside of the weed bed and tossed my lure in an area where I had caught a 37 incher a couple of years back. I was lulled into the routine of casting and retrieving…not really expecting eminent action as a Musky came out of the deep water in the bay and attacked my lure. The Musky hit and immediately dove down. I couldn’t see the fish, but I could feel it shaking its head as it tried to free itself from the 3/0 VMC treble hooks on the lure. After a tug of war with the beasty, I was able to bring it to the surface. I gasped…it was a nice big fish. The Musky went down again and was inspecting the bottom of the boat. I let out some line while keeping the rod tip high to give it some room to move and lessen the chance that it would straighten a hook. I still hadn’t seen how well it was hooked. I tussled with it for a bit and then its head broke the surface with my lure firmly in its mouth, and then it went down again. When it came back up at the front of the boat, it banged its head into the boat as it tried to dislodge the lure. I knew I had to get it under enough control to get it in the net before its efforts to dislodge the lure were successful. Fighting the fish with the rod in one hand and the unfurled net in the other hand, I was doing the ‘Musky dance’ again. I was finally able to maneuver the fish toward the net. I dipped the net into the water and got three quarters of the fish into the net. Remembering my failed net job from last year, I tossed down the rod and grabbed the rim of the net, getting the rest of the fish in the bag. My exhilaration was short lived. I now had to get the fish out of the net to get a measurement and a picture.
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