Rizzo

I was afraid I was about to see that. However, catching muskies in a snowstorm may be one of my favourite activities so bring it on.

this makes sense. Havent used leeches in years but we used to have a cottage near Parry Sound and leeches were amazing for smallmouth. Didn't even need to get in the boat. Part of our shoreline was deep water, just drop a leech straight down off the dock and you would have a 2 to 4 lb smallie almost instantly

Well this is good news!

left handed...probably lost by a guy in a tiller

you guys are so smart

musky opener around 6 years ago on St Clair my boat got swarmed. We saw 10 bees then suddenly 100 then suddenly we had thousands on our heads/bodies and the boat. Problem is we had planers out so we couldn't outrun the bees. Jumping in the water wouldn't help. Water was only 59. Also, then the bees would have the boat. Had to bring in all the gear first (10 minutes having hundreds of bees on me?). Once gear was in we took off and gently persuaded the bees to become airborne. Stopped a km or 2 away and waited. 10 bees, hundred bees then thousands of bees right back with us. THAT time when we bolted we went about 10 kms to make sure they didn't follow! Yes, we got stung a few times but nothing crazy

awesome! now you are doomed...you will obsess over catching the next one. And after a bunch more hours you will! Odds are the next one will be even bigger...and then the obsession grows. Welcome to the club

as Lew mentioned...sometimes the line 10 feet or less behind the boat is the ticket. I have caught many Kawartha muskies on a believer with maybe 5 to 7 feet of line out with rod tip jammed in the water. Guests/friends who I take the first time always look shocked when they watch me put a line right behind the boat....then they look more shocked when the drag on that one starts to scream!

believer, supershadrap, bucktails, poseidon, sledge

Great report. We have considered CR a couple of times but it has always come up runner up to a different spot. This past Feb we went to Cuba and our snorkelling tour allowed me to troll with a rod they had hooked up as well. I was less fortunate...had one rip but it didn't hook up

I fished there around 20 years ago. As long as you have a fishfinder you should find shoal areas no problem. When I was there I only had a few hours and I caught a bunch of nice smallmouth. I feel that I wasn't too far from a bluff shoreline if I remember correctly. The funny thing is, someone here already said "look for the cluster of boats". That was true 20 years ago as well. I remember heading in at dusk and seeing a group of boats clearly walleye fishing in a very localized area. You will be fine.

interesting. I once had a merc and it did the same thing...throttle issues. Can't remember the technical stuff from the place that repaired it, but yes something about some linkage issue. Hope you get it resolved easily

good stuff!

Good call.

uh oh...is she starting to cause you grief

Amazing pictures and lots of great fish even if you had to work for them.

cool! Good luck

...and for panfish my kids would catch them non-stop when we vacationed on Pigeon Lake. I always had a line of kids standing in front of me while I removed bluegill, sunnies and rockers and re-baited hooks. We would vacation with a group of people and I was the dad who fished. But all the kids liked to. They would get an hour twice a day where we would fish from shore and I had a never ending line of fish hanging from scooby doo and barbie rods. Good times

back in the day there used to be some muskies lurking on that drop off at Balsam...now there are probably a wack of pike there instead. Those panfish might have been hiding up in the weed flat

Great picture almost as big as your son!

good luck! I only ever fish there for musky (which are currently out of season...although it sounds like some are active!) so I have no advice for you. Hope you can get into some nice fish tomorrow to salvage your trip. Down south of gannons narrows the lake is much shallower. My kids always caught a million bluegill and perch when we go worm and bobber

that should buff right out

Ouch. Keep at it, try some new things. Sounds like Hartley Bay is a decent spot so maybe you were just there at a bad time or maybe you were using the wrong techniques. There are plenty of good spots within a few hours of Toronto...spots where you can "limit out" within an hour or two. Spend some more time on the water and you will find them. Sorry I have not been to Nosbonsing so can't comment on that fishery, but right next door is Nipissing and I have not had problems catching fish when I go there.

looks amazing!

Pictures too nice to ignore, sorry. Would be a hoot running the rapids on a raft of some sort.