This has been a weird year of firsts for me. Caught a 20" bass on a double-10, a muskie with a flesh-eating disease, snagged a very large gar trolling, had a very low fly-over by a B-52 Stratofortress (awesome!), saw a mink, an osprey twice, and today I saw a bald eagle (also awesome!), and Bigfoot (nah, just seeing if you're paying attention). There's more weird stuff, too, but not for here.
But what takes the cake also happened today…
I was just bringing my lure into the backcast for another shot after retrieving the previous one (which I do in one motion since I release the spool during the figure-8, and I cast with my left hand so I don't need to shift my rod from hand to hand) and as I look out to where I want my next cast to go, I hear this loud, hollow thump behind me. I turn and look, and there's a ~34" muskie flopping around on my big Flambeau tackle box, completely up inside my boat! The dang thing had jumped up over my gunnel and flopped onto my tackle box, went nuts for a second, and then flopped back in the water, all before I could react. Obviously, a follow I never saw. Amazing, stupid fish! If I live to be 200, I bet it never happens to me again.
As for my "What do you do when" question: Should I add that fish to my fish list on MInc? I DID "boat" it! 😈 *wink* Anyway, I also caught a 39" the conventional way today, too.
I can't wait for the next episode of weird things to happen to me. [smilie=fear.gif]
I say you can count that one! You brought it up to the boat, and by pulling your lure into the boat, you also brought the muskie. You would count it if you hooked the muskie and lifted it over the side by your rod, right? Sounds like these fish are back to their old selves like they were in '08. Didn't Paul have a muskie jump out of the water after his Suick?
"mskyprey" said:
Awesome lure presention Tom!I worked B-52H aircraft for several years, figured that was what you meant 😀
Yes, B-52; I don't know why I wrote B-59 (I've corrected it). The BUFF, as they say.
I saw it when I was out on LSC, E of SANG. It wasn't even at 3,000 ft; I'd say about 1,500 ft. It was flying N over Anchor Bay, and went right over me. I was awestruck, but after it went overhead, I got my wits back and tried to snap a couple of pics as it receeded. I'll see if I can find them.
Awesome. You don't need hooks on your lures, just train them all to jump in the boat.
"hemichemi" said:
an osprey twice, and today I saw a bald eagle (also awesome!)
The Osprey chased the Eagle away from the Osprey's favorite hunting spot on Saturday. After that the Eagle stayed away from that area for the rest of the morning, it is an immature Eagle and not very big. I saw the Eagle at both ends of the lake on Sunday but I never saw it near the Osprey's hunting spot.
"Ranger" said:
[smilie=2thumbsup.gif]That's great, man. Was the bait box open? If so, did you have a sense of what bait the fish was trying to take out of your box? Send me a PM with a confident response and I'll send you a crisp $10 bill.
I know exactly which bait it was after: the one on the end of my line! 
I'll be happy to divulge which lure it was promptly upon receipt of your cashier's check, cash or a PO money order. 😀
More loony weirdness:
What do you do when you're molested by a loon?
I've never seen a loon before this year. Then I saw my first one at LSC back in July, where it was fishing just off the North Channel by Grass Island.
Then about two weeks ago I saw one at Lake Ovid. The first time I saw it, it was about 200' from me, then it dove and surfaced again about 30 secs later even farther away, and it kept moving away like that until I lost interest. Normal behavior for a loon, I thought.
But last Sunday out on Ovid I heard something swirl the water close by behind me, but by the time I turned it was gone. A few secs later, a loon popped up in front of me less than 50' away. The damned thing kept diving and surfacing right around me within 50', and sometimes even as little as 20', and kept this up for at least 10 minutes! I was afraid that it'd either try to eat my lure, or I'd snag it accidentally. During this time I didn't see any signs of a bait school near me, nor did I see the loon eating anything. I think the crazy bird was just messing with me!
Anyone else ever been "looned"? 🙄
326
15