If at first you don’t succeed….
Matt Selsor of Pewaukee and Brian Hass of Waukesha found that out first hand while musky fishing Pewaukee Lake.
“Matt Selsor of Pewaukee poses for photos with a 47 inch muskie just prior to release Sunday. The fish was lost temporarily prior to cooperating with a second strike. Photo by Brian Hass.”
According to Selsor, a big musky hit a 10-inch sucker Sunday morning at 8:00 in 35 degree, dead-still conditions. “She took it in her mouth at about 30 yards off the boat and held it down for about 5 minutes,” he said. “I reeled in my slack and knew I had a lunker on the line. I waited another couple of minutes and ‘set’ the hook. I reeled her in with some fight”
“As she got close to the boat Brian grabbed the net. I was pulling her up and Brian got a look and said it was a nice one. As he was about to net her she let go of the sucker. Brian said she just spit it out. Obviously I was disappointed.”
“We could see my sucker about 5 feet down and in obvious distress. Then we noticed the Muskie was sitting there under the sucker just looking at it. Then she started blowing bubbles! The bubbles finally stopped and we couldn’t see her anymore.”
Selsor then decided to slowly reel in the sucker to change her out. As he brought the bait in, the muskie came out of the depths and “nailed it”.
“I immediately set the hook and reeled her in,” he said. “Brian netted her; we took some photos and let her go. As soon as I put her in the water off she went! It was awesome.”
The fish measured in at 47 inches. Remember, you’re never “out” when fishing and strike 3 from this fish next year will almost certainly mean a true trophy and a 50-plus class inch fish.