Our 2003 musky hunt will not soon be forgotten. So many personal goals were reached. During the winter of 02’ and 03’ the Badfish Outdoors film crew talked about plans and goals for the year. One point that came up was the fact that none of us had boated a true fifty inch fish or had been in the boat with one for that matter. How were we going to produce a musky video worthy of the sport? Faith that we had the knowledge base and the connections to get a couple monsters on film was all that we had. At this point I think there is a huge number of musky fishermen that can relate to our situation. We knew we were close, now was the time to break down the wall.
Wise planning of trips was a primary consideration for our 2003 season. All of us at Badfish Outdoors still rely on our day jobs for income. Our plan for scheduling was simple; lets fish on the best musky waters, with the best musky fishermen, at the best musky times. Sounds simple if you are good at predicting the future, which few of us are. One look at the future which we were able to make was with lunar tables. Musky fishing “Jedi” Joe Bucher claims he can predict to a very narrow time window within moon tables of when he will hook into some of his big fish each year. Our experience also is that moon periods have a real effect on fish activity. Those ideas definitely were reinforced this year. Of the six muskies that came into the boat with Mark Lijewski, Jason Sloan, and myself (Gordon Hastreiter), all of them were within 48 hours of the new moon or in one of the cases the full moon peak. Two of the fish came within minutes of a moon rise or set, the others just came within the moon period.
The first fifty inch fish you see live will always be etched deep in your memory, even if you were not the angler that caught her. Lake of the Woods, not a surprise, was the location of the first contact with a giant. A couple days into the trip we had located a bunch of big fish, it was early July the water was rapidly warming and we felt it was only a matter of time until we hooked up. A huge wake came up behind the dancin raider for a few seconds only to disappear. The camera was on the action and I was disappointed the fish decided not to bite. Mark Gillich continued to work his bait near the boat when both of us noticed an underwater cruise missile bearing down on his lure. The fish was far enough sub-surface that it did not make the surface of the water rise. As Mark made the first the first turn of his bait at the boat the fish kicked its tail and opened its large jaws to engulf the lure right at our feet and only about three feet from the camera which was on record! Panic set in as we heard the gears in the reel come to a grinding halt. With about ten feet of line out, the reel was unable to give out or take in line. The angry fish boiled and trashed but was unable to come up with the moves to break the line or tear the hooks out. A 50 ½ inch musky was captured, filmed, photographed, and released. (This is the fish which busts Mark Lijewskis lip on the highlights at the end of our Musky Madness video.) By the way, I missed the footage of the boat side hit as the camera was recording and pointing in the right direction but the lens was zoomed in as I had it set for the follow which had started at the beginning of the cast. So goes the emotional roller coaster of musky fishing and filming. No worries, I would eventually redeem myself and we were all in celebration with our first fifty. One final note: this was the day after the July new moon.
Fifty number two, this fish was actually caught two days before Mark Gilich’s musky, but I decided to include this fish second because I actually saw marks fish being caught. Ty Sennett did not waste time or film in hooking up with his fifty inch horse, on a shield lake film trip with Jason Sloan our editor. For most of us it will take a decade to hook into our first 30 pounder, on that day with Ty six casts was all it took. I am just glad that he waited for Jason to get the camera out of the case and set for exposure. This fish came the day before the July new moon, mid-day, on wind-blown rocks. Sounds like a recipe that some of should look at for next year. This is the first fifty inch musky featured on our Musky Madness video which is edited in chronological order of the seasons.
Chad Cain is one great guy for us to have on camera. He is great at conveying information, he is not camera shy in any way, and he put us on one whale of a musky this summer. This trip to Minnesota we planned for the end of August, prime time from our research to connect with a hawg. Mark Lijewski had the front of the boat. During the day we had raised several fish with no takers, now it was only minutes from the new moon set. The waves were pounding us as we worked some center reef on a large Minnesota lake. To me it seemed as if we were fishing in the middle of an ocean, since I am not used to not knowing exactly where we are fishing. Chad knew exactly where we were and put us on the big fish just as she was in the mood to bite. Mark said the fish’s mouth looked like an ice cream bucket as it opened and closed on his Llungen tail. This was my redemption from my earlier film folly. Not only did Mark catch his biggest fish ever but I got the experience on film.
