Last week was about my Canadian fishing outing and how the Department of Ministry (Canadian game wardens) supplied my fishing cronies and me with enough walleyes for a huge fish fry. This week you get the whole musky truth and nothing but the truth.

It’s been 20-some years since I have crossed the border to fish. I have always said that if I ever went back, it would be to fish for muskies and that is exactly what the trip was about: catching muskies. This time I fished the Winnipeg River north of Kenora, Ontario, Canada.

Here are some observations on spending time fishing for muskies in a vast, current filled river system. First off, the fish are very strong. If you ever had to prove Darwin’s Theory, this would be an excellent thesis project.  Since the fish live in such strong currents they have genetically developed into stronger fish over ions of time. The best way to describe it would be to say that a 32-inch northern pike from the Winnipeg River fights as strong as a 40-inch Wisconsin lake musky.  

Another observation is just how aggressive the fish are and I don’t just mean the muskies. The northern pike are equally blessed with thick frames and the stamina for a great fight. Because of their environment, once a fish commits to chasing down a meal they don’t give up easily. In other words, they won’t expel that much energy only to come up empty. Further proof is the fact that over half of our fish were from boat side hits. If you’ve caught a musky on a figure eight, you know that is about as exciting as it gets in this sport.

My net man Brent had a terrific trip boating the majority of the fish and he also landed the biggest fish which measured right around 44 inches long. I sort of turned into his personal photographer and net man, but I did not mind. Seeing so many fish was well worth the time and effort of going all that way for such action-packed water.

So how did I do? I boated four fish with all being close to 40 inches in length but nothing over that. Three of those fish were caught after they hit right at the boat. As I said earlier, hooking one at boat side is an exciting “tiger by the tail” kind of experience. The other end of that spectrum is the experience of losing a fish right at the boat and I had my share of those too.  

Not that a person needs more reasons to go back to Canada but losing a big one does leave a sour taste to an otherwise pretty sweet trip. A 4-foot-long musky came out of the depths and whacked my lure at boat side. I saw it coming but only had time to say: “there’s………….” I didn’t have to say more because of the water explosion and commotion at the back of the boat. The huge musky threw its massive head back and forth and water spewed out in all directions. The fight ended when my buck tail pulled free and the fish quickly vanished from sight. 

I don’t want to go back, I HAVE TO GO BACK.

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