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3. Trout my Mom caught (subtitled: Fishing is in my genes!!)

OK, guys and gals, how many of you can say that your OWN MOTHER is a troutnut, hmmmmm??

Mom caught these fish many years ago in a (stocked) trout pond owned by my late Uncle Mike and Aunt Jane in the Smoky Mountains near Brevard, North Carolina. Yes, as you can see in the second picture she was using a spinning rod - Mom is not a flyfisher(wo)man - and yes these fish were indeed killed and eaten (I'm told they were in fact delicious). Nevertheless, they are TROUT and were caught by my very own Mother. I just thought you folks would get a kick out of learning where I got my fishing abilities...

Dad, on the other hand, is less of a fisherman but has his own interests...

Jonathon

Jonathon,

Well fella its been nice fishing with ya! Looks like next time out you stay home and Spence fishes with Mom! :)

You know I'll get her back home on time since it appears that Pops knows what he's doing there with that "toy" of his!

Spence

Sadly, Spence, it's not HIS toy (otherwise I would have the chance to shoot it too). He went to the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot some years ago and got behind that big fifty there. Also sadly, he said he brought some of his own ammo, but they guy who owns the gun took it away from him and gave him some reloads to shoot, which Dad says didn't even all go off!! Also, he only got about 20 rounds, just like they gave me in ROTC officer training. Excuse me, I'm supposed to learn how to shoot this thing with a second-and-a-half worth of rounds?? Give me a full can of 100, I'll learn how to hit something!!!

In addition, if you take my Mom fishing, you had better have a few bottles of Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc chilled and handy, and plan on taking her to a casino afterwards!! Of course, if you do that, she might just disown me & Pa...

Jonathon

Sounds like you have a real good mom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix17ACrxOss

Check this out.

Jonathon
I thought maybe the gun was for guarding the pond. what"s the name of that place:)

JAD

Matt, I just watched the video - that looks like the Knob Creek shoot. And by the looks of it, even with all of that lead flying, I bet those folks STILL couldn't hit anything!! Especially the ones just holding down the trigger until the belt is empty...Reminds me of a Vietnam story I heard once from a friend who had a friend over there in the 60s: BIG firefight, both sides shooting away full blast on everything, and NO casualties, on either side (no GIs got hit and they didn't find any blood stains where the enemy had been firing from). Moral of the story: too many Hollywood movies in which everyone fires full auto all the time...NOT the way I was trained at Fort Knox...

JAD, the pond was formerly owned by my late uncle & aunt, both of who have passed on to their next phase of existence. I never (sadly!) got the chance to fish there so I can't help you out on directions...

BTW, those trout that Mom caught are bigger than any I have ever caught. And that great big rainbow, she landed all by herself, she was screaming for my Dad and uncle but by the time they arrived she had it on shore. She told me it almost got away, fell off the hook right at the shoreline and she had to go run and grab it!

Hopefully, when I move to Oscoda early next year, I can have Ma & Pa come up and fish the piers at the mouth of the AuSable or on Tawas Bay and then I'll have more photos of them to post here. Knowing her luck, Mom will probably pull in a musky...

Jonathon

P.S. Mom is 77 and Dad is 78, and they're still both in great shape. Dad just had a bunch of operations (one major, several minor) this year and he is more or less "fixed up" now. He & I have been going shooting (HIS favorite hobby) for the past year and he even just got me a brand-new .45 auto for my birthday (Nov 27), which I took to the range for the first time yesterday...

Be careful now Jonathan. Where I come from calling a muskie a musky is considered racist.

And my name is spelled JonathOn, NOT JonathAn, Falsifly, while we're quibbling about spellings...

;oD

JMD

P.S. However you spell it, it would be her luck to pull in such a fish... On our first family trip to Key West, back in '76, we went out for our first party boat fishing trip and, in spite of nearly getting seasick, Mom caught the biggest fish on the boat, a pair of 4-lb. black groupers that ended up on our dinner plates at a local restaurant!

Jonathon,

With your mom's luck I will say only one thing to you...It's long over due for you to take her out on the lawn next spring and teach her how to lay out a fly line! Once she has that perfected take her to that lake near you and do some casting on the water and show her an upstream mend...Once she's got that down I'll stow a bottle of her favorite wine in my over-stuffed vest and we will plant her some evening at "Spencer's Pool"...You will need to explain to her, since she's a real "fish-killer":), that it's no-kill over there, but if that's a problem with her just let her know I could bring two bottles! :)

Spence

OOpps, sorry about that JonathOn. No disrespect intended. I should’ve noticed something smelled a little fishy.

No worries, Falsifly, most people spell it with an a instead of an o, but that's what my birth certificate says...

So, do they say "masquinonge" in Wisconsin? And, have you ever caught one of those beasts on a fly rod? I've caught a few pike but no muskIE - been thinking about a Lake St. Clair trip to go after those guys. Maybe I'll take Mom along...

Spence, I think Mom's a little old to be learning how to use a fly rod - her opinion, not mine. She wouldn't have any problem letting them go on "Spencer's Pool", so long as you took a good picture and toasted her with a glass of wine...

Jonathon

I don't know Mr. D...If she were to make us look bad over there and out fished us it may be hard to choke down a glass of vino...We may have to turn to her, after she had humbled us, and say, "Sweetie. You can find your own way back to the vehicle! It's just up that hill there through those woods...Make sure you watch out for the barbed-wire...Spence screwed up a perfectly good net there last season. :)"

Spence

There are a number of different spellings and pronunciations for the muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) but very seldom is it referred to as any thing other than muskie or musky if you prefer. However, when referring to the muskellunge in the printed word and spelling it as “musky” you may be called out by some who are opposed to the odoriferous connotation. I don’t know why, because they do have a distinct “stinkiness” if you will.



I started fishing muskie at a very early age because it was my dad’s favorite sport. I have no idea how many I’ve caught over the years but my biggest is 45 inches caught back in the early 80’s. Although that is still considered a nice catch it’s short by today’s standard. If it isn’t 50+ inches it’s considered just another fish. I pretty much gave it up in favor of trout fishing and never really returned, so to answer your question, no I’ve never caught one on a fly rod, but that is catching on quite quickly these days.

Calling a muskie a beast, to some, may be an understatement. That large mouth full of long sharp teeth coupled with a 12 inch lure full of nasty treble hooks can reek havoc to ones flesh. Back in my early days a tackle box wasn’t complete without a hand gun and ammunition. I kid you not; the larger fish were brought along side the boat and shot in the head before being boated. I could tell you some stories which would explain why the practice was outlawed.

Enough of my Musky tale, lets get back to trout.

Allan,

Now come on fella! You can't get away with a tease line like that and just leave it at that! We hunger for details on this site...Especially the long winded one, me...

Give it up, man!

Spence

I heard that a .38 snubbie was pretty effective in that regard...kinda puts the kybosh on catch-n-release, though...

Jonathon

P.S. I think my new .45 would be overkill - though lots of other fishies would probably float up!