Fifties four and five came two days after the one with Chad Cain. Now we were with Gregg Thomas and it was the day after the new moon. The goal of the day was to get Gregg and Laura Morrison on film with muskies. It was not long until Greg had a nice 40” range fish on film. Laura called up and said she would be running a little late, with that in mind and happy that we had a fish on film I decided to cast until Laura showed up. It was not even a half hour later when lightning struck, not the boat, on the end of my line. A large musky head came out of no where, ate my bait, it started circling the boat while stripping line. Gregg made his filming debut when he grabbed the camera to catch the action, he kind of looks like Quentin Tarentino doesn’t he. After a solid fight I scooped the large fish up in the Big Kahuna. Not until the fish was lying on the surface just outside the net did I realize just how big this fish was. 51 inches my personal best. Fish on the best waters at the best times with the best fishermen and you may be able to predict the future.
Later the same day as my fifty incher, I was overwhelmed with the idea of what had transpired over the last couple of days with Mark and I each catching our largest muskies. Even with our previous success the action did not stop, Gregg and Laura put four more fish in the boat that afternoon. To top it off, Gregg hooked into a real pig, a 51 incher with really nice girth. On this day the wind was calm, in fact it was post cold front. There seemed to be a stronger factor driving the fish to feed than just the weather. The summer to fall transition is in my opinion, the best time to be on many waters to connect with huge fish. A cold front at this time of the year is a reminder of the impending winter and will drive fish to feed.
Two weeks later in Northern Wisconsin, Mark Lijewski and Clay Schroeder decided to head out on an area lake for the September full moon. Action did not come until their last spot just as the moon was about to rise. Clay first boated a nice upper-thirty inch fish. Then within five minutes of the full moon rise Clay hooked into a big fish. The light for the camera was in the other boat with me so Mark grabbed the net. After a good fight the fish was landed under low light. Neither Clay nor Mark knew how big the fish was until Clay lifted the fish from the net. The tape read 50 ½ inches! A couple pictures and the fish was released into the dark waters. A fifty inch fish does not happen every day in Wisconsin and does not even happen every year to even the best fishermen.
Was the moon a predominant factor in our success this year? Just the idea that I have a better opportunity at a big fish during a moon phase helps motivate me to fish harder. This extra effort could skew the results, but the moon does make a discernable difference in fish activity. Do not loose confidence if you are not fishing a moon phase. Confidence is the one factor that day in and day out you have control over. Confidence, I believe, is the number one factor in total success over a season. Thanks for reading this article, there will be many more to come. I encourage you to pick up a copy of our Musky Madness video. Five of the six fish over fifty in this article are in the video, along with a lot more excellent musky footage.
Our 2003 musky hunt will not soon be forgotten. So many personal goals were reached. During the winter of 02’ and 03’ the Badfish Outdoors film crew talked about plans and goals for the year. One point that came up was the fact that none of us had boated a true fifty inch fish or had been in the boat with one for that matter. How were we going to produce a musky video worthy of the sport? Faith that we had the knowledge base and the connections to get a couple monsters on film was all that we had. At this point I think there is a huge number of musky fishermen that can relate to our situation. We knew we were close, now was the time to break down the wall.
Later the same day as my fifty incher, I was overwhelmed with the idea of what had transpired over the last couple of days with Mark and I each catching our largest muskies. Even with our previous success the action did not stop, Gregg and Laura put four more fish in the boat that afternoon. To top it off, Gregg hooked into a real pig, a 51 incher with really nice girth. On this day the wind was calm, in fact it was post cold front. There seemed to be a stronger factor driving the fish to feed than just the weather. The summer to fall transition is in my opinion, the best time to be on many waters to connect with huge fish. A cold front at this time of the year is a reminder of the impending winter and will drive fish to feed.
