September brings the early goose opener and also the Frank Schneider Memorial Musky Tournament.
This year I opted to again wait another week to go chase geese and try my luck at trying to boat a musky again. Last year we boated one but it didn't measure long enough to register. This year we had high hopes.
The first day was Friday and we started on Leech Lake but with high winds and being newbies to the lake we only had one follow so we decided to stick it out on Cass Lake. There we had six follows but each time we ran out of room before we could convince them to bite.
We kept going back to them to see if they had changed their mind but apparently they did not want their picture taken that day.
I would usually not consider 28 hours of casting lures, that can weigh as much as 2 pounds and not getting one fish a success but I feel each day I am learning a little more and sooner than later something will click. I
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have gotten a few muskies while fishing for other species but I really don't consider them as it was just something that happened and not my targeted species. I think in order to consider yourself a true musky fisherman you have to have a true passion for the fish.
One thing I do have for the fish and the anglers that put huge amount of time and energy chasing them is respect. I don't know how they do it - my arms still hurts.
Anyway, after around 600 anglers made thousands of casts for 28 hours Jon Blood would come out the winner. He boated a 49.5-inch musky and a 51-inch musky on Leech Lake. In total, 83 fish were registered from various lakes, but most seemed to come from Leech, Cass and Bemidji. This tournament has a little bit of everything when it comes to anglers - true die hard tournament teams, fathers with their sons or daughters and groups of old time buddies that make this their vacation and tradition every year. I highly suggest if you think you have what it takes to check out this tournament and see if you catch the Esox itch.
