Obsession Defined


It's that time of year, mid fall, when I take my trip up north in pursuit of one of the greatest fish in the freshwater ecosystem. I'm speaking of Esox masquinongy, aka the Musky. I always look forward to this trip for a couple of reasons. For one, it's the last blast of fishing for the year. While I probably could get out once or twice more now that I have a kayak, I always look at it as my last chance on the water. 

 Secondly, fishing Musky has become my newest passion. It is so uniquely different from fishing for other fish, that I want to learn all I can about it; become better at it; catch a bigger one. As I describe in my account of my first experience, it is not so much like fishing for them as it is "hunting" for them. They are few and far between, these creatures, so you have to be crafty, incredibly patient, and a little johnny on the spot to get them.

 They are called the fish of 10,000 casts for a reason. They're finicky and smart. It takes serious work to catch even one. The  lures are big and heavy. After a day of casting baits for them, I have pain/cramps between my shoulder blades. It's a working vacation in every sense of the word, but I love every minute of it. 

 Casting is usually fruitless, as we catch most of our fish by trolling with suckers, bait fish that are between 9-14" long themselves. Some people would be content to catch our baits. The fact that it is usually fruitless does not mean that I won't do it. As I see it, the more lines in the waters, the greater the chances of a fish. I actually caught small one on a lure two years ago, so that is part of the reason I keep at it. I'm obsessed.

 This past weekend I met a woman (friend of a friend) who is more obsessed than me. It is her goal to catch 50 muskies in her fifties. She's 52 and has 24 to her credit, so she should make it. It was so cool to see a woman, especially one in her fifties that was as gung-ho as any man on catching a fish. She actually took her paddle boat out to re-position our suckers on their bobbers in the bay by her house. Now that's obsession. 

 The picture above is of the 41" fish I landed on Saturday 10/20 about 12:15. It fought like nothing I've ever experienced in my life. With the help and guidance of my buddies Steve and John, I got him into the net. It was exhilarating and a complete rush. 

 I can't wait to do it again.
Blogging off...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

National Poetry Month: Issue 18

In a rush, a poem from Richard Brautigan from,  The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster. A Good-Talking Candle                    by Richard Brautigan I had a good-talking candle last night in my bedroom. I was very tired but I wanted somebody to be with me,    so I lit a candle. and listened to its comfortable voice of light until I was asleep. Blogging off...
Read more

New Chapters

Image
 As many of you know I retired last week after almost 27 years at Waukesha County. It was a bit of a shock to some, in part because I am only 61. Nevertheless I'd given it much thought and talked it through with my family and determined it was time. I wanted to get out while I am healthy and perhaps more specifically just do something different. I am lucky enough to say I've loved my work over the past 37 years. GIS and mapping has been my passion since college and I was fortunate enough to get paid to do something I loved.  I'll be honest, while I looked forward to the date of retirement, I was not looking forward to the celebration. Like my daughter, who is more like me than not, I do not like being in the spotlight. While I've become more comfortable being in front of people in part because of my writing and its related promotion and readings, deep down I'm still an introvert with extrovert flares, as they say. But dreading it as I did, it turned out to be a spec...
Read more

Local Level Need

Image
A week and a half into retirement and I'm here to report that life is good on the other side. I've kept fairly busy so far, in fact when my wife was questioned by friends on "how Jim's retirement is going," she said, "He hasn't sat down." I think I'm still in the manic, must-get-stuff-done mode that happens when people get a week off of work. Gotta cram it all in. Well, I am starting to adjust to the fact that it will all be there tomorrow and next week, and if I don't get to all of it today, it's really okay. It's been a strange adjustment for sure, but one that I am beginning to appreciate more and more.  Before I decided to retire, one of the things I wanted to commit to was a regular stint of volunteer work. When I mentioned it to a friend who works for Frieden's Food Pantry, he suggested I look into helping in one of their four locations. They vary in the number of families that they serve, but they turn over a huge amount o...
Read more