1July 2013

July 20132

Niagara Musky Association, Inc.Catch & Release

NewsletterVolume XIX Issue VII

Editor-in-ChiefScott H. McKeeEditor EmeritusAnthony Scime

The Catch & Release Newsletter is published by the Niagara Musky Association, Inc. as a service to our members. No part

of this document may be reproduced, photocopied, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, translated into any lan-guage in any form by any means without prior written consent

of the Board of Directors of the Niagara Musky Association, Inc.This documentation is Licensed Information Proprietary to: The

Niagara Musky Association, Inc.PMB 383, 733 Delaware Rd.

Buffalo, NY 14223niagaramuskyassociation.ning.com

3July 2013

Next MeetingNext Meeting Tuesday, July 2Tuesday, July 2ndnd • Eldridge Club • Eldridge Club

17 Broad Street • City of Tonawanda17 Broad Street • City of TonawandaOkuma spokesperson Brent Bo-Brent Bo-chekchek from FISH NV Charters will be our guest speaker. Brent will feature all of the new products his sponsor’s have to offer and he will answer all of your questions re-garding the musky waters he fi shes throughout Ontario. Brent is a for-mer member of the NMA and we’ll see if we can sign him up again. We will discuss proposed changes to our By-Laws. The sacred tablets

haven’t been updated for a long time and they need a good dust-ing. Our plan is to put the pro-posed changes to a vote in August. We’ll hear all of the Opening Week muskies you’ve caught including the 2013 Super Moonset feeding frenzy. We’ll have release gear, Monster Box tickets and hopefully T-shirts for sale. All-in-all July is shaping up to be a great meeting. Don’t miss it.

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MedicalMedical

Emergency Emergency

& Towing Tips& Towing Tips

Pisces (Feb. 19 - March 20) – On June 25th Jupiter moves into your fi fth house of creativity and fame. So be creative! Design a personalized lure, try a new trolling run, go out and catch the fi sh that makes you famous!

Aries (March 21 - April 19) – June 26 - July 19 Mercury wreaks havoc with travel, technology and communication. You may want to delay any fi shing vacations until July 20th. Rely less on your GPS and more on landmarks.

Taurus (April 20 - May 20) – The sun is in Gemini, your house of work and money. This may be good for your fi nances, but be careful it doesn’t hurt your fun (AKA Musky fi shing.) Make sure to take time for yourself, and the muskies.

Gemini (May 21 - June 20) – On June 25th Jupiter slides into your house of work and money. When the dollars start rolling in, say “hello” to all those new lures you’ve been coveting.

Cancer (June 21 - July 22) – Hey there birthday Guy/Gal! This month hits the reset button on the old you! Get ready for you 2.0! Feel free to reinvent your-self and your direction. Who knows? You could catch a world record Musky this season or win big on our July raffl e table!

Leo (July 23 - August 22) – You will begin the month feeling like you have run out of energy. Fear not! After you step back and regroup your energy will dou-ble and you will be fi shing hard once more. Consider taking more B Vitamins.

Virgo (Aug. 23 - Sept. 22) – This is the month for mingling and making new friends (maybe at an NMA meeting?) Jupiter is in your house of humanitarian activity. Consider volunteering this month, maybe take a newbie fi shing? Or wrapping trees on the islands? Either way you are sure to have a good time!

Libra (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22) – Jupiter moves into your house of personal victo-ries on June 25th, moving your thoughts to long term goals. Focus on what you want to achieve this month, most fi sh? Biggest fi sh? If you put in the time your effort will be rewarded!

Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21) – Near the full moon June 23rd, you will enter your house of communication. Have something to tell your fi shing partner? Do it now, it is time for closure!

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21) – Mars is in your house of committed relation-ships this month. Don’t neglect your fi shing partner, this is also a committed relationship. Maybe you should make sure to have his/ her favorite boat snacks on board. A happy fi shing partner makes for a better net job!

Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19) – Two is your magic number this month! Whether your signifi cant other, best friend, or fi shing partner (or combination of the 3!) Pairs is the way to go this month. Choose to fi sh in pairs, who knows what will happen!!! If alone, casting double 10’s may be the trick.

Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18) – The temperatures have been hot and with the Sun and Mars in your house of creativity, so are you!! Get out there, be cre-ative, be you, be that super-angler that you know you can be, just don’t forget your spicy pepperoni and hot pepper cheese snacks!!! Use extra sun screen and bring antacids on board.

