jeff durham

Last evening, I was out scouting dove fields for our upcoming opening day.
I was walking along the headwaters of a lake I fish quite often (and hunt
waterfowl). I was very surprised to see a bass boat here as I knew that
getting this far upstream would be very difficult because it is so shallow
in many places between the main lake and this section of the feeder creek
that was not more than 20 feet across.

As I was looking on, the one guy had a major fight going on with a fish. He
ended up landing a 28" muskie. He seemed really ticked off so I asked him
about it. This lake does have some muskie, but catching one is rare and it
is a highly prized catch by locals. Turns out that he was fishing in a bass
tournament and was hoping that fish was a bass. I just had to laugh. Any
of us locals would have been overjoyed to land that fish in these waters and
the state would have provided a certificate to go along with it.

I have a new area to fish now and will definitely do some targeting of
muskies. :-)

Jeff

go-bassn

Would 28" even be a legal muskie in your state Jeff? They have to be 36" to
be a keeper here in PA (not exactly a premiere musky state). I've caught
muskies during bass tourneys (among other species lol), doesn't exactly
thrill me either.

Warren

jeff durham

I definitely understand the situation this bass fisherman was in last
evening. A bass tournament is about catching bass. Catching a muskie is
just going to take time away from the job at hand. I just found it to be an
interesting dilemma in that a muskie is a prized catch in Southwestern Ohio
because it is rare to catch one. I have never caught one and would now like
to try. My interest is definitely elevated actually seeing one landed.

As far as size limits, 36" is the required size to get a certificate.
However, except for the Ohio River and Pymatuning Lake, there is no size
limit, just a daily limit of 2. For the exceptions, the size limit is 30".

Jeff

chris rennert

I don't know why, but Muskie never tripped my trigger, and I can sympathize
with the Bass fisherman for the simple fact when you get a big bite and your
heart is racing and you are thinking you finally stuck a big one only to see
it is something other than your preferred quarry, it is disheartening. I
was in one of my best bass spots during a tourney where a friend said he
stuck a 5lb LM 2 weeks earlier, and my first flip I stuck something big, it
turned out to be about a 10lb flathead. It is amazing I am still here today
after that bite :-D
I can also see your point about catching a fish that has the history of
being "tough to catch" or "rare". It was the reason I go into steelheading.
But after a few years of chasing them , and watching it get easier and
easier to catch them, the fire kind of dies. I don't know what keeps
drawing me back to bass, maybe it is just the thrill of competing.

Chris Rennert

go-bassn

Definately Chris - I can't tell you how many times I've gotten struck during
a tourney, only to have it turn out to be a slime-covered
pike-pickeral-muskie toothy critter. They're all the same to me lol. Fun
to fight the big ones over about 8 pounds, but I'll pass during a bass
tourney.

Warren

alwaysfishking

I don't know what keeps
drawing me back to bass, maybe it is just the thrill of competing


Nah it's that "I don't have any teeth, but I'm still gonna crush my meal"
attitude, the high flying jump's and just the beauty of the fish itself.
I read a book from Field and stream and had some great lines one of them
was.. "The fish is a brawler. a potbellied thug with no respect for decency
or refinement" My favorite from the same book was.. "If the Largemouth were
human, it would invite you to step out of the bar and settle things with
fists, knives, or clubs. That' why I love catching them it's that pissed off
look they give you that says "Ok put me back and try to do it again" and me
thinking OK, that's what I'm going to do :-)