One last thing about the musky that got away, plus a thought on forward facing sonar
I swear I will not write about that big muskie I lost on Eagle Lake in Ontario again after this.
After recovering the shock of the lost fish, Spence Petros asked me how I felt. I said, “fine.” He looked at me like I was crazy. I had just suffered a very serious heart attack a mere three months prior. In my mind I was just happy to be alive. I wasn’t disappointed to have lost the fish.
Baloney. The next morning, I felt awful, and it only got worse when people kept asking if I had lost the legendary fish that many had seen but never landed. It seemed that every angler on Eagle Lake had seen the giant fish on the same spot, but nobody had been able to hook the beast. Most of the guesses pegged the fish at being over 60 inches long.
That winter I invited Steve Herbeck, a musky expert and principal at Andy Myer’s Lodge on Eagle Lake, to be a guest on my radio show. On the air I told him that I was the guy who was fishing with Spence and had hooked and lost the big musky.
“Really?” Herbeck exclaimed. “We hooked your fish three weeks after you lost it. It was 57½ inches in length and it weighed 47½ pounds. It was a giant.”
I don’t know if it made me feel any better or made me feel worse to learn the length of my “one that got away.” One thing I do know is that no matter how many times I play that battle over and over again in the movie theater of my mind, I will never forget it and I will always cherish that experience.
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The battle over the use of fishing electronics known as “forward facing sonar” is heating up. There are three major bass fishing circuits, Bassmaster, Major League Fishing and the National Professional Fishing League.
Surprisingly, NPFL had decided to ban the use of the forward-facing sonar units in their competitions. They say: “At NPFL, we do not want competitive bass fishing to become a technology arms race where anglers stare at a screen, targeting pixels and losing their connection to the fish we love so much. Forward-facing sonar is changing the ways that anglers approach competition and the ways that fans consume content.
“It’s also reducing the methods and baits that anglers use to compete. Our sport is too important and too diverse to allow technology to shrink it to a handful of methods and tackle. Robust competition requires variety, experience and broad skills. It must be more than an expensive video game.”
That is a bold statement and is going to change the bass fishing world. Just remember that there are other fish besides bass, and tournament fishing is a small segment of the fishing world. Yet this is interesting, to say the least.
Loyal reader Brian Evans had this to say about the forward-facing sonar controversy. “To those who say, ‘It should be outlawed’ or ‘Illegal in tournaments,’ let’s not forget when Aquaview came out years ago with their underwater cameras. I still have my original camera and used it for years when I would ice fish. You can literally see the fish approach your lures/bait, snub your offering, or take it and run.
“’How many people are yelling for the Aquaview to be outlawed? I guess my point is, while you can see fish with both mechanisms, you can’t force the fish to bite. Just as bass and bluegills on beds are visible, not always can you get them to bite. Just my 2 cents.”
Great opinion, Brian.
• Daily Herald Outdoors columnist Steve Sarley can be reached at sarfishing@yahoo.com.