Tales and Trails

BY DAVE BECK New lure lures musky on Lake Vermilion

I have returned home from the northern waters of Min- nesota or more specifically, Lake Vermilion. Originally it was known as a walleye factory and still produces a fair amount of ‘eyes, but in recent times it has become a musky mecca and many make the pilgrimage to that holy water. It is considered hallowed fishing grounds and while it’s not a place to catch a lot of muskies, it is the place to catch the biggest fish of a lifetime. I fished with Uncle Frank during the first few days on the lake. He is a returning letterman in that this was his third trip. Uncle Frank is pretty good company no matter the venue. It doesn’t matter if it's fish camp or elk camp, Uncle Frank always seems to make it more interesting.

Uncle Frank has never boated a musky on Lake Vermilion but he has dealt with enough big fish to know why it is such a musky destina- tion. His one flaw is in his lure selection. When fishing on the Big V, bigger is better and smaller is just an exercise in casting lures. Compared to fishing western Wiscon sin and the Metro area, the lures used on Vermilion are obscenely oversized and as such a little harder to throw and fish with all day. I had thought about that a lot and solved the problem with the help of Justin Durand who is a musky crony of mine and who is also a pretty talented musky lure maker.

Last winter I ordered a custom made 9” Flap Tail lure for Uncle Frank. A Flap Tail is an old school lure that has seen a resurgence in part because of its recent success on Lake Vermilion. The lure made by Haymaker lures was personalized to read: “1 of 1 Hand Made For Uncle Frank Vermilion 50” Finder.” I figured the only way Uncle Frank would throw a bigger lure to give himself a better chance at trophy fish was to personalize it. Who wouldn’t want to catch a trophy musky on a lure with their own name in it?

The first night on the wa – ter Uncle Frank never threw his lure because he was afraid that he would lose it. I assured him that it was a topwater lure and as such, it floated. I'm not sure if he didn’t believe me but that night his lure never saw the water. It was the same story the next morning on the water as well as the next evening. As we motored to one of my favorite spots, I asked him again why he wasn’t using the lure. He stated that it was almost art-like and too awesome looking to use, and that he didn’t want to lose it. I asked him to hand it to me and when he did, I tossed it overboard and into the wa- ter. Uncle Frank froze for a moment until he saw his lure bobbing on the surface of the lake.

Uncle Frank's first cast using his new lure was a ten-footer alongside the boat as he wanted to see exactly what kind of action the lure would make. I watched to see the smile on his face signaling that he indeed liked it. I didn’t watch the second cast as I had boat position to contend with and I had to do my own casting. As his cast came closer to the boat an excited voice came from Un cle Frank: “DAVE, DAVE, DAVE, LOOK!!!!!”

Uncle Frank was pointing his index finger towards his lure that was alongside the boat. Under his lure was a 50- inch musky. I yelled, while trying not to yell: "FIGURE EIGHT, FIGURE EIGHT, MOVE YOUR LURE!" (A figure eight means circling your lure in an eight pattern to try and entice a musky to hit at boat side). The musky eased out of sight and was gone before Uncle Frank snapped out of his trance. Hey Justin Durand, the lure works great!! Hey Uncle Frank, keep ‘r moving!!

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I ordered Uncle Frank a custom musky lure, which he was hardpressed to use at first because he was scared he would lose his new “work of art.” Photo by Dave Beck