First Muskie(s)

       I am now enrolled at WVU, so my fishing opportunities will be fairly limited while I am here. Nonetheless, I have found some aquatic friends to play with as always. There is a large river nearby, and with the help of public transportation, and embracing the weird stares I get from the moment I leave my dorm with fishing rods to the moment I return, I am having a pretty good time figuring it out!
      A couple days ago, I was fishing for bass with a super spook Junior. I almost jumped out of my shoes when something erupted from underneath it! I assumed it was a large striper, and proceeded to have 4 blowups on consecutive casts from what I thought was the same fish. I finally hooked it, but only for a second, long enough for me to see that it was a very large musky, a fish I had never dealt with before.
      I went back to my dorm, rigged up my swimbait rod with a 90# fluoro leader and a bull shad, and the next opportunity I had after I finished with classes and work, I headed off to the river! I went to the exact same spot where I lost the fish, and within 3 casts I watched the fish crush my bait, but he instantly rolled off of it. I threw back to the same spot and was stunned when the fish followed the bait all the way to my feet in a foot of water. I gave the fish a moment to rest before I continued fishing. A couple casts in, I see the submarine like wake begin to push up behind the bait, I started a sequence of burning the bait across the surface and stopping it, and several times the water erupts behind the bait. Finally the fish eats it and I swing for the fences (the last two sentences took place in less than 5 seconds)! After a short battle, to insure that the fish did not exhaust itself in the warm water, I grabbed the leader, got a photo, unhooked the fish, and released it.
     I couldn't believe it! The fish of 10,000 casts! I decided I may as well keep casting, although I knew the odds were incredibly slim now that I had caught the fish I assumed had ruled this piece of the river... Two casts later another fish boils on the bait, and as soon as I made a follow up cast to where the boil was, a musky crushes the bait once again, I set the hook, beside myself at this point, and repeat what I just did. This fish was slightly larger, maybe 35-36".
   Now I don't even know what to think, so I pick up the rod and keep casting. A third musky destroys the bull shad no more than 5 casts later! I could tell this fish was much larger than the first two, I couldn't move it even close to as easily as the other two. I got the fish close to the bank, and the hook pulled! I was too happy to be bummed out though, and while this was the last bite I got for the evening, I am sure there are more to come.