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Muskie Tournament - Day 1
~ Mike Lauenstein (8/16/2006 @ 9:38 PM)

 
Great pic of the brute!



Swimmin' away...



8/16/06

Well, the day started out great! I awoke around 7:30, ready for a full day of fishing and anticipation of catching some walleyes and muskies. I headed out to DD in hopes that the boat launch could handle my boat... I was wrong. The boat launch was a mess and there was no way that I could have unloaded and loaded my Crestliner. I headed back into Boulder Junction to grab some bait. A dozen minnows later, I was on my way out to TI for some intense walleye action. I ended up fishing for two hours and bagged 6 walleyes, 3 crappies and a couple nice perch. I was by myself, which will explain the crappy picture, so I didn't manage to get many pictures of the walleyes... so you will just have to trust me. I stopped fishing around 12:30 and went back to the cabin to take a nap and wait for Jim to arrive.

Upon arrival, we worked to get Jim's phone/email settings and the broadband connection setup at the cabin. At around 5 PM we headed out to LPI, full of anticipation. Jim and I started beating the water with everything under the sun. I went through a 11" Jake, 10" Grandma, Killer Eel, Mepps and then a WartHog. We fished for at least 2 hours before we hit any action. At about 7:30, Jim pulled in a 34" northern that broke the ice. Less than five minutes later, I was casting a WartHog along a 5' weed edge when glory hit! I set the hook and the battle was on. I started reeling and the fish came towards the boat. The fish felt like a log and I could barely budge the massive thing, but when I went to adjust the drag, the fish made a run towards the boat... from which I could not catch up. I came up emtpy. I have never yelled F**K so loud in my entire life. I told Jim, "the only way I will ever forget about this is to actually catch a fish. We put in so much effort for a strike and I just screwed it up!" Well little did I know that my words were a call for action.

We took a small break and took a couple sips from our drinks. We proceeded to head back to the islands, where we had originally started. The first island produced nothing. We headed to the second island. I made a cast into about 3' of water, gave the WartHog two or three hard pulls... then WHAM! I set the hook two times into the hard strike and the second battle was underway. The fish was unmoveable. I pulled up on the rod and nothing. After a good minute into the fight, the fish came to the surface. Jim looked at me, with net in hand, and said, with a serious tone, "That... is a big fish." I reeled and reeled, but made no headway on the fish. The fish made multiple runs, one of which pulled me to my knees and into the steering console! After about a four minute fight, the muskie came easily into the net! It was landed! We took some picutres and released the brute, which turned out to be a 45" monster! What a great day!

Cheers!

"Lauey"
Mike Lauenstein
CrazyOutdoorsmen Managing Partner
http://www.crazyoutdoorsmen.com


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YES!! Finally!

Green WartHog... who'd a thunk it?!

That my friends was a battle!

You get the idea... 21!
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