Got to fish with Bill Green for the elusive Tiger Muskie today. We launched at 6:30am and immediately hit a couple smallmouth while trolling jointed plugs 45 ft behind the boat in 25 ft deep water. No muskies trolling, so we started casting around 8am. I had a perch-imitation swim bait, Bill tried a variety of lures. At 10am we were casting toward docks and talking to a homeowner, when what should I see but a tiger coming up out of the depths to check out my swim bait. I ALMOST pulled the lure out of the water, but remember at the last instant "figure eight"! Which I did and much to my surprise this muskie slammed my lure and it was "fish on". He made several jumps fully out of the water, which was pretty interesting considering he was only six feet away! Bill netted him and I had my first Tapps lake Tiger Muskie - way cool! Of course now I'm figuring there's a tiger under every dock, but it was not to be. We called it a day around 1PM. Thanks Bill for a great morning on the water and we'll have to do it again in September!

Water temp: 68-71, sunny, warming to the seventies, calm.

---