LOTW - The Catch and Release Fishing Club of Minneapolis, MN

The Dogumentary
26th Year
The Waterdogs Fishing Club
August 2008
2008 Rock N Roll Musky Tour Special Edition
*** Records ***
~~~Will Fall~~~
1
dinner of all-time had by FD and Southern Man
at the former Silver Dollar restaurant in
Warroad. Last year’s dinner was great there,
but the restaurant has changed ownership and
along with it, the food has turned to mush.
This year, about 2/3 of the club drove up
Friday, with the rest making the traditional run
on Saturday. Analist had a vehicle flat in
Waskish, which was the start of his many
mechanical problems for the week.
The cuts are healing and the calluses are
fading away, and that pain right in the middle
of my left palm is almost gone, and so is that
pinching feeling under my right shoulder blade.
Yes, it was another successful year for the
men of the Waterdogs Rock and Roll Musky
Tour. Some might call it the second best year
ever, if you just count the total number of
muskies caught, but by some measures, it was
the best year ever, which is especially true for
a number of our lucky fellow musky hunters.
The early group crossed the border without
incident and was on the water between 9 and
10 am. The Saturday crowd arrived six hours
later, and that first shortened day saw 8
muskies get caught by the club, with Dr. Meat
taking up where he left off last year, with three
fish on the first day of 47, 40, and 34”. That
evening, the group enjoyed hot wings in the
ping-pong room, hosted by the Party Cabin.
Ever-thoughtful Analist dashed off with a
helping of wings for his cabin of Video-Boys
who did not want to venture out among the
mosquitoes and fearsome fireflies.
Dave Fandrich said that the average size of
the muskies in the lake was going up, and at
first glance at our results, that may appear to
be the case, but an analysis of Griz’s numbers
over the years shows only a modest increase
in the average size of the fish we catch. Here
are the numbers from this year and from the
past years that Griz has been keeping the
data:
Average Musky size:
2008 37.4”
2007 36.2
2006 37.4
2005 35.4
2004 35.8
2003 32.9
At least it’s good to know that for all the big fish
that we are seeing, there are a good number of
eager teenagers growing up to take their place
when the old sows retire.
This year was the second best year for the
club in terms of numbers of muskies caught, at
101, behind the 108 we caught in 2006. There
were 43 of the 101 that were 40” or over, which
is in-line with the percentages of 40’s from past
years. Two muskies were over 50”, but the big
news is the all-time club size record was
broken 53” by Father Bertha on Thursday.
More on this fish later.
Welcome Back, Dr Meat!
Sunday saw scattered thunderstorms move
across the lake, with some boats running from
lightning, and others getting soaked, while still
others had no weather problem at all. The
weather was not the main problem on Sunday,
however, as it was the start of the Waterdog
boat repair season, with Analist losing his
starter, springing a leak, and also losing the
bildge pump. He got most of the problems
fixed by the Angle repairman by the next day,
but still had to pull the boat out of the water
each night so that it would not fill up with water
tied to the dock overnight.
All of these
problems were new for Mark, as of the first day
of the trip, with no indication that there was
The Drive Up
The group drove up in singles, pairs and other
small groups, with the Friday night crowd
straggling into Warroad anytime between 4:30
and 2 a.m.
Groups of guys had dinner
separately, but eventually came together back
at Motel 8 for a good night’s sleep before
crossing the border in the morning. The dinner
highlight of the night was the worst steak
2
something wrong the weeks before. At least
the repairs made up north meant that his boat
was usable for the rest of the week.
Bear Country by Perp
On Sunday Rushmore and I were fishing along
the north shore of the eastern Windigo Island.
I looked up on this bald rock and saw this bear
just sitting there. We took a couple of pictures,
then the bear got up and walked around, more
pictures, and finally just laid down and took a
nap. We came back later and it had left, but it
did provide a nice touch to the day. We felt
really fortunate to have caught muskies,
northerns, and smallmouth bass and to top it
off we saw 2 deer, an eagle and this bear.
What a day.
Sunday was a relatively slow day for muskies,
with only 12 fish being stretched out on the
Perp measuring mats. The big fish of the day
was a 46.5 caught by the Analist on a Double
Cowgirl. Mark also connected with a 37 that
day on the same lure.
Monday saw the muskies become much more
active after a few days of stable weather, with
winds continuing to come from the east. The
club had its best day of the week, with 22 fish
boated. Five of those came from the boat of
The Analist and his partner, Rushmore,
Carmen’s brother-in-law. The big fish of the
day included Buick’s 48 and 49”, a 48” for Griz,
and Perp and Farm Boy each getting 47”-ers.
Buick and Sticky each caught three muskies
that day. By now it was becoming apparent
that many of the bigger fish were coming on
the Double Cowgirls, however Perp got his 47
on a Shumway.
Analyst with his 46.5”
Felix also caught his biggest musky of the trip
on Sunday up in the Narrows.
The Bookend Morning
By James “Griz” Ferstenou
On the morning of Monday, July 21st, 2008
Farm Boy and I were once again paired up to
fish together at the annual LOTW trip. We’ve
always enjoyed fishing together, so a fun day
was a given, but leaving the dock I commented
that I hoped we could have as good of a day
as we had last year when we saw 16 nice
sized muskies and I managed to land a 44”er.
Felix and a 43.5”
3
or not, but I dipped my rod in the water and
started to figure eight. Sure enough the musky
came in behind the lure and hit on the second
or third turn, a 37”er. I felt bad about “stealing”
Farm Boy’s fish, but I guess things like that
happen in musky fishing from time to time and
I’d personally rather see the fish caught by
someone in the boat rather than not at all.
