Musky Hooked on #5 Rapala Lake Hopatcong, Hybrid Stripers Trolled

These are just some of the average stripers Joe Landolfi and his girlfriend Diane have been trolling on Lake Hopatcong. Joe's biggest is six pounds, so far this year. The lake has come alive and Laurie Murphy reports lots of trout being trolled, some walleye as large as seven pounds, and a four-pound, 14-ounce pickerel. Really nice fish. Beginning at 5 a.m., Saturday, May 17th, Knee Deep Club's Walleye Weekend derby begins, ending Sunday at 2 p.m.

The hybrids are great to catch, but the really surface shattering action came when a musky Joe estimates at 50 inches struck Diane's #5 Rapala on six-pound test--tiny little plug--and erupted into view.

"Give me the rod!" Joe said. He swiped it.

"It's my fish!"

"OK, if you want to lose it." He gave the rod back, the musky simply racing away into open lake, the drag sounding off like a katydid on an August night stuck at steady volume.

It didn't take long for the inevitable to happen. The line parted and that's the end of this story.

What may be coming next, who knows. Joe's going after that musky.

Cisco Kid (1960's)