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Had a chance to join a buddy and his son for a Muskie charter yesterday. We went out with Fish Lake St. Clair charters, Ian is a very good boater (never had a minute of worry in his boat) and the man worked his butt off, trying to get us on fish. He had the boards set up in less then ten minutes of being on the water. At day break the wind and water were calm; so we trolled out of the river on to the lake. Marking lots of bait fish along with what we were hoping to be Muskies in the middle of the mix. About an hour into the troll we had a hard hit on the one setup; but it was gone before even getting the rod out of it's holder. A couple of hours go by, the wind and the chop start to build and decided to go into the river. Not that it was to rough or cold, it was the weeds that were churned up. The plugs spent more time in the boat, being cleaned then they were in the water. Another hour or so goes by and then a good hit. Ian pulls the rod out of it's holder and passes the rod to by buddies son. He hasn't fished a whole lot; but Ian was there coaching him all the way to the net. It It was his fist Muskie and the largest fish he had ever caught. (42 inch) I'll let the pic tell you how the young guy felt. Next was my turn up and I was gifted this 44 in fish; had a blast landing her. You can see in the pic that something during the life of this Muskie; had taken a bite out of its dorsal fin? We ended up with three fish boated (No pic of #3) and had a great time out there. At first I thought why isn't he releasing that fish right away. Then he explained that this narrow tank stops the fish from thrashing around and holds the fish upright. The inlet water hose enters the tank to flow fresh water over the gills. He leaves the fish in there for 5 or so minutes to revive itself. The a quick pic and in the water it goes. This fish took off like a rock when it was released. Dan. Here Ian was showing the proper hold for these fish.

As the open water season draws to a close and I reflect on this past season, MAN was it crazy! Not really sure what the new normal will be but I just want to get back to some kind of normal! that being said, sorry that I've been MIA for a good part of the summer. That being said our lakes and waterways seem to be busier than ever before with many new anglers drawn to our sport during these COVID times! Hopefully these newcomers will take the time to understand what it takes to be a responsible anglers, understanding MNR rules & regs., respecting the properties of others, etc. We will try to address as many of these things in on-line content as the ice season approaches! That being said, still managed to catch plenty of great fish! See below some fish porn from this past open water season! Will still get in a number of fun fishing outings before ice-up and looking forward to the up coming ice season! I hope that everyone has had a great summer and is staying safe & keeping well! It'll be ice fishing season in no time!

There's a guy I work with who has a picture of him holding a 53" on his office wall. First and only time muskie fishing for him. He's a nice guy, but I think I hate him.

It's a boat, you do what you've gotta do.

Was it a Stanbait in dark perch you found on Gbay with a Husky muskie leader attached? lol (Irish knows the baits I'm talking about).. Flouro main line isn't going to help when you go from 30ft to 5ft in a blink of an eye, those zebra muscles will slice whatever they come in contact with. I run 5ft leaders when trolling muskie with 80lb braid as main line. I take 10ft of main line off every time I'm out on the water just in case there's a nick from something I didn't see. Nothing you can really do about it but pay attention.

I have two sons and if I tried tying either one to a tree when they were teenagers, I’d be the one tied to the damn tree. OP, regardless of the jacket you pick, make sure you set the example and wear the same one. As far as the auto-inflates go, yes there is a small failure rate. However the rate is extremely small compared to the rate of people that won’t wear a regular pfd because they’re too hot, too bulky, too restrictive, etc. I wear an auto-inflate 100% of the time I’m fishing alone in my boat. I wore a regular pfd 0% of the time while fishing previously.

I think guys aren't familiar with the Niagara, it's crazy fast, heavy water, for those who don't know I'd use a lifejacket and have it tethered to a tree like Wayne suggested, a short leash too

In case anyone stumbles across this and is looking for things to do, like we were.... Went for a nice stroll up Eels Creek to High Falls, was a good trail and I only got turned around once... https://www.alltrails.com/trail/canada/ontario/eels-creek-to-high-falls Think we will need to head back to this area again next year....

I’d personally recommend and auto inflatable. They are so comfortable you will forget that you are wearing it. I personally use a cabellas guide wear and love it. I made the switch from only wearing a vest while under power to basically always wearing the inflatable. There’s stories about them not inflating, but I think a significant component of that is people not storing and maintaining them correctly.

I would recommend an auto hydrostatic inflatable pfd (of which the mustang hit fits into this group).

First thing we have to do is get over the stigma of looking different, not sure if you are a boater but why not get some of the Mustang HIT inflatable PFD? They are so comfortable you wont know you are wearing one. They are all i have in my boat and one day my buddy had to leave early so i dropped him off at the dock and went back out, he calls me that night to make arrangements to return the inflatable to me . Seems it was so comfortable he didn't realize it was still on till he was in the line of the grocery store.