I told Farm Boy that it was his turn to catch a
musky now since I’ve always considered a
good day of musky fishing on LOTW to be one
where each person in the boat lands one fish
(or more). We continued fishing and saw fish
in a lot of places, but no takers. Eventually we
worked our way to an island on the North West
end of Bishops Bay where Dave Anderson and
I had raised two muskies the previous day; one
being an aggressive low 40’s fish that I thought
was catchable.
We began fishing the spot and after a few
dozen casts each Farm Boy let out the familiar
“There’s one.” proclamation that we are all so
familiar with. I grabbed the net and our third
fish of the day, a 43”er, was on the board.
After putting everything away we resumed
fishing in the same area and I commented to
Farm Boy that “It was now a good day since
we had both landed muskies and that anything
that we caught from this point on would be
gravy.” He agreed and I added “But I like my
gravy.” Farm Boy burst into laughter and said
“That’s the perfect response.” The second
musky on the spot eventually followed Farm
Boy’s lure in and hit mine later without getting
the hooks.
We decided we had time to fish one or two
more spots before we had to head in for lunch
and made a plan to head to the area around
the Jean Baptiste Rocks and check it out. We
set off across Bishops Bay. About half way
across the bay I said “Hold up a second.”
Farm Boy slowed down and I asked “Have you
ever fished Otto’s Reef?” He said “No.” To
which I replied “I’ve got a gut feeling about it.
Buick and I fished it last year and saw multiple
fish as did he and Rick Wagner the previous
day.” Before I even finished my sentence
(actually after the words “gut feeling”) Farm
Boy had the boat turning and on our new
course (I guess he has confidence in my gut
feelings for some reason). We started fishing
the reef and saw two muskies on the South
side. We continued fishing up the West side
quickly, keeping an eye on the clock since we
had to leave soon to make it back to camp in
Little did I know what our morning would bring.
We made a plan to head up near the area of
Picture Rock Point to start the day and go from
there.
I was looking at the map for a few new spots to
try in the area as we ran and as we neared
Picture Rock Point Farm Boy asked “How far
do you want to go?” I pointed to a small set of
rock islands that I had never fished before, but
that looked promising visually and on the map
and said “Right There.” We pulled up and
started fishing the spot. On my fifth cast of the
day a fish hit hard and it was game on. After
she made a few runs toward deeper water I
was able to bring her into Farm Boy’s waiting
net. The fish measured 48”, my second largest
ever. What a start to the morning.
Griz gets CowGirly with a 48
We continued fishing, eventually ending up on
the more southerly of the two island just
outside of the entrance to Portage Bay. Farm
Boy made his retrieve, pulled his lure from the
water and a lake charging musky came in. I
yelled to him that he had a follow and waited
briefly (this all happened very fast as you can
imagine) to see if he was going put his lure
back in the water to figure eight the fish.
Before he could, the fish swam toward me and
under the boat. I wasn’t sure if it was still there
4
over 43 inches long). Even better than seeing
16 and landing one the previous year. I can’t
wait to see what happens the next time we get
paired together at LOTW.
time to cook lunch. Coming around to the
North side Farm Boy said “We can’t leave
without fishing this.”
To which I replied
“There’s more just like it around the next point,
so we could hit that to if you want to and time
allows.” He cranked up the trolling motor to
high and we hit the next few points and bays
quickly.
Nearing the last point that we had planned to
fish before leaving for lunch Farm Boy made a
cast up to the shore. A swirl appeared behind
his bait and I inquired “Was that a fish or your
lure?” He said “I’m not sure.” Another swirl
appeared and I said “I think you have a fish
following. There he is! He’s got it. Set the
hook.” Again, this is all happening very quickly
and Farm Boy was already driving the hooks
home as I made my statements. After a brief
battle, our fourth fish of the day was in the net.
It turned out to be a 47”er that was a new
personal best for Farm Boy.
Perp’s Monday 47
My Big Fat Girlfriends by Buick
I took me 9 years to break 47 inches and then I
do it twice inside an hour. Go figure. I had the
honor of fishing with Flyboy on Monday. It
started out sunny, warm, and calm. We spent
most of the morning and afternoon in the two
big bays on the west end of the Tranquil
Channel. Flyboy was getting as many follows
on his chartreuse streamer as I was getting on
my double cowgirl. We saw fish in the weedy
bays, along the rock walls, and along the
boulder shorelines, basically, fish were moving
everywhere in those bays but they just didn't
want to commit! It was amazing to watch
these muskies follow his flies with none of the
suspicions they usually have following our
bucktails. Then a mid-40's muskie comes out,
follows his streamer right up to the boat and
inhales it right under Flyboy's feet. He sets the
hook on his 10 weight rod and it snaps! The
fish is still on but starting his dive. Flyboy
grabs his line as the muskie dives but his
leader snaps. We're both bummed out but
more determined than ever to get a big one.
As the day wore on, the wind picked up from
the east. We moved out to the main channel
boulder shorelines and rock points and had
another 4 or 5 muskie follows before we
decided to head in for our mid day meal.
Around 4:30 we headed out again and decided
since we had seen so many muskies in the
morning, we would head back to Tranquil Bay.
Flyboy did some reconnoitering during our
‘If I Hold it This Way, My 47 Looks Bigger
Than Perps!’
What a morning, bookended by two great fish
on the fifth cast of the morning and the last
cast of the morning.
