The Thrill Of The Hunt ---- Is Its Own Reward Craig Sandell © 2012 I greeted the overcast dawn some 15 hours earlier and had been fishing all day; a day punctuated with rain and a persistent wind. The late June weather was unusual in that a cold snap had caused the water temperature to plummet from 71 to 64 degrees. The Muskies, in an attempt to stay in their comfort zone, had reversed their normal migration into deeper water and were taking up residence on the shallow sand and weed bars. It isn't often that Muskies are so predictable. The result of this predictability was loads of Muskie action on surface lures. I had been raising and boating fish all week and this day had been no exception. I had two fish up snapping at my Best American Globe, providing me some knee shaking thrills but denying me a fish in the boat. It was getting on towards 8:30 PM and I was going to my last fishing spot on my way back to Indian Trail Resort. I crossed a large expanse of open water, slicing through the white cap chop, and headed toward a couple of island bars in wind protected water. As I approached the islands I throttled back the 20 horse motor, hit the kill switch, lowered the trolling motor and got ready to finish off the fishing day with, hopefully, a Muskie in the boat. There was another boat working the far side of the nearby island. As I placed my net in an easy to get to location and readied my
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