The Musky Incident
Starring a bass as the protagonist
At long last, here’s another Fishing in America installment. This painting is for a story by outdoorsman Mike Nendza.
“The Musky Incident”
I was heading downstream after my first overnight trip on the Namekagon River, mid-July. I had arrived at a landing packed with trucks and side by sides and quickly decided to drive to a launch that was a bit farther upstream and maybe a little tougher to access. I found one that only had two vehicles parked and decided it was good enough. After spending the day heading upstream with the little trolling motor on my kayak screaming away, dodging a massive canoe hatch, and doing some dragging through shallow spots, I stopped at a nice little quiet campsite. I set up camp, drank some beer, and went back out on the river. I caught a few nice smallmouth, no huge numbers but it was good fishing overall. I retired back to camp and watched fireflies as the sun went down.
After a peaceful and fantastic night, it was time to pack it up and head downstream. Theoretically easier, but when you’re trying to fish out of a kayak it can be more of a challenge to fish and go downstream because you have less control when you’re just floating down the river. Fishing was pretty slow anyways. As I got close to the landing I saw it: a nice log tangle with a deep hole in front. I anchored up on the upstream side of the hole (Micro Power Pole anchor for the win) and got the fly rod ready to swing some streamers as close to that log jam as possible.
It only took a few casts before I had hooked into a smallmouth - nothing crazy big but it was putting up a good fight in the current. I was standing in the kayak and could watch this bass fight in the gin-clear water. A short time later I had it next to the kayak, ready to grab the net. Then I saw a silver streak come in and t-bone it. It took me a second or two to figure it out, but a decent sized (35”+) Musky had just grabbed this bass I had hooked on my 7wt glass rod. I may have been just as shocked as the Musky - me staring down at it, wondering how it’s pointed downstream but staying in place parallel to my kayak with my bass hanging sideways from its mouth; the Musky wondering why the hell his meal is trying to pull him towards the surface.
The reality is, I didn’t want to break off and have this Musky ingest a bass with a hook hanging from its mouth. Maybe it would be ok, but I wouldn’t feel right about it. I held a steady pressure upward, and eventually this bass slipped out of those sharp teeth… Until the Musky rocketed up to the surface and breached the water, again grabbing the smallmouth! The Musky then shot downstream a good 10 yards with the smallmouth held tight and me doing my damndest to not break the line or my rod. I sat there for what felt like minutes, in a standoff with the Musky. With the rod doubled over, it felt like any slight extra pressure would break the line. Eventually, the Musky let up enough for me to get this bass out of his jaws. I pulled it in so fast it was skipping across the surface.
The Musky chased, but I flipped this smallmouth into the kayak. I removed the hook, and saw the wounds. It was rough, it had been a fight. But there wasn’t much I could do but release it back into the water. I let the bass recover for a bit, holding it in the river, while giving the musky some time to forget about the bass. I let go of its jaw, saw it swim down and then: another flash of silver… I think the Musky got the meal in the end.