on our casts and toward our lures during the retrieve. (The wind being calm afforded me this boat position luxury.) We were settling into the routine of cleaning out the shoreline prior to the 'prime water' of Miten's Bar when a Muskie came up from an isolated weed bed in 6 feet of water and attacked my globe from beneath the surface. I felt the fish...I set the hook with a firm tug and kept the line tight as the Muskie rocketed toward the deeper water under the boat. Anyone who has had a Muskie at the end of his line knows that there is a moment of truth in the battle when the fish either gets off or is sufficiently hooked to give you a fighting chance at successfully boating the Muskie. As the fish came up from under the boat, I could see that it was hooked reasonably well and that it was up to me to 'do the right thing' to get this fish in the boat. Since I was using some of the super strength line on my reel, the drag was not set as tightly as it would have been if I had been using braided Micron or Dacron line. I also depressed the free spool button so I could thumb line to the fish and prevent him from using the leverage of line and rod to straighten or dislodge a hook. Since the water was a bit cool, the Muskie put up a good scrap. Five to seven minutes after the fight began, Rob netted the fish as I led it boat side...Once in the net, the hooks were dislodged, and my Muskie opponent thrashed in the net as we kept him in the water to keep its time out of the water to a minimum. I cut the hooks from the globe to easily free it from the net...making it safe for me to firmly grip the fish and remove it
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