Rizzo

ouch

fish taste yucky...they all go back.

just thankful my wife pays zero attention to the things I type here...kind of like I pay zero attention to all that facebook *#!@ she does

isn't that what wives are for? (oh man, I'm gonna get it now)

Only fished it once and got chased off by a storm. Good smallies for the hour I was out there though. I fish Crane more often because it has a free launch and I'm too cheap to pay on Blackstone!

congrats on your personal best. Every time I hit Balsam its windy as heck, good that you had a calm day...although with the temps you were probably begging for a breeze

man that last bass is a fatty! nice job

any 2 colours are fine (assuming those 2 colours are black and orange)

I have seen one on the underwater camera while drifting down the upper niagara, maybe just a bit smaller than that one. Very nice!

even a remote threat and I get the heck out of there. Twice I couldn't make it back to the launch due to waves. Once, crawled up under somebody's cottage, the other time I tied off to a small rock island and got pelted by rain and wind but thankfully nothing else

fish of a lifetime! very nice

Some awesome fish. Always happens when you're not there! Kind of like the resort owner who tells you "the guys last week did really well"

Very busy lake with cottagers/personal watercraft. we always did well for smallies and eyes if you can find a quiet place or time of day. I never caught any pike there

I towed a slightly lighter package (14' Lowe, side console, 25 hp) with a toyata celica for years and never needed someone with a truck to help me . If your weights listed above are accurate though I think you know the answer, don't even bother!

That's my first trip to Balsam this year, sounds like I hit it at the right time...but isn't that a big part of musky fishing - timing. GCD that was hilarious...accurate assessment, but hilarious

so windy 3 out of 4 times for you too, Cram. I agree it helps with the fishing generally, but come on, I get tossed around on that lake a little too much. Last year I was there one time and it got so bad I actually tied off to some guy's dock on Grand Island and hid under his cottage to wait out a storm. I had tried to make a run back to the launch, but when the waves started to come over the front of the boat I headed for the nearest shelter! I wasn't alone under there either, there were birds and some other creatures hanging out down there while the storm went on. Come to think of it, the one time on Balsam I got totally skunked (ie not even an incidental bass or walleye) was on a day where the water was like glass...guess I shouldn't complain about the wind.

Wife is away for a few days...perfect time to take a day off work for some fishing! Decided to go to Balsam in search of toothy esox. Left Barrie around 5 a.m. and was on the water shortly after 6. Water was approx 71 degrees. Day started off pretty well with a small musky (32 inches?) falling for a trolled shallow raider in firetiger over 18 feet of water. And then came the wind. Every time I go to Balsam it just howls. I don't think I've ever left there dry (should have bought a boat with a full windshield!). I couldn't have been wetter after an upwind trolling pass. Next fish (37 inches?) fell victim to a jig (I got tired of getting soaked and decided to drift). Finally, around 4 p.m. a healthy 42 inch musky smashed a suick at boatside. Couldn't even see it coming due to the waves I was battling, hit the bait with only around 10 feet of line out. Nothing fights like a musky on a short leash. So end count was 1 trolling, 1 jigging, and 1 casting. Unfortunately no camera as the wife took it with her when she went away so no inches for team 9, but I'm sure we'll do better than 42 anyways (knock on wood)!

5 for 10 in 2 hours sounds good to me! If you discover its a musky biting you off rather than hammerhandle pike I'd be happy to help you with that problem!

My 2 year old absolutely loves casting the scooby doo rod...doesn't even want anything with hooks, just loves chucking the casting plug. Amazing how far a 2 year old can cast and he'll do it all day long. My 5 year old has zero patience, always wants to just drive the boat...he gets bored bringing in a 5 pound smallie and hands the rod off part way through!

I'm not much of a bass fisherman, but I have gotten them in water 30 feet deep

There's your problem, you were actually targetting them! We caught this brute earlier this year while pike fishing. quick photo and back she went. My guess is it went around 8-9 lbs. Sadly for Team 9 I had no logo with me!

so much water up there, maybe narrow it down a little! for starters you could try Manitouwabing or GBay for pike and pretty much anywhere for smallmouth. Everywhere I've fished up there has had great smallie fishing

ya I remember that summer back in the early 90's. It almost funny had bad it was every week-end.

Can't remember where I launched when I went there. All I know is it wasn't hard to find a place, but I also didn't drive around looking for the free dirt ramp either, just went to to the first marina I found

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