In 2003 & 2004 I lost my two oldest Muskie fishing partners when my dad passed away from the aftermath of a stroke and my brother Mike, two years my younger, died from congestive heart failure while recovering from a stroke two years earlier. Dad was 86 when he passed. Mike was a mere 48 years old. Unlike some family situations, I introduced my Dad and brother to Muskie fishing not the other way around. Dad took right to it and he enjoyed many years of Muskie fishing with Mike and I in lengthy good health.

In 2001 Dad took the first OHIO 50” class Muskie in our entire family. He truly cherished the catch and regularly admired his BIG FISH as it hung majestically above his reclining chair in our living room. While recovering from the stroke, occasionally I would lean over and ask Pop to look up at that big fishing hanging on the wall and would ask him, "do you remember catching that fish Dad?" To which he always replied, "huh...I sure do!" he would say with a little bite in his voice. It was kind of neat because once in a while I would catch him looking up at that fish and can only imagine what was replaying in his mind. Dad suffered a lot in the final 6 months of his life. Thank God he is not suffering any more. I miss him more than words can ever express. Dad and I spent untold hundreds of hours Muskie fishing together through the years.

Seemed like if anything weird was going to happen it usually happened when Dad was in the boat. One of the funniest things that ever happened to us took place on Salt Fork in late June of 2001.  We were trolling near the Cabin Bay area when we hit a real nice fish just before the north corner.  You would have had to spent a little time with Pop Muskie fishing to appreciate his intensity when one of those rod clickers would start singing.  On this instance the reel started screaming on my pole and Pop was all excited. He began desperately reeling his lines in so I could start playing the fish to the boat. While reeling his second pole in, just as he brought the last couple of feet of line in he yanked the line out of the water and spun it about a dozen times around my line with the fish on it! To top it off when he saw what was happening he tried to give his rod a few little jerks and ended up unintentionally tying a big not of Spider Wire right on to my line.  I'm telling you it was a knot that would have put any purposely made knot to shame!  You see where I'm going with this!

With our other two lines in the boat, here we are making a huge gradual turn in the middle of Salt Fork with this big Muskie in tow. I worked frantically on getting that knot off my line for a good 3 or 4 minutes, all the while pulling this big fish around.  By this point he was on top of the water swimming comfortably with us resembling a small submarine cruising on the surface. Finally I told Pop, "Dad there's only one thing we can do.  I'm going to cut your line off of my line so I can reel this fish in.  The big Musky Man had it all figured out! Or so I thought.  As Paul Harvey would say, here's the rest of the story.   Certain I had the lines separated enough to cut Dad's line off I took my trusty pocket knife and cut the line in question.  All the while growing a grin on my face because I was about to finally get this big fish to the boat.  I could not believe my eyes at what I had just done.  You guessed it! I cut the wrong line! For the next three seconds I watched helplessly as the line with the fish on it snaked briskly across my lap and out the back of the boat! Once I realized what had happed I quickly turned the boat around and put our other lines back in the water and started briskly trolling around the immediate area where I had cut the line.  Eventually we hooked into the line and got the line and the lure back but the fish was long gone. Probably laughed itself into a coma! Dad never let me live that one down and we continued chuckling about it for most of Pop's remaining years. 

In the photo above you see my brother Mike pictured with my son Joseph bearing a big chicken grin on his face! Mike doesn't appear very happy does he?  Well there's a reason.  I can never tell you all that happened surrounding that picture but the gist of it is this,  Mike and Joseph continually were trying to "one up" one another and thoroughly enjoyed bettering the other in Muskie fishing, deer hunting, cards, you name it! They had a rivalry! In the picture above, Mike had not caught a Muskie yet that season ( this was early in his declining health) so we decided to give Mike a handy cap to help him get a fish that day. Well in spite of the extra help, Joe still caught the only fish of the day and I insisted on taking their picture together of the fish before it was released. Mikes face tells half the story and Joseph's face tells the other. Joseph likewise greatly misses his Uncle Mike and their never ending contests and his Grandpa.

I could tell you dozens of stories of crazy things that happened to us out on the water.  Some good, some bad but all made memories I still ponder on to this day. If you fish with a brother, Father or son, especially if they are up in years and love to Muskie fish. Cherish those times to their fullest.  Take lots of pictures.  Maybe even keep a journal where you write down those cherished memories. Fishing with my Dad and brother seemed like it would never have an end. But we all know all good things come to a conclusion at some point.

The loss of Dad and Mike affected my fishing for a good length of time. It  wasn't the same Muskie fishing without one or both of those guys. It was difficult at times, especially when fishing by myself, when Old memories flood back at every turn on the lake. Thankfully I have my son Joseph who still fishes with me, along with close friends and my guide clients. Now with a few years passed the old fire is steadily returning.  Its time to start a new chapter with new memories and hopefully pass our Muskie tradition on to my two sons, friends and clients.

           DAD AND MIKIE WE MISS YOU TERRIBLY AND KNOW YOU GUYS ARE CATCHING SOME HAWGS UP ON THE BIG LAKE IN PERFECT CONDITIONS. WITH NO SNAGS.  HOPING TO BE REUNITED WITH MY OLD FISHING BUDDIES SOME DAY.

GOD BLESS.