Fish are already wet

Went out yesterday in the rain.  The stars aligned where John and I could get out for a few hours together.  I saw the radar and the forecast and it said the rain would end around noon.  That's about the time I was hoping to get off work.  Well, it didn't stop raining all day.  Sometimes drizzle, sometimes full on rain.  Oh well.  The fish are already wet.  With John's new 18' G3 Jet we can get to the best spots in seconds where with a kayak or a prop boat these same spots take a day trip and a float trip usually, plus two cars and or an expensive taxi.  Believe me, I've done it.  The river is up, perfect flow and color.  Actually thought it might be a little dirty but had that "big fish green" color to it and didn't disappoint.  The first drift John is still rigging his rod when I yell to him to get the net.  It's a decent fish, smashed the glider near the surface on about the 8th cast of the day.  Hi fives.  Who said musky were the 10000 cast fish?  This is easy.  about an hour later John is throwing a huge bondy swim bait, shallow version with a long tail, they don't make it anymore.  These things are enormous and have hooks everywhere so if they even smell the bottom, you're already hung.  Sure enough he gets hung up.  I use the trolling motor to move upstream to the lure.  Then it starts moving.  He thinks a stick... nope.  Nice big musky.  He couldn't pick up line quickly enough and the fish shook the bait.  Darn!  Did the fish hit it after he pulled it off the snag?  I've seen that before.  Or was he never snagged?  Did it take it right off the bottom?  He had a line twist on his guide that took a few seconds to fix and then got stuck on the bottom.  Who knows. 

Notice the tag?  This fish was first tagged in December 2014 and was 34.5" male.  He didn't grow much and has basically maxed out his size for a male fish.  The females can get considerably larger.  Phoned DNR today and had a decent chat and email exchanges. 

Later we do another drift on the apposite side.  Nothing in the best looking spot.  Tough to keep the boat still.  I fished the glider most of the time.  We set up on a second drift over the same spot, this time with different baits to give a different presentation.  I fished a 3/4oz skirted jig with a 6 inch swim shad and bounced it on the bottom near some timber off a steep bank.  Second bounce and thump.  No mistaking this for a fish.  It hit just like a striped bass sucking in a 10" BKD.  Solid hook set and awesome fight.  This was a good size fish and pretty much maxed out the net.  But John did an excellent job and we got the fish.  Number two, almost number three.  Not bad for three hours!  Even made the run a couple miles downstream to a productive spot in the past and blanked.  Didn't leave for this spot till 5pm.  Talk about being able to bounce around.  A jet opens up so many possibilities it isn't even funny.  Full speed over ledges we used to cringe going over.  Gotta love it.  Finished the evening saying hi to kids, sharing a few adult beverages, drooling over AR15's, 16's 22's, and about a dozen other guns.  Perfect evening.  When I got home I sat and finished a beer on my own and recapped the day over and over again while looking at the pictures.  Then today I just had to write about it.  Who cares if it's January.  Temps are in the 40's, water temps are high 30's or low 40's and the fish are on the feed.  Guess how many other people were out?  Zero.  Thanks everyone.