Monster At Moonrise

A reminder from a friend results in Joe’s largest fish of 2016.

- Joe Bucher

After four decades of musky fishing, i guess nothing should surprise me anymore. i’ve caught muskies on the first and last cast of the day, on tiny jigs, live bait rigs, saltwater lures and just about every type of bass plug. They’ve bent my rod during every conceivable weather scenario and season. Heck, i’ve even caught muskies through the ice while jigging for panfish in February.

But what happened to me last august during a film trip for my show, “Fishing With Joe Bucher,” ranks with my best musky stories of all. 

As darkness set in on a fishless outing for my partner, Chris Ghidorzi, and me, i reluctantly stowed the trolling motor and called it a day. i strapped down my rods for the rough trip across the open water, and put away stray tackle items with every intention of heading straight to the lodge. The day was officially “done.” Chris was busy going through the same routine as i started the outboard and idled away from the island complex at which we’d just finished casting.

As soon as Chris sat down into his seat, i hit the outboard’s throttle and pointed the bow northward toward our home destination. as i carefully navigated the boat in pitch darkness — checking landmarks, sonar readings, and GPS navigation — a full moon started to appear in the eastern horizon. admittedly, i had lost track of the full moon rise timing on that particular day with the slight overcast earlier combined with the slow bite. once i saw the moon appear, i instantly knew i was probably missing a tiny window of opportunity, but my attitude was shot. i had thrown in the towel and was more focused on the trip home.

However, when Chris saw that same moonrise, he pointed to it and smiled. His loud remarks over the roar of the outboard subsequently saved my trip and, arguably, my entire season.