Mark another one off my Bucket List!
For many, many moons I have dreamed of catching "fish with teeth" (besides gar).... specifically, a muskellunge. No need to travel to Northern latitudes however. You can do it on the Collins River near McMinnville, Tenn. ... at least if Dwayne Hickey is guiding you.
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Like any fishing, it's not a sure thing. I've been twice before with Dwayne without success... but it was due to conditions, not the guide. On Saturday the moon and the stars aligned for me and Randy Holder. What a day we had with Dwayne! Sight fishing in very skinny water for these watery wolves... and we are no longer "Muskie Virgins!"
It's an amazing experience... muskies "ain't skeered." Find one and they'll just sit and stare at you with a steely-eyed glaze, wondering what you're doing on "their river." It doesn't mean they're easy targets however. Because they do own the river, they eat what they want, when they want... OR they DON'T eat what they don't want!
It's sometimes hard to tell when you might be seeing the same fish over again, but I figured we saw at least ten muskies. They definitely did NOT want artificials. They'd look, but not touch. Dwayne says that will change when we get some rain and the water gets some color. But we were fishing super clear water conditions and thanks to some very frisky suckers Dwayne had netted, we had a Plan B. Five of the ten or so muskie we spotted, or lured close with an artificial, could not resist a tasty live morsel dangled on a circle hook in their stretch of river.
But if you want to know the height of frustration, watch a 45-inch muskie swimming along 2 inches behind your struggling sucker for two minutes, and then decide NOT to eat it and swim off. I've still got adrenalin pumping from that one.
Dwayne fishes lots of different water in lots of conditions, but he says wintertime is always the right time.
If you want an amazing fishing experience, unlike anything you've ever experienced in Tennessee... or anywhere, you need to call or e-mail Dwayne Hickey. (931) 273-7937 or
hickstock@hotmail.com.
Muskie! - Mark One Off My Bucket List
