10/31/15 - When you take a Gator fishing....
Oct 31, 2015 20:38:54 GMT -5
jb4sml, seajay, and 5 more like this
Post by mwardncsu on Oct 31, 2015 20:38:54 GMT -5
Weather: Mixed bag - overcast most of the day till late afternoon when the sun poked out then clouded up again. Temps started in mid 30's with some frost and then rose into the low 60's. Winds calm in AM, picked up during the peak of the day to around 5 mph from NW then calmed back down
Water: 55-62
Techniques: Dollar-bill sized to 12" gizzards on freeline planers (5-6), light line planer (1 at times), down-rods with 6" gizzards (2 - in a couple of the creeks)
I had asked Gator to jump on with me today to fish as we needed to hook up so that I could get some more sheet-metal boards from him for our upcoming tournament and figured we could kill two birds with one stone. So what happens when you take a Gator fishing? Well, it turns out you get BIT!
I had around 30 gizzards in the tank from the day before with a couple of larger ones, but mostly dollar-bill sized baits. We started out pulling boards in my creek just as soon as there was enough light to see - and were treated to a beautiful sunrise.
We had a bit of a repeat of last Sunday with a fish hooked up before we got all of our bait out - and I was afraid of what that might mean for the rest of the day..... the 1st fish of the day was around 8 lbs - quick pic and back he went to grow bigger.
We pulled the creek for a couple of hours I guess and missed a couple and then picked up two more fish - one of which was on the same spot where Tyler had a broken leader the evening before - this was our biggest of the day at 14 lbs. Both chomped on our biggest baits - even the smaller 7-8 lber that Gator got.
We picked up and headed to a spot I'd tried to fish the last two trips out but each time I went there was someone on the spot. For good reason I guess as we had some pretty quick action on the spot - missed the fish on the 1st pass but we hooked up the second time around.
After another pass without any action we picked up and moved on up the lake to another creek - lots of folks fishing the mouth of the creek but no one pulling the bank so we setup and started a pull. Had one boil but that was it - picked up after 30 minutes and moved on up the lake around 11am or so - passing through 8 or so boats in a tight stretch that were catching fish, but I didn't want to fish in the crowd and wanted to try and get a couple more big baits so we went on the prowl for gizzards.
Didn't find the baits where they were the day before - but worked at it and for a couple. We then took a break for lunch and then hit some docks for baits and picked up a few more - most on the smaller size...... we did have the one oddity - a purple-back gizzard
Maybe a cross of a BlueBack and a Gizzard? 
After putting those baits in the tank we pulled a near-by area I'd not fished recently. Had a weird multi-tug pull down on one bait but nothing hoped up - very weird and we wondered if it was a catfish, trying to hang in some timber or what was going on. A bit on down the bank I had two chances at fish that grabbed a gizzards but I missed both of them.
We turned and pulled back through that stretch hoping to get the same action. Slow going until something swirled on one of the bank-side baits and popped the planer board before Mike could get to it. He grabbed the rod and let the bait sit - then we saw a head come up and nose the bait about 5 feet back from the outboard - something didn't look quite right but it ate the bait - Gator let it play a second and then got hooked up.
He was fighting the fish to the boat and said "this one doesn't even act like he knows he's hooked" - about then the tail came out - again, something was odd but could not place it - the color was not right. Finally the fish surfaced. A frikin' Musky. We have very, very few of these in SML but they tend to show up this time of year in this area. We had 25 lb flouro leader on with a 6/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook and just knew at any moment the fish would cut the leader. Gator pulled it towards the boat and I tried several times unsuccessfully to net the fish with my rubber net... it was just too long to get in - knowing with each try it was likely to break off. I started to reach for the Bogas to try and lip it when I managed to get the fish to slide in the net and lifted it into the boat. Boga'ed the toothy critter and I think it stretched by Bogas more than they ever have been - to 24 lbs. We got a quick pick with Gator and the Musky and a measurement - having to mark and extend the measurement to get a reading of 44" - length and weight citation! - and then revived her and released her to be caught again!
What's funny is at lunch we had been talking about how we'd both like to catch a musky and never have - talked about friends that fish some of the nearby rivers that are full of Muksy but how on SML there are only a very few - with reports of one or two caught each year and that's it - but how the area we were in and this time of year is when it could happen. I recall the conversation going something like "Gator, if you want to catch a Musky to scratch it off your bucket list, then by gosh I'll make that happen for you today". Not sure Gator remembers it quite the same, but whatever
At that point I said we should just call it a day - but it was only 2ish so we pulled on in that area for a while - without another sniff. About 3 pm we picked up and move on down the lake a ways as I was going to drop off any left-over baits with a buddy so I wanted to finish the day down in his creek. We hit one creek for a quick pull with no action - then on to my buddy's creek - pulled that for a longer pull but not even a swirl.
