A Storm's a Brewin'...

Nothing like the rumble of thunder way out on the horizon to make a muskie hunter a little bit nervous. Thank goodness the storm started 30 miles north of us.  Muskies in the Twin Cities area have been showing a little attitude the last couple of days, so Due North Outdoors Guide Travis Frank of www.trophyencounters.com filled his boat with fishermen and I filled the Due North Triton with fly guide and good buddy Andy Roth and, together, we headed out onto Lake Minnetonka to chase a few big fish.   For those of you who don't know Travis,  you should.  Over the last couple of years, he's made quite a name for himself in the muskie world and, more importantly, he's now part of Ron Schara Productions.  We're glad to have him on board.   

                                                                             Travis and his crew chose to throw topwater baits.

Andy and I chose to toss flies on the fly rod.

Here's a rough timeline of my evening.  Enjoy. 

5:20 p.m.   Boat in at Maxwell Bay launch

5:30 p.m.  First casts along weedline near Crystal Bay

5:31 p.m.  Fish swirls and misses big black popper.  Miss #1

5:44 p.m.  Andy and I notice storm clouds buidling to north and west

5:55  p.m. Quick cell call to Travis.  No follows. No fish. 

6:10 p.m. Quick move to weedline near Big Island

6:20p.m.  Andy announces, "My arm's ready to fall off" (he's throwing a wicked popper about the size of a mature rooster pheasant)

6:32 p.m.  My green frog lands in 5 feet of water and Andy and I both watch big muskie zoom in, make a lightining-fast, 90 degree turn on the fly, and quickly bugs out.  Miss #2  Damn...

6:32:15 p.m  Andy chucks in his big popper and lands it right on spot where fish hit.  

6:32:19 p.m.  Monster muskie swings instantly and blasts Andy's fly.  No hook up.   Miss #3  Guess what? Damn...

6:33 p.m.  Sit down and sulk

6:40 p.m.  Call Mitch (our company pres fishing with Travis) No follows.  No fish.  I'm getting tired of saying this.  Damn...

6:47 p.m.  I hook up and land average bass on red popper.  Stink out of boat, as they say.

6:52 p.m.  I announce move to fish a few docks for bass.

6:55 p.m. Andy and I zip across the bay and set up shop along docks.

7:00 p.m.  Bass on popper in boat. 

7:01 p.m.  Andy hooks and lands first bass

7:01:25 p.m.  Andy announces, "he's back in the game and ready to crush the opposition"

7:02  p.m  Andy hooks and lands second fish

7:02:30 p.m  Andy hooks and lands third fish.    7:03:25 p.m.  Andy hooks and lands fourth bass.  He's on a mission. I look up and see storm clouds very near.  Thank the lord..

7:05 p.m.  I turn the Triton to the west and we zip about two miles and miss the southern edge of the storm. We watch beautiful storm clouds whisk by us and heavy bands of rain. 

7:15 p.m. Big rainbow wraps end to end across the lake.

7:40 p.m.  We make a visit and trade hellos with Travis and his mates and head back to revisit a couple fish. Nothing but blue skies behind us.

8:15 p.m. Wind switches and we cast until dark with not a fish to be seen

8:55 p.m.  Andy and I notice unusual roar sounding across the lake. Wonder if we heard the rare Sasquatch of Tonka.

8:58 p.m. Mitch calls and announces 51.5 inch muskie hooked and landed in Travis's boat.  Damn...that's a big fish.  Now I know where the roar came from...

8:58:15 p.m.  Mitch also admits he lost muskie right at boat.

8:58:30 p.m. Mitch hangs up on me because, "I gotta go cast. I don't have time to talk to you anymore.  Too many fish to chase."

8:59 p.m. Andy keeps casting and  arm officially falls off into water.  Looks like he's in real pain.  Wonder if it's the missing arm or the fact that we're almost done fishing for the night...?

9:01 p.m.  I give up on search for lost arm (too dark to see) and call it an evening.  Andy and I head home and dream of the big fish caught in Travis's boat.

Congrats guys!

That's exactly how my evening went down......