Muskie Adventure Tours "Return To The Salmon River 2013"
This trip has to be, bye far the best one yet. Last week we had a bunch of action, the weather was great, the Salmon were jumping every few minutes, not this week, every minute, with rain looming.
Adventure begins Friday morning about 9ish, gas up, pump up the boy's for the ride, and here we go again... on our own WOOOOOO White Snake baby ahahahaaha They Great..... Bruiser
Well said guys truly one of those bucket list moments that lived up to the hype. Loved every minute of it. The hatchery and the sights were worth the trip alone. I have fought a lot of bass in my time but cant come close to these fish. Never had a fish tire me before i could turn it. About a 30 min after i landed my first king or maybe an hr the light saber show starts again. I pick up pole flip bail and set hook game on! Right away i realize this is much bigger than last king. Starts sizzling my drag like bacon! Then starts runnin up the river so i follow ducking under rods and stepping over others it was a site to see.finally i think it is tiring start gaining line nope off she goes again ripping off twice that of which i gained.Well the right thing to do is reel your crap in when someone yells fish on. Of course everyone in our group did but the only other guy on the shore didnt and my line got tangled in his and that was the break the fish needed cause i kept the pressure on! That old bastard possibly cost me a shot at glory maybe dethrown the king! Oh well great fight n just another story! Muskie said the way it fought maybe a giant steel head. We will never know never got it close enough to see. Special thanks to the muskie bros n patrick n brooksy for making it the trip of a life time. Damn a yr is so far away!
As soon as we hit Auburn, POW, RAIN.. Realy 300 miles left and we have this to deal with, gonna be a long weekend. Pouring out for a bit, we get to exit 2 Pittsfield when Chris's phone goes off. We leaving, bad weather moving in and we're not staying, good luck. They live in Pittsfield, not good, maybe they playing with us, we've been fishiing with them a few years's. Nope, they left, Too bad....
Due to bad looking clouds, we didn't go to the hatchery until Saturday, so we set up camp as fast as possible to get to our spot. 4 pm and our lines are in, let's do this. Lot's of Big Salmon jumping everywhere, not even National Geographc see's this stuff. Ask the guy's what they really thought
The bite starts, and so does the Clone Wars, Glow sticks flying off the rods, rods pulled out of rod holders and it's not even 8 yet. I missed a Big Steele Head I believe and Chris was hooked up also a few times, then quiet, until Patrick's Light Rod starts to take off like a rocket in the tube. Maybe 5 minute fight, no matter on that, 22lbs x 36 1/4 inches later, his first ever King (Chinoock) Salmon and the only one we landed friday night.
Saturday morning we have fished filleted and head to then Hatchery. Wow, i still love that place, and so does everyones else!!!
Couple of hrs in the afternoon, the lunch and off we go again, still no rain during the fishing tine!!
Ive seen some funny stuff fishing before, but this takes the cake. Chris and I are having a beer, watching our rods when a 14lb Salmon tries to eat his rod holder, how do we know the weight, Chris caught it with his bare hands ask Patrick and Me, we saw it, looked like a Killer Whale chasing baby seals, she ran out of room, he is fast for the King
As Vegas was hoping, Badlarry landed a 18lb 36 1/4 inches King Salmon, Patrick landed a 22 lb 35 inches King Salmon, Chris got (2) 21 Lb 37 inches King and a 14Lb 32 inchhes King and Muskie caught a 41 inch 26lb Hook Jaw King Yeah Baby!!!
We missed a few fish and Brooksy missed 2 and that was it for that trip!!!!!!!!
Thanks for playing guy's, hope you all had fun!!!!!
