Welcome to my photographic story for 2014.
My first open water trip of the year was two weeks ago and what a day it was. I had my first multiple musky day of the year! My first musky of the year isn't a big one, but a 34.25" male, but for me it's a milestone. I religiously do figure 8's at boatside and always put forth my best effort with doing them correctly. I've had hot fish follow through several full 8's before, but hadn't had even a bite during those experiences. I'm in the habit of always doing them (or other boatside maneuvers depending on the type of lure) to tempt followers. But this fish came deep, and I never saw it, and hit on the third full figure 8. What a thrill! It was my first figure 8 fish. He's not big, but I'm very proud of this fish:
He's posing for you all with a nice smile displaying his business end:
And he's even happier now after this clean release:
My next musky, the second of the day, was a larger one, a female that was tagged, that slammed a glider. She was 39.5" long. I have since reported the tag info and found out that in October 2011, according to our fisheries biologist, she was electroshocked and tagged, and was 35.5" long and weighed 12.25 pounds, growing at a rate of 1.7" per year. I didn't weigh her this time, but she seemed pretty fat. She T-boned the glider from underneath and put up quite a fight before coming to the net.
Here she is:
It was a great day, water temps were in the low 40's. Air temps went from below freezing to over 60 degrees (shown holding a musky in a t-shirt in March)!