Overall we ended up seeing 18 muskies (11 of
the in the morning between 8:30 AM and 1:30
PM) and landing four muskies (including three
5
break and learned that Fishdick and Bubble
Boy, I mean Banana Boy, had caught a bunch
o’ muskies burning cowgirls. Flyboy told me I
should speed up my retrieves. By the time we
arrived back at the bay, the wind was blowing
briskly from the east. We decided to start on
the west end in the weedy bay where Sticky
had caught a 42" muskie earlier. I skipped the
rock point and moved directly into the corner
where there was a boulder pile and a small
patch of frags. The water was stirred up so
that it looked like gray, milky soup. I made a
couple of cast towards the frags but got fouled
everytime. A little frustrated with my inept
casting, I zipped a long cast into the corner
where there was a fallen log and a dead pine
tree hanging over the water. My black & silver
Jr. Cowgirl barely hit the water when a large
muskie launched herself out from under the
tree towards my bait. I was burning that
cowgirl back to the boat with the muskie right
behind it. I figure-eighted a few times when
Flyboy said the muskie turned back toward the
corner. I cast in there again and she charged
the bait again. By now the wind was blowing
us further down the shore. Flyboy said she is
3 feet to the right of this green bush on shore.
I cast there and she charges out again and
follows up to the boat and into my figure eight.
This time as I turn into the eight, she slams it
and starts thrashing. Since the boat was tight
to shore, she headed towards the back of the
boat and deeper water. I followed her,
hollering at Flyboy to make room so I could
fight her from the back. Flyboy had the net
ready and after a couple of more short runs I
was able to guide her towards the net, the
whole time explaining to Flyboy that he need to
keep the net out of the water until I said I was
ready. He did a great job and soon she was
thrashing in the net at boat side. It took a while
to get the hooks out and untangle the net but I
wasn't in a hurry since the net was in the water
the whole time. As I lifted her out of the net for
a quick measure and picture, we realized that
she was blind in her right eye - no wonder she
needed 5 tries to nail my cowgirl. She had
obviously been caught before. We gave her
the plunge and after a little coaxing she slowly
swam off.
Big Ms 48
We started fishing the grey slop again. By now
the wind was blowing hard and it was hard to
keep the boat under control. We moved down
the shoreline about 100 yards when another
muskie comes charging out from a calm spot
right behind a small reed bed,. This fish
follows up and turns on the figure eight,
slamming the bait as I make my second turn
back towards the front of the boat. This fish
was a 39"er. She thrashed so much that she
ended up with 2 hooks in her mouth and one in
the top of her head. I had no choice but to cut
all three hooks off the back treble. This put my
hot, black silver Jr. Cowgirl out of commission.
With two muskies in 20 minutes, we realized
that we were right in the middle of a major
feeding window! I put on a red/black cowgirl
and we kept fishing. I wanted to get us over to
some low rock walls where Flyboy and I had
both brought out nice muskies earlier in the
day. The particular rock wall I wanted get to
was right in the face of that stiff east wind. The
water is only 10 feet deep there as compared
to 25 feet deep along the high rock walls in the
bay. There were also some boulders at the
bottom of the wall and big reedbed about 50
feet down the shore. This particular rock wall
also faces the large mid-bay reef. When we
finally got to the stretch of rock wall I made a
cast into the nook where we had brought out
the muskies earlier. Nothing there. I cast up
another 20 feet and after a few cranks, a huge
muskie attacks the cowgirl. No follow for this
girl, she came from below and engulfed my
bait. By now, Flyboy and I had it down and in
no time at all she was in the net. A beautiful
49"er! She got the plunge and was gone in an
instant. We fished for another couple of hours
but the feeding window was over. End result:
6
and in a bold move to satisfy the demands of
the musky gods, he threw his newly-purchased
rod and reel into the lake. Carpel-tunnel he
says, but this rod and reel sacrifice is
becoming a tradition for the sticky one, only
this year the water was too deep to dive in and
retrieve the gear. But that’s OK, Thorne
Brothers has more. The final bad break for
Sticky came on the boat ride up to Crow Rock
Lodge for Tuesday lunch. Going the wrongway around a buoy, the bottom of the lake
reached up and broke the skeg right off of
Sticky’s motor, along with about another foot of
expensive metal. Unfortunately, Sticky wasn’t
the only one to have lower unit trouble while
driving through that bad neighborhood to the
north, but more on that later. Sticky got the
long tow back to Angle Outpost, courtesy of
Kojak and Shorty, and then spent the next two
days fishing as a Little Buddy in the back of
other boats, safe and secure.
48, 39, 20 and 49" muskies between 6 and 7
PM. The three muskies were caught in three
very different spots. The first came from a
calm corner under a tree and submerged
boulder. The second was laying just out of the
wind and current in the calm water behind a
reed bed. The third big girl came from deep,
open water.
49 Time
So much for solunar tables, as the major peak
was 8:30 PM that day. I think the big girls just
couldn't wait for the 8:30 PM dinner bell so
they started early that day.
The Ballad of Dad’s Relaxin’
Dr. Sticky Fingers, Chris Downey, refuses to
tread quietly on the Musky Tour, and seems to
always catch muskies, and also comes up with
new stunts every year that rival the best of
weeniedom. The week was a short one for
Sticky, as he had to leave on Thursday in order
to get beck to town to study for the doctorin’
boards, but he caught three muskies in the
days that he was fishing, with two of them over
40, at 42 and 41.5”. Before he started on the
muskies, however, he started with a battery
that wouldn’t start once he was out on the lake
with Bertha on Sunday. Apparently the battery
was dead, and in order to get attention for a
jump, he fired off a flare, (as is required on the
boat safety list) in order to get some help from
a passing boat. Later the same day, he
needed to shoot off another flare for yet
another jump. At least he made it back to the
lodge, where he latched onto a spare battery
loaned to him by the Analist.
No More Prop Worries
Dad's Relaxin' is the name of his ship
Last year twice he took a dip
But 2008 was his year
To lose a bunch of his gear
While 3 fish made it a pip
Carmen McCain
No Fish Here
In an effort to protect his sacred fishing
grounds, the Wall at High Island, FD and
Southern Man hung some signs up to warn
other fishermen away from the famed hotspot.
