Best Reads?

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Permalink Reply by justin schlottman on February 18, 2010 at 8:24pm

bill gardners, time on the water , or any of the rizzo books are good. all older books but classics.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Rideout on February 19, 2010 at 10:15am

Muskies on thst shield by Dick Pearson is a great read

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Permalink Reply by Zielke Experience on February 19, 2010 at 9:38pm

Anything by, Rizzo is very good...He is excellent old school, top, Muskie fisherman. He has researched
the very difficult Tiger Muskies (which all of us want to catch)! Cool guy! but, doesn't like to attract
much attention to himself...

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Permalink Reply by Jkahler on February 20, 2010 at 11:40am

musky on the fly by Robert Tomes
old man and the sea
Pro Tactics: Muskie: Use the Secrets of the Pros to Catch More and Bigger Muskies by Jack Burns and Rob Kimm

Try your local library, maybe they have some really old ones. Mine had the Bert Claftin (sp?) book from the 40's and it was a good read.

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Permalink Reply by Zielke Experience on February 20, 2010 at 8:12pm

Something kind of rare...Is The Complete Book of Fishing by, A.J. McClane...
Has nice digital photos of, famous Heddon Crazy Crawler, Wood Vamp, and
Meadow Mouse...But, there is also a nice Big Game section in book which some
cool ocean techniques! w/ photos!

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Permalink Reply by H Bier on February 26, 2010 at 4:00am

I don't think you easily find this book, so I typed up one of my favorite exerpts for this. I actually poste dthis on another forum and then saw this and thought it was fitting so I am posting it here as well. Its from an Ontario Out of Doors book/special edition mag that I got when I got my first substribtion back in 93'. The book is titled 20 Great Fishing Spots. It was printed in 1990, but I think a lot of what it contains is much older. I grew up watching fishing shows on Saturday mornings instead of cartoons and reading and collecting fishing rags instead of hockey cards. This has got to be one of my all time favs. Its stuff like this that got me into fishing and of course helped build the legend that is Musky for me.

This is taken word for word out of the section on Eagle Lake.

Lawerence Campbell, who many years ago saw a 60-pound plus muskie caught in eagle lake, said he was seen one fish even larger. This fish also inhabited Coleman's Reef. One of Cambell's clients hooked the giant in 1970, the last year it was seen alive. the concensus of opinion now is that the old fish died and sank to bottom.
"I had two fellows from Chicago with me," explained Campbell. "One hooked that monster, and we all had a good look at it on the top. It was enormous. It fought just below the surface and a swirl like there was a giant mixer working under the water.
"My client had the fish on for 15 minutes. It straightened the hook on his big Suick jerkbait and escaped."
"I haven't seen that fish since 1970, but sometimes I wake up at night and dream about it. I'm sure Eagle Lake can produce a Muskie to break the St. Lawerence record."
Campbell's enthusiam was matched by that of Ernie Bruetch from Waldof, Ontario. bruetch won the 1977 Vermillion Bay Muskie Hunt with the capture and release of a 52 inch fish.
Bruetch's giant fish is still in the lake. He spotted it again but failed to hook it.
"I was out fishing with me daughter," Breutch recalled. "Suddenly thise huge fish followed my bucktail to the boat. It was the largest Muskie I've ever seen."
"I told my daughter to mark the boat near the point where the muskie's head was, and I marked the point on the boat where it's tail at exactly the same time."
"We measured the distance and came up with a total length of 68 to 70 inches. I suspect that fish might have broken the current world record."
While lawernce Campbell liked to stick with one angling technique-casting-and one type of lure-a bucktail-another former Eagle lake guide, Don Therrien, continually experimented with tackle and techniques. It might have cost him a record.
An American angler at the 1977 Vermillion Bay Muskie Hunt told me he thought Therrien was the best muskie angler he had ever seen.
Therrien's reputation was such that when I was out fishing him, we were followed and then finally approached by another American angler wanting to make sure he could hire Therrien for the next day.
Therrien estimates he has personally taken several thousand muskie, including more than 30 over 40 pounds and two over 50.
He won the Vermillion Bay Muskie Hunt in 1975 and 1976, but didn't enter in 1977.
"One autum, several years ago, I hooked a huge muskellunge off Strawberry Istand," Therrien said. "My reel was loaded with 60-pound-test monofiliment. My theory at the time was that heavy mono was as effective as a wire leader.
"My lures worked better without the wire leader, so I used that rig all summer and had good luck with it."
"It was during the first week of October. The fish appeared from nowhere. He didn't follow my lure into the boat, he came straight up from the bottom like a missle."
"Those Suicks are about nine inches long. the muskie's mouth was so big that it engulfed the entire lure."
"The muskie headed for deep water. It seemed to try to jump, but couldn't manage the effort that ended up rolling on the surface. About one quarter of its body was visible. Then it sounded for the bottom."
"I managed to pump it back up to the top about a dozen times over a fifteen minute period. It never moved with speed, just used its weight to take out line. It was like being hoooked to a hog. The muskie pulled my 14-foot aluminum boat around like a cork."
"I thought I'd take the fish. Its time had come. I fought it gently, tried not to get excited. Finally I drew the fish within five feet of my boat. My club was at my feet. It was only a matter of seconds before I would have been in a position to kill it.
"I was excited , like a novice angler. That fish made my 50 pounders look small."
"The muskie made one last slow turn away form the boat. It wasn't a frantic move, just a turn."
"The line parted, the heavyweight was gone. The muskie sank form view and I felt sick."
"That fish had to be at least a foot longer than my 51 pounder and was exceptionally deep, from 16 to 20 inches in depth. That's not Girth," Therrien emphasized. "That's depth."
"I wouldn't even venture to guess its girth, but I am sure the fish would have come close to or exceeded the weight of the world record."
"the 60-pound-test mono had rubbed against its teeth and gradually wore through. So much for my theory about the effcetiveness of mono. I'm back to using 7-inch-long wire leaders.


Just love that excerpt. Hope someone else does. I especially love the part about the club at his feet. there are some great pics as well. What a legend that guy must have been. I would think his 50 pounders were legit since he killed all of his big fish.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Rideout on February 26, 2010 at 9:17am

Great post H.

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Permalink Reply by Dean on March 6, 2010 at 5:33pm

John Dettloffs, topwater tactics and tales is good, so are Tony Rizzos books

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Permalink Reply by Zielke Experience on March 7, 2010 at 2:31am

Cool Fishing Magazine called, N.F.L.C.C. is nice read! Lots of info on older fishing lures!
Yours truly is in there on 2nd, last page, cover top. I won big with that fishing lure at a difficult
lure contest! I believe magazine is sold out...At a fishing/lure show I should have at least one
magazine with me...

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Permalink Reply by Zielke Experience on March 14, 2010 at 7:48am

I got a good book for you! Dave Strege's "Celebrity Fish Talk." Have a delicious Bailys with this cool
book. Price, @$20.00...It is a comical view on famous people while in the great outdoors while fishing
and walking in the woods...etc. Famous singers, baseball players, and a lot more share their unusual
encounters...(with regular folk)...Expect surprises while reading-very different!

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