Rizzo

over 2 years now! hard to believe. Pros: close to good fishing. Cons: winter.

nice photos. That second last photo has some monster smallies in it

sounds like some tough conditions! On the positive side, if you luck into a fish or two you've done better than most, and you know what that means...$$$$

you may be on to something. It truly has been a bizarre year, can't believe the number of pesky walleyes that have entered my boat. Here's a few more that have bit off more than they could chew. They seem to like the taste of the 9 inch suick. They are just lucky I don't like the taste of fish that much, all but one fish got released from my boat this year.

5 trips is awesome! I'm lucky if I get out 5 times. Usually Lakair is my one trip of the year, but even that didn't pan out for me this year. Congrats on the pb musky!

I fished both these locations recently with some pretty poor results...so this should be pretty brief (hence the combo report rather than a report for each!) Went to Big chute with Alvin and we pounded it hard for musky. On the water by 7 a.m. and we casted non-stop until 5 p.m. Didn't even stop to eat...only drank as we bombed from one location to the next (well, "bombed" might not be the best term for a 25 hp). There are some great looking spots, but it was certainly a tough day. I think between the 2 of us we caught maybe 4 or 5 incidental fish and didn't even have a musky siting. We came across one spot that looked even better than the rest...green weed, boulders, close to deep water...Alvin commented all this spot needed was wood...and what do you know, we float over a stump and we are not far off the channel! Alvin had been "walking" a manta back to the boat, but this bass slammed it as we came by that deadly combo of weed/rock/depth/wood. This was the only photo worthy fish of the day. A few days later we headed out to Balsam, again in search of the wily and elusive musky. If anyone remembers Saturday the 15th...that's when we were there. Freakin cold and super windy. It was about 13 degrees colder than the previous few days had been (they were quite pleasant and in the 20's). That day water temps dipped to below 65 degrees, after the past week I wouldn't be surprised if water was back near 70 again! Either way, I often seem to pick the worst days to go fishing (because I have no choice...dang work dictates when you can fish!). We only had a few hours (thank goodness). Besides the tough conditions, trolling motor was acting up, running only at full speed. Because of the waves, we decided to tuck into south bay and spend our few hours in this spot. With the cold front, we tried to slow our presentations down, but when the boat got into the wind...you were being blown across the bay at a ridiculous speed. We did tangle with a nice musky, that grabbed onto a big jig in about 18 feet of water. Fish was kind enough to release itself after about a 20 second tussle. I keep telling myself that was the best result because I was too cold to unhook it anyways. Had the ice fishing fingers going by that time. Managed an incidental smallie, as well as this pickerel that fought so poorly I literally didn't know I had it until it was at boatside. That has been the story of my musky season...pickerel, lots and lots of pickerel. And trust me, a 2 lb pickerel on 80lb powerpro feels like 1 strand of cabbage coming in.

dang incidental pickerel...that's been the story of my year...oh well, lots of time left to boat a big one

those are some serious bass

man those carp are damn ugly. Nice report though

you got frustrated musky fishing...inconceivable. Nice report though, hooked into a lot of different species

some great photos, sounds like a good time. I've never been to Baptiste but sounds like an interesting spot to fish

Can't understand why he is a dumb ass. I've swam in Florida in lakes where there are gators as do many many people. Bears are in the woods where we walk. I swim in the ocean where there are sharks too. What ya gonna do, wrap yourself in bubble paper and never enjoy the outdoors? Just play it smart...if someone spots one of the above critters nearby, time to hightail it outta there. For the most part though, gators will avoid the high traffic areas of these lakes (swimming, jetskis, waterskis etc) and hang out in your marshy areas.

I don't put anything on a spoon (ie live bait, twister tail). Great motion all on their own and you can fish them at any depth (why I prefer the heavier spoons). Great for pike, but I've caught a lot of pickerel on them too.

that fish is striking a nice pose for you. Looks like a sailfish wannabe

so you did pull it off, very nice Rick. We'll see about that back to back thing next year though Maybe no back to back in your future, but eventually someone will have to get their name on that monstrosity twice. I'll put my $$$$ on Avery...he's had the most shots at repeating as champ and I think he's due. Those dang baits of his seem to catch fish too, forget about these swimbaits we're talking about, go jumla (I think that's what they are called)

how many fish are we talking about here? Sometimes to get the real trend you've got to base it on a high number of experiences. In the short term, all kinds of weird things can look like trends. other things to consider...do the larger baits have stinger hooks? Also, if you're hooking muskies at boatside (not entirely uncommon ), a pool cue rod with no stretch line can pull a fishes lips off (or the bait out of their mouth, whichever comes first)

Woman walks into the bar with a duck under her arm. "That's quite a pig you've got there" the bartender exclaims. "Its a duck, not a pig you moron" the woman snaps "Mind your own business, I was talking to the duck" the bartender replies.

there's my problem...I should be using world record size catfish for bait. Anyone know where I can pick up a 20lb channel cat?

I grew up in Etobicoke, fishing the humber river as a kid. Shopping carts were considered "structure", I could probably pull out 2 suckers, a carp and 14 lamprey eels from behind a submerged shopping cart. I'm just surprised to see mimico looking so clean.

welcome aboard phattie, looking forward to some reports.

Who actually "won" Rick (perhaps yourself)? The win is tainted though because I wasn't there to compete...kinda like a golfer winning an event when Tiger isn't in the field...doesn't really count. (man fishing trash talk feels good)

check out the eyes on that thing, I think that may be a world record pickerel, not a slimy esox. Either way, heck of a fish. Not 73 lbs but I wouldn't mind tangling with it

I've had success but I prefer models without the treble on the bottom...allow you to bounce em around on bottom without snagging up or zebra mussles clamping down on them!

you sure that's mimico? Where are all the shopping carts and tires?

good report and nice photos. i thought you were going to tell us you caught that musky, not that he just wreaked some havoc on the other fish