Field and Stream's December Musky Hunt on the Allegheny River

[Red Childress]

Joe Cermele (Editor of Field and Stream) and Mark Modoski (editor of Fisherman Magazine and friend of Joe's) came to Warren a few weeks ago with Joe trying to catch his first musky during his birthday weekend. We had talked about doing this about a year ago but I did not feel comfortable in further exposing this area's musky opportunities but after being assured that we would not purposely disclose certain musky locations, I decided to do it. Joe asked me to contact him when I felt his chances of getting good musky action was the greatest so I had him come up in mid-December. I had several fish located in some secondary locations due to higher than normal river flows......."all" the fish had to do was cooperate.

The stressful part was trying to get it all on video for the final episode of "Hook Shots". Our boat netted 3 muskies between the 3 of us (I will not ruin the outcome before you see the video) in some challenging weather conditions and the bite was a little tougher than it had been the previous 10 weeks.

Please keep in mind that I had very little to do with the editing phase and commentary selection during the show. I will say that it was kinda awkward shooting my "garage comments" while having a conversation with the free-standing camera because Joe had me bouncing around the timeline of the video highlights...........one minute I was talking in the past tense and the next minute the present and future tenses. It was confusing (and comical) at times.

Click the link below to see the 10 minute video. Hope you enjoy it!


http://www.fieldandstream.com/videos/fieldandstream/hook-shots/2011/12/fs-hook-shots-episode-9-season-3-year-end-muskie-hunt

[zach2626]

Awesome! Watched the video and loved it! Way to go Red!

[lowbidder]

Go ahead Red!!
Awesome video.... it must've been tough to refrain from dropping F-bombs! Haha.

[Red Childress]

The frustrating thing was that I had rolled 4 more fish and Joe rolled another fish but we just could not keep them buttoned up on the "tailess" hard baits while fishing them so slowly.......as soon as we switched to the soft-tailed stuff we went 3 for 3. It seemed like they started attacking it more aggressively.

[Red Childress]

On the last cast of the trip with the F&S guys, this walleye ate my 10" Hughes. It was only hooked with 1 hook point.


15345

[Red Childress]

Here is the short video clip of the walleye that did not make the final cut for the show:



http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/honest-angler/2012/01/big-walleye-crushes-huge-muskie-lure

[HD Fatboy]

Very nice videos red, I enjoyed watching!

[lowbidder]

Very cool video. You ever think about wearing a GoPro during your trips? It gives you something to watch from January to March and you don't even notice it's there after a few minutes. I like going back and watching how I reacted during the whole process of follow, strike, set...etc. it's a good learning tool for me, especially because I fish alone a lot and don't have somebody to tell me when I did something wrong.

Of course, that's if you can get over the whole "I look like a dork with a camera strapped to my head" thing. Hahaha!!

[Red Childress]

I have thought about it but just never have pulled the trigger yet. Something I am probably going to purchase this Spring is the new Aqua View micro-HD unit (300 bucks or so and just a little larger than a smart phone) to actually see what is lurking under the boat. We have the older unit but it so cumbersome and tough to see the screen sometimes. This smaller unit has a 50ft. cord and the camera appears to be the size of a dime.

[ttabaleulb]

Lowbidder,

I don't mean to hi-jack this thread, but I have a GoPro on its way to me this week and was wondering if you have any advice/tips on using it. I have the option of both the headband setup and also decided to order the chest strap too to see which might be best for my situaion. I plan to use for the same reasons that you listed and I think it would be awesome to have basically a video journal of a fishing season to review.


Jay

[F&SJoe]

Jay,

I've come to rely heavily on GoPros when I shoot a video for F&S. Anything underwater you see in the episode I just shot with Red was GoPro footage. Likewise, I attached them to rod handles often, stick them on the outside of my truck...there's nothing they can't do. Sturdy little cameras, however, if you plan to strap one to your chest or head to create a video journal, do yourself a favor and splurge on a 16-gig SD card. If you have anything less than an 8 and want to record in full resolution (which I recommend), you'll fill up the card in a very short time if it's just running as you fish. Naturally, if you don't mind turning it off and on you're good to go, but the damn buttons are so tiny, it can be a pain to fire one up super fast in the heat of the moment. You might miss hook sets etc.

Also, just to let you know, the video quality it great but the audio is terrible in my opinion. I NEVER use the sound recorded with the GoPro. Very faint and usually very tinny. If you watch this video http://www.fieldandstream.com/videos...nd-muskie-hunt I used the GoPro to film myself in the truck in the beginning. However, I have my Sony Cam in my lap recording everything I say so I could swap out and sync the good audio over the GoPro later. Hope this was helpful

Joe

[ttabaleulb]

Joe,

Thanks a lot!! thats exactly the kind of info that I'm lookin for. I'm glad I decided to jump up to the 32GB card after hearing that. I was wondering if it might be a bit too much for what I hope to do with it. Also, I was very curious about the on/off buttons too. Some of the reviews that I'd read also complained about the sound. For me, it might not be a bad idea to not have good sound because anyone else who might view a video of me hookin a Musky could probably do without hearing all the profanity coming out of my mouth. LOL

Seriously, thanks again. It certainly sounds like I made a good choice going with this setup.


Jay

[sweetfeet]

Great stuff. My in-laws' cabin is just a few miles from where y'all were fishing. I know they've caught a few monster muskie in there.