Once in a while (hopefully rarely) you may fi nd yourself in a posi-tion that requires you to render assistance to another boater. Some things to consider are:

• If it’s a medical emergency, determine the situation at hand. If it’s a true and serious emergency, call the USCG for assistance. If some-one has chest pains or other cardiac indicators, give that person an aspirin. ASPIRIN, not Tylenol. It should be chewed, not swallowed. If there is someone with the ill person, they should go to the nearest dock. Call ahead to have EMT’s waiting. If it’s a non-life threatening problem, they might need items in your fi rst aid kit.

• If it’s a mechanical problem, you might have to tow. That opens up a can of worms, for sure. Hopefully it is in calm seas, making it a little easier. Of course, you need a rope, a good one. Tie from your tow loops to the other boats anchor loop. That keeps the disabled boat’s bow high. NEVER tie from the gunwale or deck cleats. They are not designed for towing. A boat under towing load weighs a lot more than a cleat can handle. Keep the rope away from your prop.

• Tie a knot that you can untie after it has been tightened by the tow itself. Have a knife handy to cut the rope to avert disaster if the situation takes an unexpected turn. The towers and towees should really all be wearing their PFD’s, but a run of the mill tow may not require that. Keep the rope long enough to give you time to react as required. NEVER wrap the rope around your hand or arm. Stay clear of the rope as it uncoils and picks up the load of the other boat.

• Allow for the current. Turning with a boat in tow is not easy. Stay in the middle of bridge spans. Can you imagine trying to change position upstream from the Peace Bridge and have the other boat go under a different span from you? Say your prayers!

• Once you tie to another boat, you are really in command of two vessels. That carries a great deal of responsibility.

These are just random thoughts that I recall from the four times I towed a boat in and once when I was towed. In one case, a boat with four on board at the foot of Ferry was partially swamped by Sunday afternoon maniacs. An old timer was using a pee bucket to bail. I told him to use the large bucket I saw, but he said “my min-nows are in there.” (Swear to God he said that.) I told him he would be swimming with the minnows soon. Called the USCG, tied up, all had PFD’s, got him to Rich. His boat was a mess; really full of water. He was pissed because he didn’t launch at Rich. A 19 year old girl who was crying, she said thanks, but the so-called skipper never did.

Anyone with other tips, please write. I’m sure there are other impor-tant things to remember when you are trying to help. Happy (and safe) boating!

5July 2013

July 20136

6/13/136/13/13Based on previous experience, intuition and tea leaf readings, here are few predictions for opening week:Harbor: With the water tem-perature in the low sixties, I think shallow in the Harbor will be the hot bite. If I was fi shing the Wasteland, I’d troll 17-feet and in with Wiley’s, Jakes, Giant Flat Sticks and spinnerbaits. I wouldn’t expect there to any-thing big caught, but I think a few fi sh in the low-forties would fall to this program. I’d skip most of the deep water haunts since I’d expect most of the fi sh to be preparing to, spawning or recovering shallow.

River Conditions: I don’t think the moss will be bad at all and the fl oating weeds will be non-existent (since there aren’t many weeds at all, or so I’ve heard from the “pikers”). This should make for a pleasant

opening week with little lure cleaning necessary. The rain and blow we had prior to Open-ing Day shouldn’t make much of a difference to the clarity in the River.

River Catches: In the River, I expect there to be many fi sh caught shallow and adjacent to prime spawning areas. My hope for the River this year is that many of those high-thirty inch fi sh we saw last season will be forties this year, which will make for an interesting season. I would expect ten to fi fteen, 38” to 40” fi sh, and 20-plus fi sh 35” and under caught by our mem-bers in a variety of methods. The old reliable ROB tubes, Bondy’s, trolling shallow with Wiley’s and hair, deep pulling with the usual cast of characters (Depth Raiders, Toothy’s, Perch-baits and Believers) and casting crankbaits and creatures in the 12 to 17 foot range. I hope to

see a few big fi sh thrown into the mix as well.

