lew

Too far for the OP but if anyone in the Kawartha area needs repairs for Shimano fishing products they have a repair facility in Peterboro just off the 115. I've dealt with them several times and their service is 2nd to none.

The reel I primarily used for casting large spinnerbaits was a Calcutta TE 400 and with a power handle on it and it absolutely does make a huge distance.

Just seeing that nice fish on your 1st trip makes it worthwhile and it's something you'll remember for a while, some guys go all season without seeing one. The north end of Pigeon is far better than the south just for all the different types of structure available. It's a big lake and takes some time to figure it out but you'll get there and feel comfortable and confident moving around from one structure type to another.

I hear ya Pete, chasing muskies in total darkness was a real passion of mine for years and I think maybe I enjoyed it more that daylight fishing.

One day maybe 15 years ago they were calling for a nasty thunderstorm in the evening so I said to my bud we should head out just before the storm hits as that often turns them on. Once we could hear the thunder approaching we jumped in the boat and headed for a favorite spot a mile down the lake. I think it was the 3rd cast and I got this guy. We took the picture and ran back to the camp as the lightening was flashing around us. My wife asked why we didn't go fishing and I told her we left 20 minutes ago, got a fish and now we're back. You can see the storm behind me and although it wasn't a big fish it's always fun when a plan comes together LOL

Muskies don't care if it's raining, they're already wet.

Nice !!

I sent you a PM

Atta Boy Bill, nice one.

You've only just begun LOL I think I paid $50 for my Knipex but that was a long time ago but well worth the price IMO. Like anything else, if you buy cheap you'll pay for it in the long run. CTC has some nice long needle nose pliers about 12" or so which make it nice if you need to dig deep down a throat to get at a hook.

If you do get serious about musky fishing you may want to get a good set of cutters for cutting off heavy hooks. A lot of the musky guys use Knipex, including me, and they're about as good as they come although somewhat expensive but well worth the price for removing deeply buried 7/0 hooks.

There's several trailer parks on the west shore of Pigeon that may allow you to launch and leave the truck/trailer for the day but you'd have to contact them to find out. We always launched at the free ramp at the causeway in Bridgenorth and had a milk run all the way to the top of Pigeon but you may not want to travel that far.

Yup, that's it exactly.

No, that boats was an aluminum Crestliner. And for your question above about the pencil reeds, they grow several feet high above the water surface.

Works best in low light conditions and is deadly after dark. Use large black single hooks spinner baits and crank them slow.

Here's a fun little tidbit for you if your gonna fish the Kawarthas siwash. Many of those lakes have large patches of pencil reeds that grow in shallow water with a sandy bottom and hold lots of muskies. Throw single hook spinnerbaits into the weeds and you have an excellent chance of hooking up. I once caught 9 fish in 2 hours using that tactic. Funny though as I've fished pencil reeds in lakes outside the Kawartha's with no luck...go figure.

Never used them but I think the Grinders have a pretty good reputation.

Never heard of a jointed Jake but that doesn't mean they don't exist so always used the straight ones but for Believers I liked the jointed models. Nets are much better than cradles especially when fishing alone. Myself, I much preferred the Frabil handle & frame but liked the Beckman bag better so I combined the 2 and it made an excellent combo but that was just my opinion.

My quitting was nothing physical just that after 65 years of fishing I'd had enough hahaha

Too bad you weren't looking a few years ago when I got out of fishing, I had a garage full of musky baits, rods, reels, nets and everything else related to musky fishing including a beautiful boat and sold everything for a really good price and most of it going to guys on this board.

Get yourself a yellow & black Believer and a 10" Pumpkin Seed Jake and troll them about 10' behind the motor in the prop wash. They catch a lot of fish. For casting, you'll never go wrong with a large black spinnerbait with orange blades. It was always the bait I started ever day with a did very well with it. Twitch baits also work well for casting, move them fast and erratic with long pauses. Don't go crazy buying a bunch of baits until you find what works.

50 something years ago I drove dump trucks on my days off and dumped a LOT of that riprap plus tons of dirt for the construction of the Spit. It's nice to see what a great spot it's become over the years.

Just an FYI for any of you fellas that may use the 401 this weekend. https://www.durhamregion.com/news/hwy-401-to-close-in-both-directions-saturday-night-as-simcoe-street-overpass-taken-down/article_8e3f5eff-9f93-505c-916b-325693883450.html

I never had any interest at all in bass fishing and fished musky almost exclusively for decades and a very successful tactic in the very early season was throwing smallish spinnerbaits into shallow water pencil reeds which was also a favorite haunt of largemouth bass. Yes, I caught some which were always released but can honestly say I don't ever remember being accused of targeting them but wouldn't have been surprised if I was.

Nope, not at all strange as that seems but I've lost all interest in fishing and seldom even read fishing reports on this site.