I know...I know... That was two weeks ago. I am a little behind schedule and tight on time, so let me cut to the chase.
Hopes were high as my head hit the pillow on the night before the derby hit. I needed no motivation to rise as the alarm sounded at 4:30. After all, the truck was loaded, I had taken a vacation day to fish in the annual Fort Kent International Muskie Derby and we had three days of fishing ahead of us. As the truck wound down the road along the river, the light started to creep into the horizon and by the time we reached our destination on the river bank it was light enough to easily navigate the river channel. We were the first ones at the boat launch...Success! The first day was quite disappointing to say the least, with the only fish being a whopper that stretched the tape to a full 22"! The little fellers sure do put on a show though with their acrobatic display. We released this feisty guy to grow up and finished the day just as the last streaks of light faded from the sky. Loading the gear up by the faint glow from the cab lights we hashed out a new game plan for the next day.
The second morning I didn't quite bounce out of bed, but I definitely didn't fall behind schedule and we still we on the water at first light. The morning went by without event until almost lunch time when I noticed a follow. A follow is always exciting, but the fish that I saw do a 180 degree turn ten feet from the boat was large, very large! It was the largest fish I have ever seen and we boated a 44" fish only weeks before. This fish was in the four foot range! It also appeared to be at least a foot from it's white belly to the top of it's back. It was huge! Fishing the location in every way possible for almost an hour we couldn't raise the fish again. I figured a fish of that size would most likely be wise to the ways of fishermen, so I decided we needed to rest the fish and we continued on our way. In the middle of the afternooon I finally saw what we wanted, as Brent's pole bent deep and the drag started running. We were finally into a good fish. As it slid into the net, I breathed a sigh of relief, we were going to have a fish that made the board. It was only a little over the 36" minimum, but knowing how much these fish can shrink we headed straight to the boat launch to bring it down to Muskie Central at Quigley's. We wasted no time in getting back out on the water and after a couple more hours Brent's rod bent again with another fish, except this one was even bigger. A quick glance at the time showed that we were going to have to wait until morning to check it in, so we slid it into the bottom of the canoe and continued plying the murky depths with our lures. Just before dark, I returned to the location where I had seen the behemoth, and anxiously heaved my lure to the far side of the hole. I steadily cranked the reel, tensed, ready for the explosive hit when all of a sudden there it was. The rod tip dipped low as I set the hook and a monster fish rolled on the surface 30 yards away. The drag started to scream as the fish made a run and the rod almost jumped out of my hands with the head shakes. Then, just as quickly as it made it's appearance it was gone. A sick feeling crept into the pit of my stomach as I came to the realization that I had lost the fish. It was with a heavy heart I loaded the gear into the bed of the truck, but I did have the consolation of Brent's fish. It was a beauty, and by careful measurement on the tailgate was a tad over 39". By morning it had lost a considerable amount of length, but it's weight remained unchanged. This was the end of two straight days of fishing for me without a fish, so day three was just a little bit harder to wake up, but I was still going fishing so it wasn't too bad!
Day three started off right with Brent's third derby contender of the weekend coming to the net. I was also rewarded with my first fish of the weekend, followed only minutes later by my second, but both were far from the 36"minimum and were sent on their merry way.
We quit fishing and loaded up just in time to make it back for the awards ceremony for Brent to claim his 12th place finish out of the nearly 400 entries. It was a great weekend and we got to fish beside a couple of the local legends Bud Soucy and Corey Daigle and watch them catch some monsters as well. I would encourage everyone to practice catch and release and while acknowledging the fact that we did kill three large fish, I would like to remind everyone that I only keep muskie this one weekend a year and have released far more than I have killed. Just keep in mind when keeping these fish that a large fish could be 20 years old, and won't be replaced quickly. Ok, back off my soap box and on to the pictures of all the fish.
Brent also managed to snap a few other really nice pictures during our 39.5 hours on the water, including one truly unique catch, so enjoy!
Stay tuned, I have lot's more to come in between loads of firewood with my new helper!