It was a plan originally devised last year, but
delayed till 2008, due to the boating mishap to
FD’s boat on day one of 2007. This year, four
But wait, the fun was just beginning. It was on
Monday that Sticky caught his three muskies,
7
Nine of those came in FD’s boat, a new oneday club record. The details of those antics
follow. The main event on Tuesday was the
journey up to a walleye lunch at Crow Rock
Lodge, some 34 miles away by water.
signs were hung that read ‘No Fish Here’,
Keep Back 500 Feet’, ‘This Wall Reserved for
FD’, and ‘This is My Island – Go Away!’.
Oddly, no Waterdogs fished the wall for the
first two days of the trip, out of respect for the
master, apparently. But double-unfortunately,
the red and black-lettered signs lost their red
ink later in the week, where one sign was
changed to an invite to anglers to ‘Fish Here’.
Another sign then just read ‘Reserved For’,
and some dude, apparently from the musky
school, wrote his name on it. Rumor has it
that stronger measures will be taken next year
to keep the nubes from soiling the revered
fishing spot. Perhaps an invisible dog fence?
Crow Rock Lodge
Most Dogs worked their way north using maps
and GPS, but there were still enough
unfamiliar places that two boats, Sticky and
Felix hit rocks hard enough to damage their
lower units beyond repair. Several guys lost
valuable fishing time as the tow home, which
was done with two towing boats and two towee
boats, took nearly four hours.
You’ve Been Warned!
Tuesday’s fishing action was good for some,
as 18 muskies were boated.
Nasty’s 46” Came from the Narrows on the
way to Crow Rock
The Ranger Tow Patrol
8
cabbage. That’s when we started to pick up a
few fish. Brandon got a 40, and I caught a
couple of muskies in the mid 30s - each of the
warm bays that we found. The net came off
the handle on the first fish, Branden’s 40, but
was retrieved and locked on in time to get the
fish. It pays to be prepared.
The lunch at Crow Rocks was great, though,
with all you can eat walleye and all the fixin’s.
The scenery at the lodge was also very good,
quite different from the rest of the lake. Some
guys fished the area around the lodge, but
most worked their way back towards home
waters fairly quickly.
After that, we were on the hunt for more warm
water and decided to go over to Monument
Bay, which is not part of my usual run. We
went to the eastern shore to look for warm
water, and again found 77-78 degrees in a few
of the bays. I lost a small fish, but then picked
up a low 30s in the back of a bay, and a few
minutes later got a 40 from right off of a beaver
huis that hit twice, then came following in to get
hooked at the boat. That was two fish on one
Swisher Sweet, which I believe is a new club
record, and got us up to 5 for the day.
The Crow Rock Dock Boy was Most Helpful
Nine in One Day
The day started out like any other Tuesday at
LOTW, as Banana and I headed out to work
our way up to the designated lunch spot at
Crow Lodge. On the way we stopped off at La
Verende Island where Brando had seen a
musky with Shorty on a previous day. And
there it was. In a small bay off the main
channel, Branden hooked into a fish on his
Cowgirl that we estimated to be in the low 40’s.
After a couple runs, it got off the hook, at about
the same time Shorty came over the radio to
chastise us for bothering his fish.
So, on we went up through Big Narrows to
another spot that our speaker at Thorne Bros.
had recommended. There was a lot of current
in this spot where the lake necked down, and
in a slack area I boated the first musky of the
day, a 26”-er. Then we headed in for lunch at
Crow Rock and saw the damaged boats that
needed to be towed back. We volunteered to
take 3 in a boat for fishing, and headed back
with our special guest, Professor Mushroom.
We went about half-way back and fished more
bays northwest of Bishops Point, when we
noticed that the areas cut off from the main
lake had water temps that were up to 78,
compared to 71 to 73 in the main lake, and that
the west facing bays typically held red
Beaver Huis 40
We continued to the next little bay – nothing,
and then moved to a small spot of about 50
yards of cattails with a layer of downed plants
floating about two feet in front of the stand.
The water at the base of the cattails was about
three feet deep, with no other weeds growing
in front of them. On our way into the area,
Mushroom picked up a low 30. Then, about
9
the resort that’s there, into northern pike
territory. So we moved across the little bay to
a reedy point, and I picked up another low 30.
That made 9, with the last 6 fish coming over a
period of under two hours. It was a crazy day
once we found our warm water pattern, which
unfortunately was not possible the rest of the
week, as the sun was not out enough to make
the water temperatures noticeably warmer in
the bays. FD is offering guided trips up to the
honey hole for next year, along with a bonus
run down to the wall at High Island. It will be
expensive, but worth it.
halfway down the cattails, Branden hooked up
on a good fish. We saw that it was barely
hooked, and got it into the net quickly. It was
44.5”.
ÖÖÖÖÖÖ
On Wednesday, Suzy and Shorty did their
guide trip with Doug Johnson, where they saw
more than 40 fish, with Shorty boating two.
Apparently, Suzy had his hooks into three fish
that came unbuttoned, a common practice for
everyone during the week. They also saw the
biggest fish in the lake, according to Doug.
They mostly fished a circuit around Windigo
Island in some familiar and new spots.
Banana and Mushroom at the Secret Spot
After the usual commotion, we got back to
fishing, and just five casts later, Branden was
hooked up again. Same deal, barely hooked,
quick fight, and into the net ASAP. This one
was bigger, and Branden had a little more of a
challenge picking the brute up. It measured
46.5” on the Perp mat.
The club caught 14 fish on Wednesday,
capped off by a 43 and 40 for Shorty, and a
41.5 for Reed Sanderson.