My Boat: As a traditional num-bers guy, I had a great season last year, with a bunch of fi sh to the boat opening week. Histori-cally, I have never followed a good opening week with another good opening week. My hope is one fi sh to bust my cherry for the season in the fi rst few days. Do you remember the scene in The Natural when the Knights were on their pre-Roy Hobbs losing streak? “Losing is a dis-ease, as contagious as syphilis or the bubonic plague.” Some years, the fi rst fi sh is the hard-est for me, and I’d like to get that monkey off my back early. I plan on trolling and casting the hell out of the west River, concentrating most of my time in UN2, 13, 12 and 11. I expect to

7July 2013

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catch a few small fi sh and have a few larger fi sh visit the boat while inspecting my lures. For some reason I have a feeling Carrie will pop a 44” or 45”. I think she’s due for nice fi sh. Not a signature fi sh, but a really nice musky. She’s put her time in over the last few years and she’s gutted it out for a bunch of inclement trips during that span. I am a fi rm believer in musky karma and there are few members that have donated as much time to our club over the past several years. My only real fi shing goals for this sea-son is to witness her fi rst Top Ten fi sh and put her baby sister on her fi rst musky. Whatever I catch, I catch. I don’t think I’ll press as hard this year as I did last. Getting back to musky karma, it can be a powerful force. Selfl ess acts on and off the water often equal big success to the net. I know it’s odd for an adult (kind of) to believe in such things, but I do.

Opening Week ReportCarrie and I didn’t hit “it” hard exactly opening week. We fi shed the fi rst fi ve days of the sea-son, but none of our trips exceeded fi ve hours. As I’m sure most of you regulars on our site are aware, one hour and forty minutes into Carrie’s season she popped her biggest musky thus far; a thick, tough looking, mean forty-seven inch musky. We were just behind the humps on the Brown Shack troll when her rod started screaming! We both sort of half-shouted “FISH ON” and I added “right where you’re supposed to be!” I had a feeling it was a big fi sh from the sound of the rip. It wasn’t a slow pull. It was a violent yet rhythmic rip which led me to believe something big was hooked and was shaking its head. When Carrie grabbed the rod out of the holder, she said something to the effect of, “I think my drag is set wrong! It’s really hard to reel!” Bingo! I was right. When she had the fi sh near the surface I said, “she’s only got one hook in her.” Bad move. It’s at this point when Carrie really started to get nervous. Luckily that single hook of the middle treble stayed buttoned and thanks to the extended handle on our Beck-man, we netted her largest fi sh yet. With the fi sh in the bag Carrie let loose a bunch “ohmy-god, ohmygod’s”. Although she was a quivering mess, she held her big fi sh for one picture. She was literally a shaking mass of disbelief and ex-citement. That’s why we fi sh for them I thought, right there in a nutshell. I took possession of the fi sh with one hand just below the gills and the other holding the tail. As I moved toward the gunnel, I felt the fi sh tense which usually is followed by a thrash, so I torpedoed her into the drink rather than risk dropping her. I’ve never released a fi sh in this manner before, but she swam down to the bottom like the champ she

9July 2013

is. After we made sure she stayed down, Carrie smoked cigarettes in order to calm down. Passing musky anglers may have been reminded of Bethlehem Steel in its heyday. It didn’t work. She was still shaken hours, and days really, after the catch. According to the latest release submissions, Carrie’s was the fi rst musky caught in 2013 by our members. So in one hour and forty minutes of fi shing, Carrie had surpassed her personal best by seven inches and I was off to a good start witnessing her fi rst Top Ten fi sh. After that fi sh, it really didn’t matter what happened for the rest of the week. We both could not have been more pleased. I did manage to get the skunk off my side of the boat on Tuesday with a 38” caught trolling an orange belly perch Toothy off Turner’s Reef. During our fi ve days on the water we tried trolling and casting shallow, deep and in between. I only had one musky follow the entire time.

As far as my predictions go, I was way off on a few things. Water condition wise, the east side of the River had a deep stain to it for the fi rst few days of the sea-son and the moss was bad for the fi rst week on the west side.

Numbers of releases of small fi sh were far fewer than I predicted.

There were a few fi sh caught in the Harbor shallow: Frank “yes, I can cast” Sta-chowiak released a 41” chucking a black and silver Shmo bucktail. Tony “the Sicilian mes-sage” Scime caught a 40” zig-zag trolling a perch colored Legend Perchbait in and out of 16-feet of water. Marc (insert nickname here) Arena put his brother-in-law Tony Kuc on a 40” (his fi rst) trolling a K&M lure in the fi rst embayment north of Freezer Queen. Bob “Truck Norris” Hey, caught a 40” male casting a double 10 in Cargill in 4-feet of water. Josh “slowly approaching middle age” Ketry released a 38” troll-ing a spinnerbait outside the Small Boat Harbor.

In the River numbers were far less than expected until the Super Moonset this morning (6/23). The word around the water cooler has John Pensyl and Cullen Veiders releasing a 40”, 44.5”, 35” and a 38” in just over two hours early Sunday.

