The Fish of 10,000 Casts

They call it the fish of 10,000 casts. I recently read that in Wisconsin it's more like the fish of 3,000 casts. That sounds about right.


We're pretty simple fishermen. We learned how to fish on Tumblesome lake, which is on a Boy Scout camp in Colorado (Camp Tahosa) where our grandpa was the ranger for almost 20 years. We got excited about 12 inch brookies, and still do.

Danny has a real love for fishing. I do it mostly because I enjoy being outside, but given the choice, I would have went squirrel hunting instead. Things have changed, I do like fishing quite a bit more than I used to, but nothing like Danny.

In the past few years we have spent quite a bit of time just pan-fishing around Madison, WI. We've heard the buzz about muskies but never understood it. Every evening we'd see 5-10 boats, almost every one of which said something on the side like "Musky Hunter"...we'd laugh. Their license plates were even more amusing. These guys were casting lures that were the size of the fish we used to get excited to catch as kids. 10,000 casts to catch just one!? I didn't get it...

I don't know exactly why, but Danny has made it his mission to catch a musky, even though neither of us have ever fished for them before. He guides fly-fisherman at Stoney Creek in Saratoga, WY during the summers and he only has a two-week window to catch a musky. He has spent at least 30 hours so far trying to hook one. At this point he has had 37 muskies follow his lure to the boat. He has had two strikes but hasn't managed to hook one.

Seeing those monsters up close really got my blood flowing. I'm not the type to get excited about a fish, but I began to understand why these guys are so crazy about musky. They're so huge and mean looking. I had to try.

Then, last night, I caught two! It was one of the most exciting evenings of fishing I've had. The first one did not hit the lure that hard and didn't put up much of a fight either. He was 39 inches. (The blood on the fish is mine, I got a little excited and stuck my finger too close to his mouth...I'm an idiot)
The second musky looked like a shark attacking a seal. He jumped straight out of the water, at least two feet. I honestly did not know they did that. He put up a great fight. He measured just under 35 inches. Our friend Steve, in the background, was along to share such a fun night.
Our good buddy Jake, who pretty much got us into musky fishing, caught this one about a week ago. It was 35 inches. Seeing this thing, which they say is a small one, really got my blood going. I'm the guy who grew up catching 10 inch trout and enjoying it. A "small" 35inch musky was very cool to a guy like me.


I understand now why these "musky hunters" are so into it. I'll be posting more pics in the future, guaranteed.