The Lehman Family muskie trolling weekend saw some tough weather and fishing conditions, but both Lehman kids were able to land nice fall muskies with little time to spare. Notice the darkness on the last night of fishing. These two fish were caught on back to back passes of the same point. Good job Max & Emma.
Emma
Max
39" 38"
The Willfords found some muskies again in 2008. Here are the prize catches for Dave, Hannah and Jim (left to right) for their long weekend of fishing. Jim's super tanker was the largest release by a guest for 2008 and also tied the longest release we can remember from Mylie's with two other anglers. Congrats to Jim on the fish of a lifetime and kudos to Hannah for outfishing Dad. Again!
48" 48.25" 54.5"
Ralph's Bucket List Muskie Trip
Long time guest
Ralph Goode has been talking about trying to catch a muskie for
years. For the last several years, he had even begun to accumlate
some of the proper equipment needed to do some muskie fishing. I
believe there was even some trips to muskie fishing sport shows and
fundraising banquets to gather knowledge from the seminars given by
some of the best muskie anglers in the country. I have told Ralph
many times during the past few years that his best change to hook into
a muskie would be during the October trolling bite. The last
couple of times, I even offered to take him out there if he just
managed to show up with warm enough clothes to survive an unpreditcable
October day (more on that later.) Much to my surprise, when I
came in from outside one day this past summer I had a message to call
Ralph at home. He wanted to know if I was serious about taking
him out if he put together a trip in October. We talked over some
details and he got back to me a few days later that the trip was
on! We pegged the weekend of Oct 18 for the trip and planned to
fish Friday, October 17 and Saturday, October 18. All I could do
was hope and pray for weather good enough to allow us a good chance to
find a muskie. My mission was simple: Get Ralph a muskie
and the weekend would be a success. Any scenario having Ralph go
home without having wrestled a muskie to the boat and I would have felt
like a complete failure. Ralph enlisted his son and two sons-in
law to accompany him so that there would at least be some male bonding
if the fishing didn't go well. They arrived late Thursday night
so I didn't seem them before the big day. The plan was to
Ralph and son-in-law Dale (his partner in crime at all those
informative seminars) set the pace and fish for muskie on Day 1.
Son Bruce and son-in-law Casey would try to get some walleyes on Day 1
and then move to the muskie boat with me on Day 2.
Day
1: "Success" comes and the pressure is off.
The day began a
little late as the boys were somewhat sleepy
after a long drive and late night. The 8am targeted departure may
have
been overly optimistic for this crew (history can sometimes be
difficult to overcome), but we were able to get going sometime after 9
after finding Ralph enough warm clothes to make it through a very nice
(but still chilly) October day. I had told them they needed to
give me
most of the day on the water to allow for the best chance of success
and we were out until after dark. The pressure came off
mid-afternoon
when Ralph's rod started peeling line and the moment of truth
arrived.
He bested that 37 muskie and can now tell everyone that he's got a LOTW
muskellunge under his belt. As you can see, we didn't quit
fishing until after getting Dale his muskie after the sun had gone
done.
Dale also managed a personal best northern to add some another bit of
satisfaction to the day. I was even able to reel a muskie in so
we had a muskie for every man in the boat. Not a bad start, but
no fall fatties so there was room for improvement. Now I could
set the goal higher and try to get my next two fishing partners a
muskie on day 2.
Ralph
37" - First Ever Muskie - Oct 17, 2008
<== Dale ==>
38.5" Personal Best Northern 37" First Ever Muskie
October 17, 2008
Day 2:
The wind didn't stop us.
A strong south
wind greeted us on Saturday and we had to adjust our plan of attack
somewhat. We tried to fish areas that would keep us from getting
beat up by big rollers and help us stay as dry as possible (that mid 40
degree water doesn't make for a comfortable day when it soaks all the
way through.) Once again, the muskie gods smiled down on
us. We were able to put another muskie in the boat for all three
of us and a nice northern as well. How does a day like that end
up being disappointing? Well, when you have all 3 muskies, plus
the northern on the board by 12:30pm and go the rest of the day without
a strike, you feel like you could have done better. However, it
was a good day with some excitement involving a double header with
81.25 inches of fish on the line at the same time. We were coming
around a small point that backed into a shallower pocket along a
shoreline when Bruce's rod ripped and he begun fighting what felt like
a nice fish. As Casey and I were reeling in to clear our lines, I
heard Casey yell that he had something too. I quickly got my line
in and grabbed the net, promising to net whichever muskie got to the
boat first and then cradle get the second muskie on top because there
is lots of room in the basket of the big Beckman fin-saver pen.
