I’m back and happy to tell you about the musky caught by my son

Remember me? I hope you will do it.

I took a surprise vacation for a month, but it wasn’t the kind of vacation I would have chosen if I had the choice. I would have chosen a trip to hunt monster fish in Canada or Central America, but that’s not where I spent the last month.

I have spent the last month in Central DuPage Hospital’s intensive care unit and Marianjoy Rehabilitation Center, recovering from the stroke I suffered in early June.

I know what you’re thinking. How could such a handsome, youthful and vibrant young man be struck by such affliction? (I hope you can detect my sarcasm.) I guess I should have listened to the health experts a long time ago.

I hope to count on all of you for your ideas, suggestions and anecdotes that will help me fill this space. I thank you in advance.

In the meantime, I’ll be fishing a lot vicariously through my youngest son, Daniel. He is married to his lovely wife, Kristin, and they have a 16-month-old daughter, Emily, who is the most important thing in my life right now (of course, second only to my wife, Joyce.)

The author’s son, Dan Sarley, holding his first muskie, a magnificent fish from the Fox River in west suburbs.
Photo courtesy of Steve Sarley

With a new baby in the house, it’s difficult for Dan to fish as much as he’d like, as family commitments allow.

The day before I arrived in the ICU, Dan stopped in Fox River, in the western suburbs, for a few casts on his way home from work. He was hoping to encounter a smallmouth bass or two, from a place that had already produced for him. He had a medium weight rod and reel connected to very light braided fishing line.

Dan was casting a medium-sized black and blue plastic Keitech swim bait into water that was only a foot and a half to 2 feet deep when he felt something hit the bait. It didn’t take him long to realize it was a fish. It didn’t take him much longer to realize that what was on his hook wasn’t the smallmouth bass he was hoping to hook up with.

“Oh my God! I think I have a muskie on the line,” he thought.

He was right. I wish I could have watched him bring it. Dan didn’t have any scales or measuring tape with him, but most people told him the fish measured in the mid-30s and weighed in the teens. Landing a fish of these dimensions on a very light line and without a net must have been a masterful task. The beast quickly returned to the Fox and can be caught. I’m proud of Dan.

I remember seeing my first musky chase my bait right to the side of the boat. It didn’t even take a swipe of the bait, but I remember my heart racing.

It was incredible. Of course, I remember the first musky I ever caught. It hit a plug of water and it wasn’t much different in size from Dan’s first fish.

A fisherman’s first musk is something you never forget. Muskies are different from all other fish. They can haunt you and take over your brain. A fisherman can become obsessed with it and think of nothing else. I can’t think of anything that will have me casting super heavy lures for 15 hours with virtually no breaks than a musky.

Don’t worry, my sweet baby Emily. I won’t let your father abandon you for a fish. I promise.

• Daily Herald Outdoors columnist Steve Sarley can be reached at [email protected].