Well, it had to happen, today was my last guide job of the season, barring an unforeseen warm spell
and some crazy clients. Two guys from Wyoming wanted to go muskie fishing, and the weather
forecast called for 25 degrees with winds from the north at 15-25 mph. I couldn't let them down, so
I picked them up at we went to my favorite "Action" muskie lake. It was COLD when I picked them up,
but I thought we'd give it the old college try.

We arrived at the lake, and I went to launch the boat in the channel, but it had ice on it. I
walked out on the dock and as far as I could reach, I could easily break through the ice, with only
about a 1/4 inch of skim ice. Into the water the Cobra went, breaking ice as it backed in. I fired
it up and we went to run down the channel to the main lake, We went maybe 30 of the 250 yards
needed to get to open water when the boat started climbing the ice and breaking though, like a Coast
Guard Icebreaker. We got another 10 yards or so when I had 19 feet of the 21 feet, 6 inches of the
boat on top of the ice! So much for that lake! On to Plan B.

This lake was still soft, so we were able to launch without incident. We pushed off from shore and
I rigged up two 12-14 inch suckers on Quick Strike Rigs. I quickly taught the guys to cast baitcast
reels and had them working lures like pros. The only problem was there was a routine to follow.
Take 10 casts, un-thaw the guides. Another 10 casts, un-that again. After a while, I'd have to
change reels because they were so iced up. It's a good thing I have the amount of tackle I do on
board. 10 minutes later, the first sucker was eaten by a muskie.! While it wasn't a big muskie by
any stretch of the imagination, under these conditions, with 37 degree water, I was tickled. It
measured 30 inches and weighed 12 pounds. The client was thrilled!

About an hour after that, one of the guys set the hooks! He had been throwing a 9 inch crankbait
and had an 18 inch smallmouth hit! It came off when he tried to swing it on board, but it was close
enough that we called it a catch. (So this is on topic, there was one crazy bass in this story)

Around 3:00, another sucker got hit. The client set the hooks and the battle was on. I knew it
still wasn't a big fish, but as before, any fish on a day like today was a good one. I get the net
in the water and he fought the fish to the boat. As I scooped the fish, it let go of the sucker!
The darned muskie wasn't even hooked, but he fought like a demon, stubbornly refusing to let go of
the sucker, fighting until he was netted!

The guys wanted me to fire up the outboard and "Take them for a SPIN" around the lake because they'd
never been in a boat like mine. After I asked them several times if they were sure, they said "Yup,
open this rascal up." So I let all 250 ponies out to play, keeping the speedometer just under 70
mph. We didn't even make it to the other end of the lake before they were asking me to slow down!
They said that they were cold! Hmmm Imagine that!

So, they both caught their first muskies, went faster in a boat than they'd ever gone before and had
a great time, swapping stories all day long. I wasn't that cold, having dressed properly (i.e. more
layers than a hen house), but when we were coming home, we heard the weather guesser on the radio
talk about the high of 17 degrees today!

I wonder what the wind chill was, going 70 mph, heading into a 20 mph wind was? All in all, not a
bad day, but one that I'm glad is over!
--
Steve
OutdoorFrontiers
http://www.outdoorfrontiers.com
G & S Guide Service and Custom Rods
http://www.herefishyfishy.com