Muskies are such interesting and intriguing creatures. Each one is different, almost as though they have their own personalities - anything from calm and mellow to a tail-walking firecracker. I guess that is why so many of us become addicted to chasing them. You just never know what you're going to get. So many muskies, so many memories!

A beautiful fall day last season brought us to one of our favourite fall lakes. As is routine for this lake, we set up and fished for the day using our mast and planer boards. The day seemed to have proved quite unsuccessful, but fortunately we have learned that all days can't be good and we accepted our loss with dignity.

We decided to call it a day and began to head back into the launch. We trolled in until we neared the marina and then began pulling in our boards. In came the first board and thinking nothing of it, we threw the rod into the rod holder to get it out of the way while we brought in the second board. The lure fell into the water, but was barely submersed due to the fact that pretty well all of the line was reeled up and the majority of what was in the water was the five-foot fluorocarbon trolling leader.

We had just gotten the second board in when we heard a little tiny tick of the drag go off from the rod we had placed in the rod holder. Adam and I looked at each other, but figured that more than likely it was just a walleye taking a swipe at the musky bait. All of a sudden Adam told me to grab the rod, seeing how I was closest. He forgot that he had locked down the drag to bring in the line off the board! At that moment the drag went off again and we knew we had hooked into a fish. I grabbed the rod out of the holder, and with a half crank of the handle the fish was brought in. It was in fact a musky, and was also the shortest fight with a fish I've ever had!

After bringing the fish into the boat for a few quick pictures we had a good laugh over the events that had just transpired. Who would have thought that after trolling all day using boards to keep the baits away from the commotion of the boat, we would catch our only fish off of a bait running in the prop wash at the end of a trolling leader?

So what is the moral of the story here? Don't be afraid to use unconventional tactics to entice the fish to bite when activity seems to be falling short. Oh yeah, and always make sure to adjust your drag before throwing your bait into the water!