Dan “Nerves of” Steele

released a 49”, and I’ve just received a text stating Gabe Edwards’

and his friend Scott Prawel hooked up with a 44” and a 48”! John Pensyl just sent me, “Super Moon is out of control!!!” You bet it is! What a morning! Thank God I’ve been working on the newsletter all day. Procrastination catches up with

you in a tidal wave sometimes.

Let’s backtrack a little.Jay Nannen landed a very nice 47” (pic-ture on the inside front cover) opening day. Here’s Jays’s report from our Web site:

Got a late start today and launched solo at 8:30. Couple unsuccessful drifts on Frenchmen’s then headed down West river. Hooked up briefl y but lost the fi sh and headed back upriver. First drift hooked up and after a few minutes of extreme chaos the fi sh was resting in the net. I hollered at a nearby boat and John Pensyl and his partner (thank you kind stranger!) came right over to help me. John ended up unhook-ing and measuring the fi sh for

me then they took a couple photos and off she went. He pronounced her a fat 47”! Josh Ketry jumped on a little later but no more action ensued.

John Pensyl and his friend made me realize today why I am proud to be a member of the NMA. When I called they rushed right over to help me with the fi sh and share in the ex-citement. Thank

July 201310

you John. Hope I get to repay the favor someday.

Other opening week fi sh: John Pensyl landed a 41” and his friend Charlie Jae-necke landed a 40” (his fi rst) on a Baker Bait and Ninja Tube respectively. Cullen Veiders landed a 40”, 43.5”, 37.5” and a 36.5” throughout Opening Week on tubes and a Mr. Toothy. Gabe “Stickers” Edwards landed 43” in the upper and a 38” in the lower. Andrew Lacko caught a 40” dragging bottom with a tube. Riley Himmrich landed a 40” casting a Musky Stalker in UN12. “Big Money” Jerry Miller landed a 40” on a Ninja Tube while

fi shing with his brother

“Cheeks”. Maryanne (whose last name I’ve forgotten) caught a nice fi sh trolling a spinnerbait with Brett Cournoyea. Josh “Jack Bauer” Kane landed a 36” downstairs as well.

I’d call that a great start to 2013! We need more of those Super Moon’s! Lure mak-ers: How about a new lure called the Super Moon? A lure designed so perfectly and so uniquely, it literally drives muskies insane and keeps them in a feed-ing frenzy-like state the River hasn’t seen in many years! Go fi sh and good luck everyone!

11July 2013

TThe fi rst time I read the NMA’s Mission Statement & the initiatives it would use to pursue that mission, I knew that this was the club I wanted to join, not so much to catch muskies or catch any other fi sh for that matter,

but more to protect and enhance their habitat. Having been weaned on three-way spinner & worm fi shing for yellow pike and fi shing for perch with hand drop lines, which I still prefer to use, I knew the potential that this water system could produce, in spite of us humans. Even though it was over 60-years ago, I still remember seeing our old claw-foot cast iron bathtub half-fi lled with blue pike, the times my neighbor used to tell me that they would throw the yellows back and keep only the blues, and, when looking for perch in the early ‘70’s, my father telling me that it didn’t matter where I dropped anchor because you could catch perch anywhere. And we did!

But I also remember those days when around four o’clock every afternoon, the water around Woodlawn Beach would turn rust red, the days you couldn’t fi nd perch or walleye if your life depended on it, watching molten slag get dumped off the rail cars at night into the water to light up the sky with a boom, and the days fi sherman would take bass and sheepshead just to bury in the garden for fertilizer. The sharpest two-edged sword though was my parents, relatives and neighbors saying that they liked to see the steel plant make smoke, because when it smoked, people worked. It gave a lot of jobs, (I just retired from manufacturing), but it also took a lot away. Industry is a two-edged sword.

One thing I’ve picked up though is that when fi sh are present, those fi shing for them will catch ‘em. We’ll fi nd a way us-ing new methods, new lures, new bait, new techniques, new anything. If we know they’re down there, we’ll fi nd a way, and that’s what makes fi shing both challenging and enjoyable. After trolling the web and attending meetings for fi shing clubs to join, I came across the NMA. All the fi shing clubs I researched in this area do some kind of good and many are involved in com-munity service, fund-raisers for charities, fi shing contests, rais-ing fry and fi ngerlings, etc. Somehow, though, they didn’t “feel like home” even though all those activities are commendable. It’s like when you bought your fi rst home. You look and look and look, and most of the houses are good, but the minute you step into the right house, you know its home and that’s where you belong.

