A first muskie of 50 inches? Good learning habits in muskie fishing pay off for a 15-year-old

Kaiden Schrieber went to school on muskie in a big way.

The 15-year-old boated a Fish of a Lifetime for his first muskie, a 50-incher caught June 17 from the Flambeau Chain in Wisconsin on an orange Phantom Glider, for a reason.

“Kaiden had spent a lot of time watching musky fishing videos, tips, and lure reviews on YouTube, and has become very assertive talking to experts at local tackle shops like Kurt’s Island [Sport Shop],” his dad Phil emailed. “From that, he’s learned how to adjust his approach based on the both the science of how musky like to ambush their prey, and the science of water clarity, wind, light, and time of year.

“He applied those learnings the day he caught that musky by, 1) using a certain color, style, and size lure, 2) moving to deeper water because of clear skies and clear water, 3) fishing on the leeward side of a deep rocky and weedy point which was an ambush spot on a windy day, and 4) adjusting his retrieval method and speed.”

Kaiden, 15, who will be a junior at Neuqua Valley High School where he plays club hockey, started fishing for muskie on summer trips when he was 10.

“But [he] became hyper focused only on muskie for the last year,” his dad emailed. “Now he exclusively fishes for musky in the Northwoods.’’

FOTW, the celebration of big fish and their stories (the stories matter, as this one shows) around Chicago fishing, runs Wednesdays in the paper Sun-Times. The online posting here at chicago.suntimes.com/outdoorsgoes up at varied days of the week, depending on what is going on the wide world of the outdoors.

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