WORMY
WISDOM
A fish
tale by Clark Lozier
I'd been trying to help my 87-year-old dad, Richard Lozier, catch
a muskie for several years. I myself only
started fishing for them in 2012, after moving to Michigan from Ohio in 2006. Then finally, in early November 2018, just 4
days before winter’s grip bared down on southwest Michigan, and under the most
unlikely of circumstances, he caught not one, but two!
My dad and mom, Richard and Lucille,
actually came up from Ohio so dad and I could try some late season pan fishing. The mornings were already really cold but we
headed out that Saturday, November 3rd, in the late morning looking
for bluegills. After fishing for several
hours, we had only caught two perch and only had a few other bites. We decided we’d go to another lake the next
day and hit our favorite catfish hole. We
wanted to see if they’d bite this late in the year with the water temperature
already at 47 degrees.
The weather did not cooperate the
next day, Sunday but I had Monday off of work so my folks decided to stay
another day. Once again, we headed out in
the late morning after it warmed up a bit. As we got to the lake, and pulled into the
empty parking lot, my dad noticed a bald eagle perched high above the boat launch. It was an amazing sight and wasn’t commonplace
for the area, especially since we were not in the wilderness, but smack dab in
the middle of the city. Although we were
going for catfish, this particular lake was known for muskies, or as anyone who
has fished for them can testify, “the fish of ten thousand casts.” Because the lake had a good population of
them, whenever we fished there, I’d always troll with some muskie lures on our
way out and back. I knew that this might
be the only way my dad would ever be able to catch one as he wasn’t able to
cast the large lures typically required.
After leaving the launch, we hadn’t
been trolling long on our way across the lake when one of the poles bent
over. Interestingly, it was just after I
had placed it back in the rod holder after giving it a tug to check for
weeds. I quickly grabbed the pole again and
began to reel it in. With hardly any
fight at all, I figured it was a small and hungry bass that was hooked up. I actually had the fish about half way in
before I realized that it was a muskie and then handed the pole over to my
dad. The fish fought harder once he had
it close to the boat, and even jumped out of the water once, all while barely
being hooked. I netted the fish after a
short fight on light muskie gear. It was
a 37 ½ incher! I was very excited for my
dad and was relieved that finally he had caught one, which was actually the first
muskie that he had ever seen. As
exciting as it was though, I could tell that he wasn’t as thrilled as I was
because I think he felt that I had done about as much work catching the fish as
he had. After a few pictures, we let the
fish go and continued on to our destination.
We made it to our catfish spot and I
tried to anchor in close to the hole in a good position. We had our most success at this location
using a night crawler on a smaller hook suspended by a bobber. After an hour or so, and with no luck and a
stiff wind blowing, we decided to try to move slightly so that the fishing hole
was directly behind us with the boat pointing into the wind. Then my dad was able to move to the rear of
the boat and we could face our bobbers with the wind at our backs. Well it wasn’t but a couple minutes after the
move and I had caught a nice eater cat.
It looked like they were going to bite after all, so maybe we weren’t so
crazy for being the only ones out on the lake that day.
Although dad had spotted an eagle up
in the tree, his eyes aren’t so good anymore. Once in a while, he would have a hard time seeing
not only his line, but even his bobber.
So a few minutes later, when his bobber went under, I yelled, “you got one!”
He tightened his line slowly and set the
hook aggressively. I knew that these
cats would practically hook themselves and mentioned to him that he didn’t need
to set the hook so hard. Well maybe it
was good that he did because after bringing the fish toward the boat relatively
quickly, I saw that this was no catfish, but a muskie, and a good one at that! Also, keep in mind that it was hooked using a
night crawler on a tiny wire hook with a mono leader; the kind of hooks you buy
pre-tied in a pack! I said to myself,
there’s no way he’s going to land this fish, but nevertheless the fight was on!
After telling him he had a muskie
on, the first thing I said was “this is going to take a while.” I quickly checked his drag on the spinning
reel and adjusted it slightly, while doing so I noticed two huge rat nest type
knots in his 20 lb. braided line just a couple feet apart that he hadn’t noticed. As the fight went on, I watched the knots get
reeled on his spool and stripped off over and over again. Thinking the knots would eventually get hung
up, I tried to untangle them without success as he fought the fish. At times, the beast would dive deep under the
boat really bending the pole and stripping drag and I’d tell him to “stop
reeling.” Then when the muskie let up,
I’d say “reel, reel, reel!” He did all
the work, but it seemed like a team effort. Amusingly, he had these huge winter gloves on,
but after a while he decided to take them off, which I thought was the right idea.
At my dad’s age, it’s hard for him to
walk in the precariousness of the boat so he fought the muskie sitting down. But twice the fish went around the back of the
boat, and I hollered, “get up, get up!”
The first time the line actually got hung up on the motor before he
could get back there, so I used the net to push the line out as far as I could
and somehow it came undone. The second
time, it looked like the fish was going to head all the way around to the front
of the boat but thank goodness it didn’t.
Getting wrapped around the anchor rope surely would have been the
end. As if this weren’t enough
excitement, the muskie jumped completely out of the water twice. Each time I thought to myself this was where
either the line breaks or the hook comes out. The fight went on for an eternity, which was actually
about 10 to 15 minutes, and was total chaos at times. Finally, the muskie came close enough to the
boat and I was able to net it. It was an
absolute miracle!
After a couple of amazing pictures,
we let the 38 ½ inch muskie go. This
time, my dad had fought the fish alone and had a better sense of ownership over
the catch. I have had a few amazing muskie
experiences of my own, but for my 87-year-old dad to catch two in one day, with
the second one being caught on a worm under unbelievable circumstances, tops
them all. I guess we didn’t realize it
at the time, but the bald eagle that greeted us at the lake that day was a
token of incredible good luck!
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| First Muskie, 37 1/2 incher |
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| Reeling in the Second Muskie |
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| Second Muskie, 38 1/2 incher |
Short Video
Great write up Clark
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