Why I Joined Why I Joined

the NMAthe NMA

When I read the NMA’s Mission Statement, I knew this was home. Even though I’ve been used and abused by muskies only twice in my life, those moments of sheer panic and im-measurable awe will always be remembered as some of the best fi shing I’ve ever had. But if they’re out there, I’ll fi nd a way to catch ‘em, even though I’m new to musky fi shing. The real secret though, is to make sure they’re out there, and the best way of doing that is to take care of the environment and their habitat because the quality of our life and the quality of our fi sh-ing directly depends on the quality of the environment.

Fishing is secondary, at least to me. That will come with know-ing the fi sh are there. Making sure the fi sh are there and stay there for the future, to me, is primary. I never, in my 64 years, ever thought I would be on a work crew to clean up Motor. What a trip that was!! In a few weeks, I’ll be going to Strawber-ry to help save the cottonwoods, and for that I feel like a kid in a candy store. I see all of nature as being connected. Helping the cottonwoods helps Strawberry, which helps the Niagara, which helps the fl ow of water, which helps the growth of habitat, which helps the muskies.

It’s great to be home.

• Mike Fortunate and Chris Clark purchased all of Mark Maghran’s musky lures. Mark, an NMA Hall-of-Famer and World Class musky angler is moving to Arizona and had a LOT of baits. Mike and Chris will be selling some of their booty at our July Meeting. The entrepreneurial duo will be donating several baits to our July raffl e table. Mark was nice enough to donate a Lakewood’s tackle box, and afforded us bargain basement deals on a large number of lures, including Legend Perchbaits, Jakes, Grandmas, and an additional Lakewood’s box loaded with trolling spinnerbaits. These lures will appear on fi fth raffl e table at our Twentieth Anniversary Banquet in 2014. Best of luck Mark and thank you for your very gener-ous donation and screaming deals. You really went above and beyond.

• We are still hoping for more members to join our Conserva-tion Committee. Contact Chairman Scott Kitchen if you wish to sign up.

• We also need volunteers to “beaverize” the trees on Straw-berry and Motor Islands. Contact Joe Wilczewski if interested. Joe’s thinking Wednesday’s in the afternoon with fi shing following work on the islands. Save the trees and thwart the beavers!

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TThis February I started a fi shing club at the Lackawanna Middle School where I teach science. The club is compromised of stu-dent anglers with previous angling experience as well as new comers

to the sport who were able to catch their fi rst fi sh during club outings this spring. The club meets 2-3 times a month. Members have learned outdoor skills including; na-tive fi sh identifi cation, fi sh species seasonal migration patterns, lure applications, knot tying and casting skills. Meetings include fi shing gear raffl es at no charge and each student who attended 60% of the club meetings was awarded a tackle box loaded with fi shing gear or a fi shing rod/reel com-bo.

The LMS Fishing Club has been very fortu-

nate to receive donations from sportsmen groups such as the Niagara Musky As-sociation and the Erie County Sportsman Federation. The Niagara Musky Associa-tion donated $500 which was used to fund transportation expenses and to purchase much needed gear for the club. The Erie County Sportsmen Federation donated brand new rod and reel combos. Individual members of the NMA also offered up both new and gently used fi shing equipment to assist our eager members in their pursuit of angling memories that will last a lifetime.

The LMS Fishing Club participated in two outing this spring. On April 30th the club visited Chestnut Ridge Reservoir where 12 anglers landed 16 fi sh including crap-pie, blue gill, perch and

13July 2013

largemouth bass. Five students caught their fi rst fi sh ever and several caught a new spe-cies of fi sh that they had never caught be-fore. The students were also able to imple-ment the clubs “Cleaner than we found it” policy by fi lling 1.5 trash bags with litter that they found at the reservoir.

On May 8th the club embarked on an adven-ture to the newly developed Lake Erie Union Ship Canal Fishermen’s Park. Cloudy skies and precipitation did not dampen the spirits of the young anglers. They were rewarded

for their rugged demeanor when 12 students caught well over 60 fi sh. Most of the fi sh caught were yellow perch, many of which were in the 9-11 inch range and very plump. The largest fi sh of the trip was a 22-inch, four-pound freshwater drum.

Members will have an end of the year party to celebrate the successful launching of the club. It appears that the student members are “hooked” on this club.

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15July 2013

July 201316Proud Suppliers of the Niagara Musky Association, Inc.

PMB 383 • 733 Delaware Road • Buff alo, NY 14223www.niagaramuskyassociation.ning.com