The Greenville News
Saturday, May 15, 2004
By Scott Keepfer
In the eyes of many anglers, the elusive muskie ranks as the most difficult fish to catch, often being referred to as the “fish of 10,000 casts.”
If that’s true, Andrew Howard will be fishing on credit for years to come.
He began amassing his deficit last weekend during an annual fishing outing known affectionately as “Old Whitey Weekend” in reference to a particularly effective white plastic fishing grub that has become an integral part of their tackle selection.
On this yearly assemblage of eight Greenville-area friends on North Carolina’s New River, the standard quest is the smallmouth bass, for which the river is indeed much revered.
But in recent years, another fish has captured at least a few anglers’ imaginations.
“Every once in a while in the past few years our guide would get all crazy because he’d see a muskie,” said Howard, a veteran Old Whitey Weekend participant. “We’d try to sling a lure toward them a couple of times and of course, they’d never bite.”
But even a wily, big-toothed, top-of-the-food chain predator such as the muskie has to eat every once in a while, and last weekend happened to be one of those times. Suffice it to say that the Old Whitey Weekend got wild.
As the group of eight buddies and four guides set adrift on four raft-boats, lead guide Judson Conway of Boone, N.C.’s Elk Creek Outfitters offered this early observation: “Boys, these first several hundred yards are flat, so we’re hunting for muskies.”
Howard and his fishing buddy needed little prodding, quickly shunning the ultralight spinning outfits typically used for smallmouth bass and grabbing medium-action, seven-foot rods spooled with heftier line and steel leaders to withstand the gnashing of muskie teeth.
Thirty minutes down river the group had nary a bite. But the guide kept their confidence up, proclaiming that someone would catch a muskie “within 10 minutes.” Nine minutes later, while bumping the bottom of the shallow water with a six-inch long rainbow Rapala plug, Howard felt something that got his blood pumping.
“As the lure passed a deeper hole, it went straight down into the hole,” Howard said. “Twenty feet from the boat I knew I had more than something off the bottom. It was all frantic from there.”
The other three rafts drew near to watch the action and the muskie came to the boat in relatively short fashion. On the third attempt at netting, the muskie’s big head found the bottom of the net and was pulled aboard amidst much celebration.
“It doesn’t happen that often; our outfitter had only boated three muskies all year,” Howard said, “so everyone was excited.” After some quick photographs, the fish was released, but the excitement was just beginning.
“It was like we had broken the sound barrier or something, so we said, ‘Let’s try it again,’ ” Howard said.
“Our boat decided we’d fish for muskies until lunchtime.”
Shortly thereafter, Howard snagged his lure. While the guide was postioning and anchoring the boat in order to retrieve the lure and preserve the steel leader, Howard decided not to waste any time. He picked up his ultralight rod — equipped only with six-pound-test line and a grub — and began casting.
Another big muskie bit Howard’s grub.
“It just about broke the rod in half,” Howard said.
Fortunately, the muskie was hooked on the top lip and was unable to snap the frail line with its teeth. A minute later, the fish was in the boat.
“I was lucky enough to reel him right into the net,” Howard said.
Celebrations and photos ensued once more.
“In less than an hour we had boated two muskies and none of us could believe it,” Howard said.
The group spent the night in a riverside farmhouse, then hit the water again the next morning.
“It was flat water with a lot of structure,” Howard said. “It just looked like muskie.”
He was right. A boat up ahead yelled back that they’d seen a muskie swim under their boat. Ten casts later, Howard watched in amazement as a large muskie darted out of the depths and smacked his lure.
By 9:40 a.m. — less than 24 hours after catching his first muskie — Howard had reeled in a third.
The muskies, which were all released, ranged in size from 10? pounds to 12 pounds, 9 ounces. All were between 34 and 36 inches in length.
The fishermen spent the rest of the day casting for smallmouth bass.
“I don’t know if I could’ve lived with myself had I caught a fourth (muskie),” Howard said.
Howard’s fishing partners — the regulars of the Old Whitey Weekend — kidded him good-naturedly.
“I told them that I thrived on their envy — that was my catch-phrase for the two days,” Howard said. “But they were really good sports about it. They would hound me a little bit, then offer some praise.”
Still, Howard admits that he’s been “giddy all week,” and the monster muskie memories have only fueled his passion for fishing.