Back in January, I told you that the hardest shed antler to find is always the very first one of the year. It seems like I walk more miles to find that first one than I do to find all the rest, which are found easier and quicker. Example: I found the second shed of the year about 200 yards away from the first one and only 20 minutes later. 

I know, it’s the middle of the summer and I’m talking about shed hunting in the winter but that’s because the same phenomenon exists for the first musky of the season. Honest to Pete Mania, catching that first musky is always a chore and the second seems to fall in line much easier. All this is to tell you that I have finally bagged my first musky of the year.

Before I tell you about it, I want to tell you about the previous outing, so you have an appreciation for the amount of frustration that I was feeling. With each outing I had actually been dealing with a fair amount of fish. I had follows, I had seen cruisers and weed layers, but nothing ever closer than that. It was frustrating but it was also a severe blow to my fishing ego which grew more fragile by the day. To be fair, most of my musky cronies were struggling as well but that fact only provided minor relief for a severe burn that was my musky drought.

I’ve heard it said that things can’t get better until you hit rock bottom. Well, I arrived in that place on a terrific morning to be on the water. It just felt musky like, and it didn’t take long for that to prove itself out. A musky ripped at my bucktail, and I hoisted my rod back on a hookset and lickity split, I had a 3.5-foot musky on my line. I saw the fish and I felt the huge side-to-side head shakes, but it all went south when the hooks pulled free before the fish could be netted. The curse was alive and well.

I regrouped, I got back on the figurative horse, and I started casting. Complaining about my poor luck wasn’t going to change anything but the next cast might, so that’s what I did. I kept casting. Maybe a half hour went by and that’s when the second musky of the day tried to make off with my lure. Again, I set the hook and the fight was on. This fish was even bigger and because of that, it fought harder than the first fish. I seemed to have the advantage in the fight. The fish was coming closer to the boat and was just outside of dipping range when things went south again. The musky suddenly changed course, darted towards deeper water, and without a second later the hooks pulled free and the fight was over. I didn’t deal with another fish that day. I drove home with only one thought: When can I get back out there to avenge myself?

The next time out was actually only a couple of days later and to make a long story shorter, I was on the lake for a whole five minutes when a 39-inch musky swiped at my lure. I set the hook and a minute later I was holding it for a victory pose. The curse, the jinx, and the spell of whatever you want to call it was finally over. The hardest fish of the year to catch (the first one) was finally in the boat! 

Remember how quickly I found the second shed antler after finding the first one? After finally catching my first musky of the year, I caught the second one just about 20 minutes later.

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