Jim & Ryan Earn their Stripes

Jim and Ryan are Legends Outdoors regular clients and have often talked about different venues and species of fish during the outings.  Back in the winter they booked a two-day adventure for the spring to pursue tiger muskies; a species that neither of them ever had caught in their many years of fishing.  The days finally arrived as they made their way from New Jersey to their destination.  The first day was overcast and very chilly in the morning with air temperatures teetering around 40 degrees with very little wind.  The anglers started slow and couldn't manage but a mere strike in the first hour or so until Jim broke the proverbial ice with a largemouth bass and then that just seemed to catapult their days to another level as the off and on threatening skies passed overhead and a north wind picked up causing a bit of a chop on the water.  The action picked up drastically for the two friends as several smallmouth and largemouth bass were caught by the men before Jim finally hooked into a tiger!  Jim played it out carefully and it was netted for a nice photo before being returned to the water.  The beauty of these fish is just mesmerizing as their design is truly an art of nature.  The day would see the temperatures remain cool and dip down later in the day as these guys put in a solid day of fishing and although they didn't get any more tigers that day, they did catch a few dozen largemouth and smallmouth bass with many of them being hefty ones indeed.   They headed back to the hotel to get some rest and a nice hot meal in preparation for day number two. The rains picked up in the evening and then overnight a heavy wet snow fell covering the vehicles and boat in what was early May to show that spring cold fronts can produce some unpredictable and unstable weather such as this.  The morning of day two was cold once again, but would wind up being a bit calmer of a day as far as wind, but off and on rain showers would sweep through the area for most of the day.  First spot right out of the gate, Ryan hooked into his first tiger musky and played it out carefully as their sharp teeth can sever a line in an instant.  The fish was netted and Ryan would now have earned his stripes also!  Later on in the day, Ryan would tack on a second tiger musky as the day would be a spectacular one overall as Jim and Ryan caught several dozen fish again on this day with so many really solid fish being caught.  The species overall landed on the trip were the tiger muskies, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, perch, and a few other panfish mixed in for the two days.  They had some hearty sandwiches each day to keep up their strength along with snacks, and traditional Twizzlers to round out their on the boat diet as well as beverages.  What a great fishing experience and couple days of camaraderie for Jim and Ryan on a beautiful body of water.  They were thrilled they made the trek and they both "earned their stripes" by catching a tiger musky.