I remembered the article advice to fish an area clean and the advice to "Listen To What The Water Is Telling You". The wind had me moving fast enough to warrant another pass around the island with concentration on the shallower weed areas. I cast my Surf Master toward the shallow weed bed taking care to bulge it. As I retrieved it, I felt a bump…It could have bed a weed tick or a Musky nip. On the second cast, I got my reward…a 46½ Musky. The Musky hit in about 3 feet of water, so it had no place to go but up. After his first jump. I could see that he was hooked very well so the task was now to control the fish and lead it to my waiting net man. About 10 minutes went by and the fish was in the bag. Unfortunately, once in the net it became apparent that the fish was hooked in the fleshy part of the mouth. It took a combination of a hook cutter, mouth spreader and the fish-pic to finally free the fish. I had my net man take a quick picture after a bump-board measurement and then the job of making sure that the fish was recovered enough to for a clean release. Once the fish was on its way, I had the time to re-organize the boat and replay the catch and the battle in my mind. It was a great adventure and one made even better because I applied what I knew to the formula for success. Tight Lines
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