Finally got a chance to fish for Musky, the holy grail of freshwater predators, at Melton Hill reservoir up near Oak Ridge TN yesterday with guide Cory Allen of Stonesthrowadventures.com
I say finally, because my fishing buddy Scott and I have been talking about making this trip off and on for the last 3-4 years, had a trip scheduled last year but the guide got sick a few days before the trip and he had to cancel. Well a week ago Cory contacted me and said conditions were good and could we get up there to finally try for the fish of 10,00 casts? We originally scheduled a trip for thursday, but with the front coming in we called him and asked if wednesday would work for him, and he accomodated our request. Wednesday was a gorgeous pre-front day, honestly I can remember a prettier November day, we were in shorts by the afternoon, the weather and sceneary was incredible.
We met Cory at the Oak Ridge Wal Mart and followed him to the ramp, we fished out of a 19' flat bottomed john boat w 70 hp yamaha, perfect boat for that type of fishing and for the other smaller waters he fishes, nice open floor plan.
The gear was definitely Musky gear...8.5" ultra stiff rods, 7000 series reels, 70 lb braid with 14" steel leaders, and the wildest assortment of gigantic HEAVY gaudy colored lures that I have ever seen in my life....throwing some of these lures was like casting a medium sized cat.
When we planned this trip, we agreed that we would be thrilled if we caught 1 musky between the 2 of us for the day, heck we have never even seen one before, out expectations were low, but realistic...these are not easy fish to catch...
We mostly fished big shallow weedy flats adjacent to points and deep channels, tho we did run some deep diving crankbaits next to channel ledges also...
Cast after cast after cast after cast...each one you think to yourself "this could be the cast..." as you do the classic figure 8 move boatside looking for a monster to follow and attack the lure...
When it finally happened, I was totally unprepared for the event...
I had made a poor cast, got a small birds nest, picked it out and was rapidly retrieving (burning it) my 9" bucktail spinner back to the boat, the lure just a few inches under the surface of the water, when the giant T-boned the lure just 10' from the boat.
It was like watching a you tube video of a traffic camera catching a semi truck running a red light and crushing a smart car in an intersection...
It happened so fast and was so violent.
It was a religious experience..
Short fight on that tackle, giant net, musky in the boat. Check one off the bucket list.
Beautiful fish, I was in awe just looking at it, so prehistoric looking. I'll never forget that strike as long as I live.
48" fish, about 25 lbs...i could not imagine a fish bigger than that living in local waters, and I knew I would probably never catch another one in my life, we took a bunch of pics, savored the moment and the release, high-fives all around, back to casting again and again and again, this time with a little more vigor and pep in each retrieve just in case lightning struck again.
An hour later lightning struck again..
Running a deep crank down the channel, I had the bone jarring deep crank bite where the lure just stops like you just hooked a chain link fence on the bottom of the lake, then the head shake....game on!
52" fish, 22" girth....I was stunned, speechless as the fish slid into the net. Could hardly muster a word for a dew minutes. WHAT A TOAD! A trophy anywhere in the world. It was my day, I had the lucky rod.
I'll never forget that morning on Melton Hill.
As bad as my buddy Scott wanted to catch one, it just did not happen again that day, How often does lightning strike 3x in one day? But to his credit, he was genuinely happy and excited for me, I have been on the receiving end of butt whoopings from him in the boat on MANY occasions, so I know how it felt, and he was total class about it the rest of the day.
Hopefully R Simms will post pics soon...hes my go to guy for posting pics, much thanks to him for putting them up.
I say finally, because my fishing buddy Scott and I have been talking about making this trip off and on for the last 3-4 years, had a trip scheduled last year but the guide got sick a few days before the trip and he had to cancel. Well a week ago Cory contacted me and said conditions were good and could we get up there to finally try for the fish of 10,00 casts? We originally scheduled a trip for thursday, but with the front coming in we called him and asked if wednesday would work for him, and he accomodated our request. Wednesday was a gorgeous pre-front day, honestly I can remember a prettier November day, we were in shorts by the afternoon, the weather and sceneary was incredible.
We met Cory at the Oak Ridge Wal Mart and followed him to the ramp, we fished out of a 19' flat bottomed john boat w 70 hp yamaha, perfect boat for that type of fishing and for the other smaller waters he fishes, nice open floor plan.
The gear was definitely Musky gear...8.5" ultra stiff rods, 7000 series reels, 70 lb braid with 14" steel leaders, and the wildest assortment of gigantic HEAVY gaudy colored lures that I have ever seen in my life....throwing some of these lures was like casting a medium sized cat.
When we planned this trip, we agreed that we would be thrilled if we caught 1 musky between the 2 of us for the day, heck we have never even seen one before, out expectations were low, but realistic...these are not easy fish to catch...
We mostly fished big shallow weedy flats adjacent to points and deep channels, tho we did run some deep diving crankbaits next to channel ledges also...
Cast after cast after cast after cast...each one you think to yourself "this could be the cast..." as you do the classic figure 8 move boatside looking for a monster to follow and attack the lure...
When it finally happened, I was totally unprepared for the event...
I had made a poor cast, got a small birds nest, picked it out and was rapidly retrieving (burning it) my 9" bucktail spinner back to the boat, the lure just a few inches under the surface of the water, when the giant T-boned the lure just 10' from the boat.
It was like watching a you tube video of a traffic camera catching a semi truck running a red light and crushing a smart car in an intersection...
It happened so fast and was so violent.
It was a religious experience..
Short fight on that tackle, giant net, musky in the boat. Check one off the bucket list.
Beautiful fish, I was in awe just looking at it, so prehistoric looking. I'll never forget that strike as long as I live.
48" fish, about 25 lbs...i could not imagine a fish bigger than that living in local waters, and I knew I would probably never catch another one in my life, we took a bunch of pics, savored the moment and the release, high-fives all around, back to casting again and again and again, this time with a little more vigor and pep in each retrieve just in case lightning struck again.
An hour later lightning struck again..
Running a deep crank down the channel, I had the bone jarring deep crank bite where the lure just stops like you just hooked a chain link fence on the bottom of the lake, then the head shake....game on!
52" fish, 22" girth....I was stunned, speechless as the fish slid into the net. Could hardly muster a word for a dew minutes. WHAT A TOAD! A trophy anywhere in the world. It was my day, I had the lucky rod.
I'll never forget that morning on Melton Hill.
As bad as my buddy Scott wanted to catch one, it just did not happen again that day, How often does lightning strike 3x in one day? But to his credit, he was genuinely happy and excited for me, I have been on the receiving end of butt whoopings from him in the boat on MANY occasions, so I know how it felt, and he was total class about it the rest of the day.
Hopefully R Simms will post pics soon...hes my go to guy for posting pics, much thanks to him for putting them up.