Dropped off the baits and headed back to the ranch..... 4 striper up to 14 lbs and a frikin' citation muskie - Any day your boat looks like this at the end of he day, it's been a pretty good one!
Water: 55-62
Techniques: Dollar-bill sized to 12" gizzards on freeline planers (5-6), light line planer (1 at times), down-rods with 6" gizzards (2 - in a couple of the creeks)
I had asked Gator to jump on with me today to fish as we needed to hook up so that I could get some more sheet-metal boards from him for our upcoming tournament and figured we could kill two birds with one stone. So what happens when you take a Gator fishing? Well, it turns out you get BIT!
I had around 30 gizzards in the tank from the day before with a couple of larger ones, but mostly dollar-bill sized baits. We started out pulling boards in my creek just as soon as there was enough light to see - and were treated to a beautiful sunrise.
We had a bit of a repeat of last Sunday with a fish hooked up before we got all of our bait out - and I was afraid of what that might mean for the rest of the day..... the 1st fish of the day was around 8 lbs - quick pic and back he went to grow bigger.
We pulled the creek for a couple of hours I guess and missed a couple and then picked up two more fish - one of which was on the same spot where Tyler had a broken leader the evening before - this was our biggest of the day at 14 lbs. Both chomped on our biggest baits - even the smaller 7-8 lber that Gator got.
We picked up and headed to a spot I'd tried to fish the last two trips out but each time I went there was someone on the spot. For good reason I guess as we had some pretty quick action on the spot - missed the fish on the 1st pass but we hooked up the second time around.
After another pass without any action we picked up and moved on up the lake to another creek - lots of folks fishing the mouth of the creek but no one pulling the bank so we setup and started a pull. Had one boil but that was it - picked up after 30 minutes and moved on up the lake around 11am or so - passing through 8 or so boats in a tight stretch that were catching fish, but I didn't want to fish in the crowd and wanted to try and get a couple more big baits so we went on the prowl for gizzards.
Didn't find the baits where they were the day before - but worked at it and for a couple. We then took a break for lunch and then hit some docks for baits and picked up a few more - most on the smaller size...... we did have the one oddity - a purple-back gizzard
Maybe a cross of a BlueBack and a Gizzard? 
After putting those baits in the tank we pulled a near-by area I'd not fished recently. Had a weird multi-tug pull down on one bait but nothing hoped up - very weird and we wondered if it was a catfish, trying to hang in some timber or what was going on. A bit on down the bank I had two chances at fish that grabbed a gizzards but I missed both of them.
We turned and pulled back through that stretch hoping to get the same action. Slow going until something swirled on one of the bank-side baits and popped the planer board before Mike could get to it. He grabbed the rod and let the bait sit - then we saw a head come up and nose the bait about 5 feet back from the outboard - something didn't look quite right but it ate the bait - Gator let it play a second and then got hooked up.
He was fighting the fish to the boat and said "this one doesn't even act like he knows he's hooked" - about then the tail came out - again, something was odd but could not place it - the color was not right. Finally the fish surfaced. A frikin' Musky. We have very, very few of these in SML but they tend to show up this time of year in this area. We had 25 lb flouro leader on with a 6/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook and just knew at any moment the fish would cut the leader. Gator pulled it towards the boat and I tried several times unsuccessfully to net the fish with my rubber net... it was just too long to get in - knowing with each try it was likely to break off. I started to reach for the Bogas to try and lip it when I managed to get the fish to slide in the net and lifted it into the boat. Boga'ed the toothy critter and I think it stretched by Bogas more than they ever have been - to 24 lbs. We got a quick pick with Gator and the Musky and a measurement - having to mark and extend the measurement to get a reading of 44" - length and weight citation! - and then revived her and released her to be caught again!
What's funny is at lunch we had been talking about how we'd both like to catch a musky and never have - talked about friends that fish some of the nearby rivers that are full of Muksy but how on SML there are only a very few - with reports of one or two caught each year and that's it - but how the area we were in and this time of year is when it could happen. I recall the conversation going something like "Gator, if you want to catch a Musky to scratch it off your bucket list, then by gosh I'll make that happen for you today". Not sure Gator remembers it quite the same, but whatever
At that point I said we should just call it a day - but it was only 2ish so we pulled on in that area for a while - without another sniff. About 3 pm we picked up and move on down the lake a ways as I was going to drop off any left-over baits with a buddy so I wanted to finish the day down in his creek. We hit one creek for a quick pull with no action - then on to my buddy's creek - pulled that for a longer pull but not even a swirl.
Dropped off the baits and headed back to the ranch..... 4 striper up to 14 lbs and a frikin' citation muskie - Any day your boat looks like this at the end of he day, it's been a pretty good one!
). This was also within yards of where HokieChad caught and released one several years back - we're wondering if it was the same fish......