The Long and Shorty of it
Thursday was a big day, with 16 fish caught,
including the new club record of 53” caught by
Father Bertha on a small bay cut into Falcon
Island, and nine more fish for the club of 40” or
bigger.
Another Cast, Another Fish
Now we were at 8, and moved through the
east side of the bay by Cochrane Island and
10
named Benita.
I got the name from a
Franciscan Nun that I met, she told me that her
name meant ‘God’s Blessing’. As most of you
know Benita is my third fish over 50 inches.
Bertha came when I was about ready to give
up fishing for muskies in 1999 on Sabaskong
Bay. In 2004, I caught Botella (Bo) on Leech
Lake with my cousin in that fantastic year of
2004, when everything seemed to go right with
the muskies, with numbers and size. After an
amazing catch story, however, a couple things
did go wrong. I did get her picture of her right
away, but we did not have the squirrel
measuring mat and did not want to put her on
the carpet on the boat…I also was afraid to put
her down and have her start trashing all over.
So after a rough measurement on her with a
48 inch measuring stick, which went only from
her tail to her eye, we decided to tried to
measure her more exactly…which we decided
to do in the water. When messing around with
her in the water, she tried to attack me and just
missed biting off my nose, and she won, and I
did a quick release at the boat to save us both.
That incident is embedded in my mind and I
will always keep that in mind when handling
these girls. Comparing Bertha’s, Botella’s, and
Benita’s pictures, I would say that Bo was a 52,
she is bigger than Bertha but not as big as
Benita. Benita really stands out heads and
tails and belly above the other two…she is a
hog. She is the Girl, the Queen of the Pond.
‘This 44 is about 1/16 the Size of Suzy Q!’
The big fish were: Nasty 42, Felix 43, Kojak
42.5, Perp 41, Suzy 44, Banana 41.5 and 41,
Glennn 46, and Mushroom 42.5.
As you know, there are better fishermen in the
club than me; you are probably one of them.
So why is that I have had such success with
the Ladies? I do believe one key aspect to
catching a 50 incher is “being at the right place
at the right time.” However, this does not
mean that it is all about luck. It involves
patience, perseverance, being ready (when
fishing I tried to be ready to catch the biggest
fish ever on each cast…you never know when
this will happen, so be prepared no matter
what you are fishing for) and most importantly
something that I am learning about each
year…enjoy the trip, keep things in proper
perspective. At the end of each trip, I take
notes and include in them each year
something to the effect of “that it is more
important to have fun and show this through
my actions and to put God first and treat my
neighbor as God has called me to.” I have to
keep reminding myself of this over and over,
because I can sometime become extremely
Kojak Kneels with his 42
(Note the Mickey Mouse lure laying there)
The Story of Benita
If you are you are looking for something, it
helps to know what you are looking for.
Therefore, I think it is important to name that
girl that you are fishing for, sing to her, talk to
her, call out to her by name. This year I was
looking, singing and calling for a sweetheart
11
good day a finding the fish, and that is what we
did, we put the many pieces of the puzzle
together and found fish. Although I must admit
we are probably two of the most competitive
guys in the club and I found out in the morning
that I better clean up my act or it will be a long
and frustrating day, as I have already
explained.
competitive when it comes to fishing. And if I
put fishing and catching fish as my goal above
all things, it negatively affects my relationship
with God and neighbor because I have put a
fish before God and neighbor. Thus, everyday
I make time for Mass and prayer and ask for
God’s grace to enjoy the gift of the day that He
has given me (us). Further, I realize that it is
beyond me when or where this fish will bite,
pretty much the only thing that I can do is be
prepared and be patient and present my bait,
either way no matter what, I cannot make that
fish bite, this is something beyond me.
Therefore, if I think that I am in control and my
one and only goal is to out fish everyone, it will
become a horrible trip for me and others. I
soon find out that things are not working the
way “I want them to” and I become
disappointed and there is usually a lot of
friction and tension in the boat between me
and the person that I am fishing with, and all of
God’s creation.
We start to put the information together from all
of you fishing that week in particular we went
off of Dickey’s, Banana’s, and Shroom’s
fantastic day of catching 9 muskies, and
Buick’s unbelievable 48 and 49 in an hour, and
Duper’s and Shorty’s information from fishing
with Doug. We took that information and
looked for warmer water, small bays or cuts
that were westward facing, and looked for
cabbage and stayed out from that (Duper
mentioned how our boats were usually right
over the good spots). And this was the
physically tough part, Buick’s information on
burning the Cowgirl. We looked at the map
and started fishing around Falcon Island,
perfect for this pattern. Like I said we did not
start seeing fish until 2:30, but when we did, it
was almost like we could predict that a girl was
living there. We fished about five miles of
shoreline and we would hit each cut or bay and
fish it hard and move to next. We most have
seen about 20 fish, ten were hot, with one
problem, zero in the boat. It was about seven
o’clock and we have been fishing hard for nine
hours, I was physically hurting. I did not take
the advice of “Nellie” at Throne Brothers and
buy the right equipment for pulling the
Cowgirls. I thought, I am sick of spending 500
hundred dollars every time some new fishing
system comes along. So I was up there with
my one silver bladed, black skirted cowgirl.
And at this point, I had pretty much destroyed
my Shimano Cardiff reel and my arms. We
took a water break and looked at the map and
decide to start the run again.
With all the different things happening during
the week, one evening we had to use flares to
get rescued, another morning we lost our lower
unit at 30-40 mph, therefore, by Thursday I
was just happy to be alive and still casting. I
was paired with Captain Mark Bystrom aka
The Analist and on his boat the USS Minnow
that day. One of the first things my captain
asked me was do you want to see the water
leak in the boat…I told him no. I did not want
to have to worry about that as we were fishing
about twenty miles away. We fueled up and
head out only to realize that the bilge pump
was not working, so it was back to the docks.
