the_jat

I live in Alberta but was lucky enough this year to spend some time at Lake Of The Woods in Sioux Narrows. I am basically a Northern Pike fisherman that dabbles in Musky fishing when I can. The day in question started out with a trip to a place called Blueberry Inlet. I had never been into Blueberry but had heard it has good Pike fishing. What is special about this inlet is that there is a very narrow passage into it. The water has to be up and you have to go in at about 2 MPH with only your bow trolling motor. As luck would have it, when I arrived, there was someone else entering the inlet who knew the exact path through the hazards. I followed, and safely I was in. That's where my luck stopped. Got skunked. I mean seriously? Pike fishing can be tough sometimes, but getting skunked in a super remote location on the lake that is supposed to be good? Needless to say I was not pleased after all the effort to get in. I then said to myself I have come this far down the lake, don't be silly, you have some Musky gear, give it a shot. But where? I have not fished this part of the lake for Musky ever. I looked at the map and remember someone randomly telling me, like 10 years ago, Chisholm Island. The island is pretty big, so where to start? I am lazy. I just went to the closest spot from where I was, a bit out of the wind (not the best choice for Musky), and started down an inside shoreline. Now, a very quick side note, Musky fishing can be pretty frustrating. I have done it a number of times before, and if you have no known spots to go and are a novice (like me) you are gonna fish for a full week, see 10 fish, miss 3, maybe land 1 after 30 hours of casting. As I was not in the best of moods at this point, about 20 minutes in I started to think, well this Musky thing is gonna end up like the Pike thing. I was working shoreline with a medium sized cowgirl just like you see on TV when BOOM something just stopped my lure halfway to the boat. I actually thought I snagged a rock but maybe I somehow saw a small flash in the water during the first milliseconds of the strike that made me keep the line tight. Amazingly, with mayhem in the boat, and a barbless lure, we landed this fish. Almost to my embarrassment and guilt to Musky fisherman everywhere, my lucky number happen to come up. Random location, random time, barbless lure, no netting confusion, and no angler malfunction! Total casting time, 20 minutes. Result, fish of a lifetime 48.5 inch Musky. Now that's a fish story. P.S. The fish, of course, was released unharmed