Muskie
Brooksy edit: so the trip was a blast and the sights to see alone were worth it but Saturday was a soul crushing day for me. Baitrunners were flying on freespool threw out the night but no matter how close I was to the rod seems like noone ever home on the other end when I go to set the hook. Had one screaming run later in the night that I set the hook on and splash! Big ass salmon flys out of the water like air jaws then line goes limp as I'm reeling in, no more fish or 4 oz lead weight :( fish swam into my main line not the leader so I got bit off. After a long night of missed bait runs and watching everyone else catch fish right next to me I start getting aggrevated that I'm gonna be the chump that goes home empty handed. 1030 comes and the guys are packing up to go back to camp, I tell chris n bad larry I'm not leaving without a fish and I may not be back to camp til after they wake up in the morning. Chris says you sure brooksy? Yup I'm sure, after midnight is my normal fishing time so maybe my luck change, ok brooksy be carefule dude. No sooner does chris wish me luck then my freezpool starts buzzing off line as me chris and bad larry watch. I pick up the rod, set hard and bam! Fish on! Finally! Chris grabs the net like a cheetah and jumps over past me to start waiting for my fish.
I'm walking upstream into the river while this fish is peeling drag like a shark then it happens... about 60 seconds in rod goes limp, fish gone :( guess its gonna be a long night for me afterall.
The guys head back to camp and I stay, got hammered on the beach with a nice older guy that lives in a beautiful house behind our spot, joe was his name and he was fun to chill with. And kept me company for an hour til he could no longer stand up, wished me luck and stumbled home. I moved spots a few times threw out the night then id guess around 3 am I settled into a spot and put bells on my rods and passed out on the beach for an hour. Wake up freezing and fish for another hour and a half with a few short bait runs but nothing solid. I head back to camp at 530 am freezing , wet and sandy and sit down to a delicious breakfast of cold steak and potatoes that chris had cooked the night before.
After literally a solid 14 hour shift ( 7 of which I was totally alone on a beatiful pitch black beach of lake ontario) and I accept the fact that the stars just weren't aligned for me and I was deztined to go home broken and beaten down but surely not fir lack of effort. I guess I gotta wait another year now to go try n gain the crown lol. Sorry for the long edit but this part of the trip was solo so noone else was there to tell the tale so here it is.
Thanks guys for a great trip regardless of my awful s*** luck haha
AZMLII (Patrick) Edit:
It was indeed a great trip with a bunch of great guys.
The bite was hard the first night, but with a lot of luck and a lot of help I managed to land my first King Salmon. I brought an 8'6" Shimano Salmon and Steelhead rod that was too light for the fishing we were doing, and an 8' Ugly Stik bigwater rod. Of course the Salmon hits the light rod. Fortunately it was close to shore and I had the guys coaching me all the way. Set the drag light, let the fish run, but when it's not running reel as fast as you can. If you give the fish any slack it will spit the hook in a second (that's how I lost my other fish on Saturday night).
Also, seeing the hatchery, and those big fish jump is a sight to behold.
Thanks again to Muskie and Chris (muskiebrother) for hosting this trip and guiding us. Another thanks to Chris for cooking up some great chow.
Also, while Chis retains the crown, Brooksy should get the warrior prize, he is one hardcore fisherman.
I'm already thinking about next year.
- Patrick (AZMLII)
I should of called this one the Change your Icon Tour!! hahahahahaha
id love to be that witness lol
And yeah I lost my sh@t! lol that had been on my bucket list for a long time now. Scratch that one off.Maybe you could help me scratch that pike off my list sometime! lol When I hit the Chu in Nov let you know your welcome to join rather have company be good to have a witness when I break the curse lol
Damn that Chu!Ha ha can catch a Salmon at the river but can't break her maybe soon I have a vacation coming up in Nov going to hit her a couple of times. plenty of fore play this time!
Badlarry you may have messed up the edit lol but you certainly did NOT mess up the trip haha. One of my favorite parts was seeing how excited you and all of us were when u landed that fish! It was like watching the little engine that could lmao!! Next on the list is you breaking tje curse at wachusett
The hardest part of the trip is writing it up. So many unbelievable things happen that if you dont see it with your own eyes, no way it happened!!
Sorry guys tried an edit n messed up trip I am such a jackass lol!
i think the best part of the trip was seeing that friggin salmon fly up on shore full speed and almost take out chris's rod holder lol. a killer whale beaching itself to eat a seal is literally the only way to describe the lunacy that happened
BTW, muskie I noticed you changed your picture. :)
Awesome job guys!