We pulled the USS Minnow up on the trailer
brought it over to the boat repair guy who by
now knew the Analist on a personal basis and
he fixed the bilge pump up for 15 dollars. We
went back and launched her, and whoops, the
bilge pump blows a fuse. So we pulled the
boat out again and I told Mark, why don’t you
take it back to the shop, I will stay here and
offer Mass and pray, we will make a couple
extra sandwiches and fish all day. This ended
up to be the best plan of the week because we
finally launched sometime after 10:30 in the
morning and we did not start seeing fish until
about 2:30.
We went back to the first place that we started
seeing muskies, we saw three muskies in this
location earlier and they were all hot. So
before we headed into this bay, we got all set
up. I sharpened all my hooks, and the day
before, I had replaced them because I thought
that they had taken a lot of beating from the
rocks etc. and I did not trust them if I had a big
fish on. I checked the drag again, knot, line,
leader, everything looked good. We headed
With all the hard times I have given the Analist
about his boat, I was happy that we were put
together because I knew that we would put in a
12
So now that that was done the big trick was
how do I get her in the boat? Again she was a
pig and I did not want to hurt her or to have her
pulverize my face or put her death grip on my
head. We decide that I would lift her in and
hoist her down onto the squirrel’s measuring
mat (the best thing invented besides the
cowgirl) and Mark would follow under with the
net. I laid her on the mat and we both held her
down. We measured her up, I kept her snoot
on the front end of the measurer and Mark had
her tail, it was obvious that she was a good 52
incher. We both said, I wonder if she will go
53, and she did, we check to make sure it was
a good measurement and her front snoot was
up against the board, and the tail went just
over 53. I was hooting like a cowboy.
in, as we headed in there was a small cut in
the wall and Mark and I both looked at it and
said, did we fish this before? The Analist
tossed in his bait, and then I took my shot in,
(remember how Matt Thompson said you have
a feeling that this is the spot, this is the feeling
I had, I WAS READY, HIT ME BABY) and I
cranked the bait about 4 feet…a little more
than a two crank Shorty, and BAM. I set the
hook and Benita came out of the water shaking
and raging. I could see the Cowgirl in her
mouth, but I was concerned because we have
had muskies hit the cowgirls and they quickly
spit them out before we could even react or get
a good hook set. But this one was at least in
the fish’s mouth, but I was not sure how well.
Then, Benita made the mistake of diving right
below me, and I had a better opportunity and
angle to drive the hooks home. I let her use up
her energy, by swimming below the boat.
Some people mentioned about free spooling a
fish at this time, in all my fishing I am not one
to start experimenting on doing something new
on a big fish, especially this big because, it
usually is something that you kick yourself in
the rear for later on.
While I was tiring her out, Mark, got the net
and cleared a spot to land her. We both agree
that when I brought her up that we would take
the first good opportunity and net her. After,
Benita swam around below the boat, I started
to bring her up and she was a toad. The
Analist got the net on her and she was half
way in and it looked like there was no more
room in the net. But the Analist did an
excellent job of finishing it off and squeezing
her in the net before she even felt it. Once she
was in, it was an adrenaline rush for Benita
and myself. I knew she was over fifty inches.
Mother Benita and Father Bertha
We took some pictures of our date and I
released her. She was up right and functioning
immediately, however, a little punch drunk, but
I did not have to hold her. She swam out to
deeper water and then realized that she did not
want to go this way and turned around only to
look at us again in the boat and she floated
there for a while before disappearing until our
next date. For the next hour, I was wondering
around the boat like someone who just
received the gift of a new born baby and this
later made me reflect on what this must be like
to be given the gift of a child and what a
powerful and eternal gift this is in comparison
to catching a fish. It helped me also realize
that catching Benita brought happiness and joy
into my life but it is not an end in itself but a
means. A means to find God in an interaction
with His creation, in the interaction with my
fellow fishermen, it maybe an interaction that
we are given daily but may often miss because
We got everything cleared for measure and
unhooking, while keeping her in the water.
Then the Analist said, have fun getting your
hooks out. I looked in the net at Benita and
she
look
back
at
me…with
the
expression…come on you want a piece of
me…I will give you a piece of me. I could not
help but flash back to Botella, so I was very
careful and got a hold of her with the death grip
pinch. I got her mouth open and was amazed
as I easily popped out the hook, the one hook
in her out with a needle nose pliers, only one in
her out of the six available.
13
got just a little too close, so I said ‘set the
hook!’ again. This time, the hooks caught the
fish in the lower jaw. After a brief fight, it was
in the net, and measured 42.5”, Mushroom’s
new personal best. All together, the time from
the first follow to the final hookup was 3-4
minutes of some of the most weird and
entertaining musky antics I have witnessed.
The lesson is not to give up on your following
musky until you’re real certain it’s no longer
there.
we are too hung up on “our life in the way that
we see it or want to see it” and miss God’s
blessings that constantly surround us.
The final moment of the day was watching a
perfect sunset, and sitting in silence, just taking
it all in, just sitting in awe reflecting on the gift
of the day. Thank you guys for all the good
times that we have shared fishing together,
keep casting, keep smiling, and keep praying.
Fr. Timothy Yanta, aka Fr. Bertha
Bertha has the knack
To give a big girl a whack
With Analist at the wheel
He put a 53 on his reel
And the rest of us took a step back
Carmen Obama
Curious George Sanderson
Two days after busting 9 fish in one day, I was
again fishing with Professor Mushroom, with
just two of us in the boat on Thursday.
