By Justin Urbas
I was barely 12-years old, standing on the banks of the Allegheny River in Potter County, Pennsylvania. Clad in hand-me-down jeans and an orange Indy 500 t-shirt, I held a Shakespeare spinning rod and reel tightly as my grandfather fastened a 6-inch rubber worm to the end of my line. After my cast, I turned to my grandfather and said, "I heard there are muskies in this part of the river." Mouth full of tobacco, he spit a small puddle right there on the bank next to me and replied, "that's bull****". "Ain't no muskies in the river." He then went into his infamous granddaddy laugh. A couple minutes later, as I slowly retrieved my rubber worm, something took the bait. Grandpap coached me, telling me to let the fish run, "probably a nice bass" he said. When I set the hook, my rod got heavy, real heavy. I had never seen my rod bend the way it was. "That's a big fish" I yelled. My grandpap stood silent. The fish stayed down for a minute and then came to the surface. As the fish drifted up to the surface, I couldn't believe my eyes. As soon as I saw the fish, which was about four feet long, she turned with tremendous force and cut my line like a razor. She was gone. There was a couple seconds of silence then grandpa's classic raspy voice throated "there's muskies in this river kid", then he laughed.
Since that day, I've been addicted to Musky fishing. After a few years, I started to persuade my younger brother, Dan "BookEm" Urbas, to start chasing the elusive fish with me. It was tough to find times to go since our father was an avid trout fly-fisherman and President of Trout Unlimited. It took a lot of effort to persuade our father to take us but we would talk him into canoe float trips down the Allegheny River and when I became old enough to drive, BookEm and I would even hit the river during deer hunting season in late November. Our older brother thought we had something "loose" upstairs. Our family would go on trips to Kinuza Dam a lot and everybody would be fishing small stuff for bass or walleye. BookEm and I would be throwing 12-inch Swim Whizzes.
As years passed, our musky trips faded off as I eventually moved to California to start my business career. But in 1998, BookEm moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota and everything changed again. My brother is also a die-hard bowhunter, so it was no surprise that he found a good job in Minnesota where he could also hunt giant whitetails in the Fall. Well let's just say, as soon as he figured out that Minnesota was also one of the best states in the country for great musky fishing, our addiction was "on" again.
BookEm and I have been enjoying the challenge of fishing for the elusive predator all throughout Minnesota to this day. I make my monthly trips, sometimes twice a month, and we scour the state's lakes from Spring through late Fall. My brother spends almost everyday on the water since he lives there which has made him definitely a better musky fisherman than me. So as you can see, musky fishing is a part of us that will never leave, in our blood, let's just say. We do it because we love it! It's been our passion in life since we were little and grows stronger everyday.
My father was an avid trout fisherman, so was my older brother - still is.
BookEm and I, we're musky fisherman, always will be.
Enjoy our store. Our store is dedicated to all the musky fanatics like us. We hope we have whatever you need for all your musky experiences. Feel free to write or call us if there is any question you might have or if there is anything you need that we don't have.
See you on the water.
Keep casting.
Justin Urbas and Dan "BookEm" Urbas
Owners
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