Musky Hooked on HJ12 Husky Jerk

First he caught a hand-sized pumpkinseed to sacrifice to the musky gods...I'll give you a hint, it went to the channel cat demiurge...then he hooked a musky at least three feet long on an HJ12 Husky Jerk only minutes later with the pumpkinseed out under a couple of big bobbers. We both saw the musky jump. Intense. I thought 40 inches, but three feet is a conservative estimate. 

So we had the action we came for. It made Brian's day, and I'm glad for that. The outing ended well for me, too, because the magic hour affects everything living--me included. Placed in a good mood. And I knew it was possible a bass was going to take my Rebel Pop-R. That none did is less important than being there for them, my back not so sore as to disrupt my fishing. 

I had said to Brian earlier about that, "It's just a pain in the ass. I feared it could get so bad it would be disabling, but it's just something to deal with."

For some reason, there are a lot more weeds in Furnace Lake than last year on June 20th with Brenden Kuprel, when I remember catching most of my 15 bass from seven feet of water. We went yesterday with the intention of fishing muskies, but I told Brian I would try for bass, too, and he was good with trying for them himself. He mostly used the Husky Jerk, until it was lost to the musky. He also used a Berkley Nessie, which has a crippled side-to-side action like an underwater Zara Spook. Later towards evening, after he lost the Husky Jerk, he threw a double-bladed Mepp's. I threw a large single-bladed Mepps, but as I say, we didn't fish only muskies. For better or worse. Besides, I think so much heavy lure action might have worsened my back pain. Fishing a worm is easy on the back, and it's how I began my lackluster approach to the bass, with a Shim-E-Stick rigged Wacky. Putting it on the edge of thick weeds. I think of the irony of fishing with Oliver Round last week, who chose Lake Aeroflex when we did so well after I had wanted to try Furnace. I certainly was wise to accept Aeroflex once it was chosen and let Furnace be.

Yesterday, I soon realized I was fishing a lot deeper than I fished last June. The edge was about 11 feet deep. I switched to a Chomper's worm on an inset hook. (Later, by Brian's suggestion, I realized I might have done better had I used an inset hook in a Shim-E-Stick or Yum Dinger and just fished it straight rather than Wacky.) I did get a sudden pull on the slack that probably was a pumpkinseed like Brian caught or a bluegill. Something else ticked the line and took it aside, but though I fished edges and pockets alike, and I got the worm down towards the bottom, I never experienced that familiar strong pull of a bass. 

We lifted the Minn Kota and used a paddle to maneuver into the weeds, getting casts into shallow pockets. On one occasion, we saw big blow-ups back behind the thick of water chestnuts. I got the boat in close enough and cast a weedless frog. To no result. 

And we cast again for muskies. And I worked the Pop-R at the edges and in pockets, once again moving the boat into the thick just before we gave up. I backed us out so the electric motor wouldn't gather weeds, and after having kept the pumpkinseed under two bobbers and it's having become emaciated, Brian set it free...surely vulnerable to big channel cats in the lake.  

Brian Cronk fishes for a sunfish on the inside edge of thick weeds. His catch he used as musky bait.

Water chestnuts are an invasive vegetation that were cited as a reason to submit Lake Musconetcong to chemical treatment. There are a couple of fields of them in Furnace Lake, which I worked by retrieving a weedless frog over them.

Wonder if the beach will open.

2019