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| Scott Murison and Joey Muszynski (Photo: Lures and Tours) |
Scott and Joey lead on Day 1 with 19.65 lbs. Their tournament bag was anchored with a big largemouth that claimed big fish for the day and overall for the event. This is their second year in a row as champions. Actually, in the last four years, either Joey or Scott have won this event as a team or with other team mates.
Muszynski and Murison also won the Casey Cup on Lake Simcoe this past June and have dominated the Western Division on the CSFL circuit.
What follows is an in-depth look at how they won.
Practice
Deciding to practice in two separate boats, the pair spent about three days on the water between the two of them. Couchiching is best know for hungry smallmouth but largemouth are a huge factor, especially since this tournament restricted angler to only fishing Lake Couchiching. Lake Simcoe, which holds schools of giant smallmouth, was off-limits.
Day 1
“It was a gorgeous day. At blast-off, we ran to a community smallmouth spot. Four other boats were also in the area.” explains Joey. "Scott was throwing an OSP jerk bait as I worked a drop shot rigged with a Crush Worm from Set the Hook. We boxed a limit in 20 minutes…about 30 fish were caught around us in that time.” recalls Joey.
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| Crush Worm by Set The Hook (Photo: L. De Rose) |
Once they determined they worked the area fully, they switched to largemouth. The rest of the day was spent fishing docks and shallow cover. Bass were caught steadily. The day’s big bass was caught by Joey. That 5.35lbs bass pushed their Day 1 total to 19.65lbs, enough to secure first place. Their big bass bit a jig off the end of a dock. (Joey was vague about the specifics of the jig, but it is speculated that the jig was of custom design or colour pattern.)
Joey summarized the day as steady with the morning bite being as crazy.
Day 2
Once their boat number was called, they raced to the same community hole as Day 1. It turned out to be a bust. With only one bass secured, they fished numerous other smallmouth areas. “We were seeing good bass but couldn’t get them to bite.” laments Joey. Soon, they tried a row of docks which netted a nice 4 pound largemouth for Scott. Having fished for a few hours with only two bass, they were not thrilled about the day.
“Your going to laugh but we went the next 6 hours without a bite.” conveyed Muszynski “ Couch can be that way (difficult to fish) but that’s how it is. You cannot get down on yourself but at some point you have to start catching something.” laughs Muszynski
3pm
“Scott saw some bait fish flicking on the surface and threw an OSP Rudra jerk bait and then smashes a 4 lber. I grab a crush worm on a wacky jighead (Flick Shake rig) and catch a smaller largemouth. On Scott’s very next cast, he smashes another 4 lb largemouth.” retells Joey.
“If I was reading this (about how this day unfolded) I would say, “ that never happens to me” but it did.” insists Joey.
“From not getting a check to wining in 15 minutes. It was so strange. That is the first time that has ever happened to me. I’ve heard of others telling me that (similar stories) but that how it really happened.
It happened so fast …we were just happy to finally have fish, we didn’t mentally calculate the weights...till when Scott was putting the 5 bass in the weigh-in bag, we realize we had a good bag.” recalls Joey.
Well, Scott and Joey's sack of bass was truly special. It totalled 18.75lbs and claimed the win. The day when from disaster to amazing. The two also claimed multiple cheques for heaviest bag on Day 1 and Day 2 plus big fish on Day 1 plus Overall big bass. Quite an accomplishment considering the day began so poorly.
Equipment
Drop shot
Rod: Shimano Cumara 7’2” with a Shimano Stradic reel
Line: 6 lb Fluorocarbon line
Lures: Crush Worm and other drop shot worms from Set The Hook
Jig
Rod G. Loomis 7’5” Mossback with a Shimano Curado E7 reel
Line : 65lb PowerPro Braid
Lure: Undisclosed
Scott’s Jerkbait Rod
Shimano Cumara Reaction series with a Curado E7 reel
Line: 15lb Fluoro
Lure: OSP jerkbaits and OSP Rudra (colour was not given)
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