Mushroom boated a 38 off Low Island on his 7
of diamonds Daredevil, which he used to catch
6 of the 7 muskies he boated for the week. We
had a nice hour-long drift and mushroom
lecture for lunch, and worked our way back to
Monument Bay to the scene of the musky
binge of two days ago. In the same bay that
Banana got a 44 and 46, Mushroom got a
follow on his spoon. I told him to figure 8, and
the fish went around a couple of times, and
then disappeared. . By then I was also in the
back of the boat to watch the action. I said he
might just be under the boat since we were in
just 4 feet of water, and after a few more figure
8’s, he came back out, but just watched the
lure from below. Reed stopped the 8’s and just
jiggled the spoon around a bit, and the musky
just sat there and watched it from a foot away I
told Reed to hold the spoon still, and the
musky drifted up to it and ‘sniffed’ it by nibbling
at the spoon with the hooks hanging below.
When it got too close, I whispered ‘set the
hook!’, and Reed pulled up and the spoon
came out of the water. ‘Put it back!’ And the
fish was still there with his mouth open, doing
some more nibbling at the diamonds on the
side of the lure. During the fish’s checking out
of the lure, it blew bubbles out of its gills three
different times, very strange. Once again, it
Curious George Makes a Brief Visit to the
Other Side of the Water
A Challenge to the Waterdogs Club from
Musky-Know-Nothing Mushroom:
I may be one of the least knowledgeable of the
mighty musky marauders, but I present three
feats from the latest trip that I feel are
UNPRECEDENTED by any of you musky
masters of Minnesota. They are as follows:
1) Largest fish caught in the marina bay at the
boat docks. After cleaning and oiling my
equipment one evening, I made one cast to be
sure everything was put together correctly, and
voila! A mighty 23-inch northern succumbs to
the deadly seven of diamonds. Could the 54incher be hiding for years under the dock by
Shorty’s or Nasty’s boat? And if the Analist
would leave his boat in the water, maybe the
54-incher would hide IN the boat!
2) Largest musky ever caught on the Lake of
the Woods from shore—a monster 31-incher
taken while my able guide Buick wandered off
into the woods to relieve himself. Since he
refused to come tearing out the woods with his
pants down when I was frantically hollering, I
14
Wow, was I ever wrong in my preconceived
ideas. I learned later that all the captains he
fished with requested to fish with Flyboy. I was
really pleased that the other captains were
interested in what he was doing and both Farm
Boy and Perp also used a fly rod for part of the
day. Certainly the results speak for
themselves. Flyboy caught two muskies, a 31
and a 51 inch fish.
had to maneuver the monster all by myself.
Then I had to calm the fish down and hold it at
bay until Buick decided to return from his
sightseeing trip. It took him about 20 minutes
or more, I believe. Buick promptly identified
the monster as a musky.
Perp’s boat
witnessed the event from afar and should be
able to verify the time log.
3) The only fish ever, in the history of the
Waterdogs, Curious George, to be purposely
SNAGGED in the lower lip.
On Friday, Flyboy and I fished together for the
second time of the week. The wind was
blowing hard out of the northwest. So I figured
we would be limited to East facing bays, out of
the wind in order for Flyboy to even fish.
So—there exists the challenge to you mighty
Minnesota musky masters.
My extensive
research may be flawed, but I think maybe not.
On our second stop of the morning we fished
an East facing bay just West of Powassin
Rock. In that bay there is a small pocket with a
nice boulder and weeds. I casted twice into
the pocket with no result. My second cast was
right through the weeds using a Shogirl. I
turned the boat so Flyboy could cast into the
back of the pocket. As he was about to cast,
he looked down into the weeds and exclaimed,
hey there’s one just laying in the weeds. I
stopped fishing to watch him go after the
muskie.
Miniscule Musky Master Mushroom
Flyboy cast his fly just in from of the muskie’s
nose, about 8 feet out from the boat. He
stripped line twice. At the end of the second
strip the muskie rose out of the weeds and
grabbed the fly about 2 feet from the back
corner of the boat. Flyboy shouted out, SHE’s
GOT IT. If you did not have the opportunity to
fish with him, he becomes very animated when
he gets a fish on. He said, this looks like it is
40 something. I said, I think it’s a supertanker.
He said he wished I had not told him that.
Biggest Weekly Northern by Mushroom
Mushroom is the brother of Juan
Shorty’s gear gives him a magic wand
He snagged a 42
Out of the blue
And landed it with élan
Carmen W Bush
I grabbed the net as flyboy continued to fight
the fish. The fish never jumped or thrashed
around. Rather, it stayed down and pulled my
boat out of the pocket into the bay. As he was
playing the fish I kept telling him to be calm,
the fish is not quite ready yet. He kept saying
“come on baby, come on baby”. On the third
time to the boat I was able to get the muskie in
the net and hold it next to the boat. There was
more yelling and high fives once the fish was in
the net.
Baby’s Story
By Kojak
When I invited my friend Bill Ludwick (Flyboy)
as a guest for the 2008 LOW trip, I did not
expect that he would fish for muskies
exclusively with a fly rod all week. When I
learned that was what he intended, I
volunteered to fish with him 2 or more days,
thinking fly fishing for muskies would not be
readily acceptable to the other captains.
Hook removal was easy with only one hook to
deal with rather than multiple trebles. The only
15
problem with removing the hook was Flyboy’s
shaking hands. We got the fish on to Perp’s
mat and it measured 51 inches. A couple
quick pictures and the fish was back in the
water. We took a little break to let the
adrenaline rush subside. During that time I
explained our tradition of naming large fish.
He thought about for a bit and said Baby
because that what he was calling her when he
was bringing her in.
