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Back to Back Muskies

It was early spring, and Tim and Lori K. were clients in my musky boat...we'd been fishing all morning without success, and the day was quite chilly...very typical for Southern Illinois in the middle of March.

About noontime, I noticed a small area in the back of the bay we were fishing that was relatively calm, and we decided to take a short lunch break and try to warm up a little. Lori had made some really killer ham sandwiches, and along with a cup of hot coffee, our outlook started to improve.

I had laid my rod down at the back of the boat, and the Mepps Musky Killer I was using lightly dangled into the water. We finished lunch, and then got ready to return to the action. I started my outboard motor, and as I went to grab the rod it suddenly jumped, with a 37 inch musky attached to it! We were stunned to see the fish, and quickly photographed and released it.

Then Tim made the comment that he wished he'd used his video camera to film the brief battle, (he had used it to document the measurement and release) and then asked me to step onto the front deck and make a cast— that he would edit and splice the segment together so that it would look like I had just caught the fish.

Taking my sunglasses off, I looked into the camera, holding the little bucktail in my hand. Smiling, I said "Folks, here's how easy it is to catch a musky at Kinkaid Lake (knowing that the rest of the footage Tim had shot would 'splice' together well with that statement.

I then pitched the bait about 20 feet from the boat, put two cranks on the handle, and set the hook--into a 39 inch musky!! Talk about footage! I said "There's one!!" Tim started to shut off the camera, but then realized I WAS hooked into a fish! I was absolutely stunned--back to back muskies!!

We spent the rest of the day working small white bucktails in the northern bays, but never saw another fish. Ahhh, muskies. Just when you think you've got them figured out...they move.