We had to stay on land to duck the electricity for about an hour, as a thin line of thunderstorms made its way through from north to south. A steady two-day light southeast wind finally shifted hard from the northeast and the front plunged through camp. Soon the storms passed leaving behind an unusual period of flat calm on the huge lake. Big-V was like glass. The first set of storms moved away to our south. We had yet to see signs of the heavy weather still several hours away to the north, moving in the same direction as the first outburst and aiming straight for us.

We grabbed our rain gear and best “confidence” lures, jumped in the boats, and swiftly ripped across the suddenly still Lake Vermilion to one of the areas we had been working and catching fish. It was near sunset and the break in the storms revealed a beautiful painted neon sky – a perfect backdrop to a big strike.

We worked a shoreline that had been productive walleye and pike territory from the moment we parked on it early in our trip. We had found at least six different species there and that fact just made it feel like a great place to be at prime time. We figured with that much activity before the front, big predators should move into the area to feed now that the weather patterns were shaking things up a bit. It was our best chance thus far to see a muskie, pike, or monster walleye.

The theory worked like a charm. My partner positioned the boat about a cast away from a rock reef that stuck straight out from the rip-rap shoreline. I took aim with a jerk bait to the left of the shallow water marker on top of the reef and began to work it. About half way back to the boat a 55-inch muskie came charging from the reef and took a swipe at the dodging and darting lure. The side and belly of the massive fish came clear of the water and she “porpoised” (a term guides use on Big-V, as it seems this sort of thing happens quite frequently) right over the top of my bait. This was the large predator we were looking for. I never had a chance though. She was gone before I even realized what had happened.