2012 Episode Synopsis
by Charlie Wray

Episode 222: Thanksgiving Day Muskies

Today, the Mercury Marine Destination takes me out to Lake St. Clair with Buddy Jim Fleming and Drifter II Charters (519) 845-1115.  This time, I have John Heighington from Proctor Marine with me.  This has been a Thanksgivings Day Annual event for the last several years with Charlie, John and big brother Ken, but with the recent loss of Ken, who each year eagerly awaited this annual trip, this trip has special meaning, this show is dedicated to you Ken.

This is always a long, but fun day. Not only do I like to drive, but I love driving the RAM 2500, it makes a long trip enjoyable and comfortable. No going up the night before for this one. I fired up the RAM at 3:00 A.M., picked up John only an hour and a half later, then off to Lake St. Clair to meet Jim at the boat for 7:00 A.M.  I am sure glad Jim always puts me into loads of beautiful Muskies, because a fun day keeps me pumped for the drive home after a full day on the water. I think I got home about 11:00 P.M., like I said, a long day, but the RAM makes it easy and comfortable and fun to drive. Even the visibility is great, and good visibility reduces eye strain on the long runs and reduces fatigue. Poor visibility and dull headlights can make night driving tough, I have never had this problem with my RAM.  The one thing I did have to do, was scrap the bugs from the headlights occasionally on the way home. We had an unseasonably warm day for this time of year, and the bugs were everywhere, and actually coated the headlights rather thickly, enough that I knew something was wrong.

I bring my own equipment with Jim, simply because Jim normally uses mono on charters since it is more forgiving for clients who might be more excitable and surprised at how big these Muskies are (the mono will stretch and allow for slight mistakes in fighting the Muskie). I love my braid for rock hard hookups, but without the stretch, you need to be a little more careful. Rods need to be flexible and drags need to be silky smooth, and my Okuma Catalina and Clarion line counter reels loaded with 50 lb Test Tuf-Line XP are perfect. I match them up with a Convector GL series medium-heavy rod, perfect for the boards.

Jim has also learned over the years that fluorocarbon out fishes the very visible wire, so 6–8 foot Seaguar leaders of 80 lb test, complete with Jim’s weed guards are part of my set up. Sharp hooks are a must with the boney, tooth filled mouth of a Muskie, and these are filed to a sticky sharp point. Jim has a complete selection of custom painted baits to match the water colour to perfection, if you don’t think it is important, you will after a day on the water with Jim. To keep the wood baits in the best shape possible (hard when the tooth filled mouth of the Muskie is always hammering them), Jim uses Mustad #7982HS-SS and Mustad #7825-NI double hooks. Not only do they hook the Muskie extremely well, the configuration of the double hook does not rub on the wood lures during trolling, causing unneeded damage and gouging the lures, it is only the Muskie scratching up the lures, not the hooks.

I believe we caught 15 Muskies this day and one Pike, what a great day on the water.  I can honestly say that, over the last 9 years or so of fishing Muskies with Jim, we have never been skunked and usually end up with double digits by the end of the day.  Only once can I remember a slow day with three fish, but one fish was 56 inches, so no complaints here!  Even this day was special, we caught a 49 inch, beautifully marked Tiger Muskie, the largest I have ever caught.  Not one to take chances anymore (I have had my fair share of cuts from Muskie teeth) I make sure I bring my Viking cut proof gloves for handling the fish. This gives me the peace of mind, and helps me control the fish safely. Jim usually switches to larger lures for the Fall and cooler waters, but we ran a mix of large and medium baits since the water was still warmer than usual. After all these year, I don’t second guess Jim, another great day for both John and myself.

Continue to Episode 223

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