Bruce's fish came up first and we noticed it was a northern.
DANGIT!! I ask Bruce if he'll just hold onto the northern until
we get Casey's fish in the net. He says ok and we slip Casey's
muskie into the beckman. We the muskie safely in the water in the
net with lots of room to move, I turn my attention to Bruce's
fish. After a couple of attempts to shake it off without having
to touch it, I hand land the fish and quickly pull and/or cut the hooks
out of the northern so we can get back to the muskie. With
the hooks out, I look the fish over and realize it's pretty long.
I pull the fish up out of the water about half way and realize that
it's pretty heavy. Thinking we better put it on the board, just
to see what we've got, we find it stretches to 41.25 inches!!
Bruce quickly picks the fish up off the board and the we snap a picture
with the camera that was already standing by for the muskie
photo. Wow, that's a nice northern. So back to the muskie
now. It's in great shape and the hooks come out of it
quickly. Up and out for a photo and quick measurement, we find it
right on 40 inches. That's 81.25 inches of personal best fish
caught at the same time. I can't even complain too much that one
was a northern. I only wish I had put the northern back in the
cradle for couple so we could have had a double photo. Not long
after we released both those fish, Bruce landed a 40.5" muskie.
Combined with the muskie I had caught earlier in the day, we had all
got a muskie again on Day 2. Of course, we are thinking alot of
ourselves having all this done by barely noon. We are convinced
that Bruce and Casey's lack of seminar attendence was the key to being
more malleable and that Ralph and Dale needed half the day to unlearn
all of those bad habits they were taught at the seminars. We were
kidding around of course and then seemed to pay for it with our
afternoon blank!
Bruce The Double Header Casey
41.25" PB northern 40" First Ever Muskie
Bruce
40.5" First Ever Muskie
The Bucket List
Trip Wrap-up:
I couldn't have
asked for better guys to fish with for those 2 days. The weather
cooperated as good as you could expect for the 3 week of October.
I never would have dared to ask that everyone catch a muskie on the
trip, but that's exactly how it went. Could we have caught
more? Certainly we could have. Could we have had better
size. Absolutely. But to have 2 guys I had known for a long
time and counted as good friends, and 2 guys I got to know a lot better
and now consider to be good friends, be able to come up to Lake of the
Woods and all catch a muskie and have a couple of bonus personal best
northerns thrown in as well....Wow....That's about the best 2 days of
"work" I have ever had. Thank you for experience guys. I'll
never forget it.
The annual Lehman Fall Muskie Hunt with the boys went very well in 2008. Here are most of the fish the guys caught during their week or so of trolling. No particular order here. All fish caught the week of Oct 19-26, 2008.
45.5" 44" 40.5"
38" 28"
Dean - (First Trip for Fall Trolling on LOTW)
47" 46" 36"
Ted
47"
39" 38" 37.5"
Captain Rich
42" 45" 48"
Jeff
49" 45.5" 44.5"
44" 41" 39"
The annual Lehman Fall Muskie Hunt with the boys went very well in 2008. Here are most of the fish the guys caught during their week or so of trolling. No particular order here. All fish caught the week of Oct 19-26, 2008.
Brian
45.5" 44" 40.5"
38" 28"
Dean - (First Trip for Fall Trolling on LOTW)
47" 46" 36"
Ted
47"
39" 38" 37.5"
Captain Rich
42" 45" 48"
Jeff
49" 45.5" 44.5"
44" 41" 39"
The big fish for the week was Jeff's fat
49 incher. Rich came in second with that nice 48" hawg.
Seemed to be a quite good average size for this group as well.
Nice work, guys. Not a bad way to spend a week in October,
eh?
Tom, Mike, Dave (left to right) - 3
brothers; 3 big October muskies
49" 51.5" 44.5"
Randy B had the family out again.for
some October trolling. Here are a few pictures from their time on
the water. Randy's nephew Curtis found the hawg this year.
That's one
of those thick ones we were telling you about, Curtis. Nice job.
Angie
Ronda
Upper 30 incher - Oct 19, 2008 46" fall fatty - Oct 24, 2008
<== Curtis ==>
42" - Oct 23/08 52" x 24" - Oct 24/08 52" release