Branden Goes Bananas
Each year, someone breaks out to new highs,
busting out from the Oddsmakers predictions.
This year it was Banana Boy Branden Happel,
who caught the most muskies on the trip at 9,
during his second time on the Tour. Branden
was along on the trip two years ago, when he
caught three sub-40 muskies. This year, he
tripled that tally with seven of the 9 fish
measuring 40” or better. His first 2 fish of the
week came on the Vibrax, and one on a
Manta, but then he discovered the thrill of
cranking the Double Cowgirl, and boated his
next six fish on that bait. He is now the proud
holder of the Most Muskies Milk Can, and has
already indicated his intent to defend it next
year.
Flyboy caught the muskie using an Orvis Zero
Gravity, 10 weight fly rod. The line was
Scentific Angler Mastery Pike/Muskie taper line
with a worldwide sportsman IGFA certified 20
lb. leader and a 30 lb. shock tippet. Before
fishing on that Friday, he showed me his
selection of lures. He had a fly he tied 4 or 5
years ago that he had never used. It was
patterned after a lure he saw in a magazine. I
thought it had the best profile of any of his flies.
It really looked nice coming through the water,
sort of reminded me of an elongated frog. He
decided to use that fly and it was in the one
that hooked the 51.
The fish count for Friday slipped to 11, which
was the lowest count for a full day of fishing, as
the light southeasterly winds that were with us
all week switched to the northwest, and were
much stronger. It made the last ride back to
the Outpost interesting, as fairly big waves
were whipped up in the inlet. The one big
surprise was the 51” caught by Fly Boy Bill
Ludwick, Kojak’s friend. It was only Bill’s
second musky of the week that he was able to
land, as his fly-fishing presentation saw lots of
fish action, but was a difficult method with
which to land muskies.
51” on a Fly – A LOTW First
Thanks to all of you who made him feel so
welcome on the trip and for accepting a new
way to catch muskies. Flyboy plans to return
next year, in search of even a bigger fish.
The only other 40+’s on Friday were Brothers
Anderson, who each got a 41 while fishing
together that day.
16
Save Time and Money at Jim’s
The border crossing back into the U.S. was
different this time, as when the agent found out
that we were fishing on the angle, he then
asked if we checked into the US on the way in,
and where we did it. Of course, we all checked
in at Jim’s corner, except for part of the
Saturday afternoon group, who did not. They
honestly answered the agent’s question, and
then were invited into the station for a free
lecture. OF, Felix, and OJ were all given a
warning about the seriousness of the border
patrol, and were told that the next offense
would generate a fine of $5000. A good lesson
for all.
Other Trip Tidbits
‘Little Buddies’ beat the captains in the fish
count 55 to 46, thanks to big numbers put up
by Meat, Banana, and Mushroom.
Cowgirl bucktails caught 9 of the 12 fish over
45”, and 19 of the 41 over 40”.
OF Cradles his Best Musky of the Week
When Sticky left for home Thursday morning,
he left behind an angelfood cake that was then
enjoyed by a few cabins. Happy Birthday
everybody!
The Big Fish prizes were as follows:
Biggest Musky –
Father Bertha Tim Yanta – 53”
If you were lucky, you fished at least one day
with someone from the party cabin, and then
also enjoyed a Suzy sammich for lunch.
Always mysterious, always tasty!
Most Muskies –
Banana Boy Branden Happel – 9
Biggest Northern –
Professor Mushroom Reed Sanderson – 38”
Apparently, sammiches are Suzy’s top culinary
skill, as his errant boiling of the Italian sausage
for dinner brought him grief from his
cabinmates for the rest of the week.
Biggest Walleye –
FD Bob Dickey – 21” (two years in-a-row)
Biggest Smallie –
The Perp Brian Karsjens – 17”
Perp sheared the pin on his trolling motor, and
he and Nasty came up with a hook shank to
use as a replacement.
Weekly Grand Slam –
Fly Boy Bill Ludwick – 116”
(51M+31NP+18W+16SM)
Shorty caught his first musky of the trip on a
‘No Crank Shorty’. The 37”-er bolted out from
under the boat to nail his Double Cowgirl as it
dangled in the water.
Daily Team Grand Slam –
Perp and Suzy Steve Dupont – 110”
(47M+31NP+17W+15SM)
Felix got his lower unit fixed by Friday morning
after wrecking it on Tuesday. They expressed
the lower unit to the angle from California.
The Cabin Cup was awarded to The Potty
Cabin with 34 muskies, with an average of
4.85 muskies per person.
17
$90
49
45
32
31
25
20
20
20
-------$1165
Fly Boy broke a fly rod on Sunday and had a
new one expressed in by Orvis on Monday for
free.
Shorty finds a frog in his bed, and releases it
unharmed.
Trip Expenses
Over the years, the cost of the Musky Tour has
gone up considerably. At the first tour, with 8
guys in attendance, the total cost was just over
$300. Nowadays, that will barely get you to
Crow Rock Resort (even if you don’t hit
anything.)
Here is a breakdown of the
expenses for this year’s trip on a per-guy
basis, as reported by the Old Guys cabin:
$325
233
150
125
Cabin Food
Docking
Motel 8
RABC
Resort Taxes
License
Crow Rock Lunch
Warroad Dinner
Big Fish Pot
Total
ÖÖÖÖÖÖ
Thanks to Carmen and Suzy for their
contributions to the Dogumentary LOTW
Edition, and all the others who wrote about
their trip memories.
Angle Outpost Cabin
Boat Gas
Early Deposit
Car Gas
And also thanks to the Fandrich’s for hosting
another great trip, and the breakfast and dinner
that we all enjoyed.
The Sun Sets on Another Great Year at Lake of the Woods
18