BillM

Time to invest in a GPS!

To add, the Eagle Intellimap 500C Chartplotter we have did have a section of the French on it, till about half way up the Main channel, then we all of a sudden were floating around on land No depths at all, just a basic outline of the river (which wasn't very helpful, lol)

Weekend was great, my dad and I absolutely love it up there. We'll be back up ThanksGiving weekend for another go around. I got some great sunset shots, I'll post them up a bit later (I need a nap )

Well, I wish I had a report like some of the other guys that hit the water this weekend looking for ski's but I don't. Had somewhat of a game plan Sat morning, but without any hydro maps for the French River it makes it a bit difficult. Made our way up the main channel past crooked rapids and fished our way back. Weed growth was almost non existent as the high water levels and crap weather made it extremely difficult for any greenery to sprout up. Hit some shallow water bays and a few nice holding pens along the way back and nada... I started off my oldman with a #5 Mepps Musky killer and myself a bullfrog pattern TopRaider. Put in a good 12hrs the first day, 14hrs the next and another 14hr day yesterday. No hits, no follows, no nothing A wee bit disappointed, but seeing that the French is known for big fish, and they are few and far between, I had a feeling this might happen. I'd like to hit the Kawartha's this weekend to atleast tie into some smaller fish (Perhaps Balsam?).. I don't know if this counts as a christening, but I had a 4lb+ smallmouth nail my Topraider the first day. I couldn't stop myself from laughing, the poor thing had the entire front treble hook in it's mouth. I did get it unhooked without any blood or damage to the gills and back into the drink. We were hooking into way to many OOS bass while fishing for pike, so I pinched all the barbs on the lures we used for pike fishing to lesson the damage we did to them. Caught a few nice pike in the 30inch range, nothing spectacular. Black flies were out in force along with the mosquito's.. Without a bug net, you'd get carried away... Nice to see some of the other opener reports, looks like some of you guys did great! Anyone heading out this weekend for another go around and needs a partner, let me know (pics to follow)

I was there yesterday also, spending more money

Why not just break out the .22 and take care of the pesky little dude's?

I have about a million musky baits all new sitting in my tackle box waiting to be used. Now the decision is, which bait gets the first toss of the season? I REALLY wanna throw my new TopRaider, but I have a strange feeling the topwater bite isn't going to be great. What's the first lure coming out of everyone's box?

Excellent! I had a porcupine crash its way through the woods last week and sit across the stream from me, lol.

Al, if you ever have plans to head down there, let me know perhaps we could put some hurtin' on the fish? (Or maybe not, lol)

*dead*

Ahh, the secrets are starting to come out now You don't notice less hook ups with a single compared to a treble? I'll have to try that the next time I am down there. thanks bud!

So I guess none of you guys tip waitresses or waiters? The price you pay is what you see on the menu? What's the difference between a waiter/waitress and a 1st mate on a charter boat? If both hourly wages are below average because they depend on tips to make up for it, why not tip the 1st mate?

3 days on the French (Main Channel) I just want one, or two, or perhaps 3? Honestly, I just wanna know that my tactics and research into what to fish actually works.. a few follows would really be good for my first official muskie outing.

Should have just shot the guy and thrown the fish back in the lake. Problem solved.

Bob, yanks are known to not tipping very well at all A few of my friends in the service industry can attest to this, lol

Well if your older Evinrude was a 2stroke, then yeah you'd most likely notice better fuel economy and a lot less smoke from the new 4stroke units.

Anyone think to ask if the 25HP motor is a 2stroke or 4stroke? If it's a 2-stroke, that number is easily believable. 4strokes are great down low, but lack the top end power that the 2strokes have.

GCD, did you catch that using marshmellows?

Muskol worked wonders for me yesterday. The day before I forgot it, man did that ever suck. Trying to tie on a new spinner while being attacked by mosquito's really sucks! (Although it sounds like you knew that already )

A question for the guru's... How can I distinguish a spawning bay, from a non-spawning bay?

With the temps we've had, this is more of a early spring opener.. The cold temps have stunted weed growth, hopefully the fish have already spawned, if they are within that 2 week period of post spawn, the bite is going to be really tough.

It's a 383c no? Saw it yesterday while at CostCo. We run Humminbird fishfinders, no problems yet. Why not search the net for some reviews?

Zipties

Old salmon fishing net is going to make due for us this weekend. I've seen some homemade cradles out of burlap and some 2x2's.. Looks like a cheap and viable solution.

Rangerguy, sounds like a good plan Can someone fill me in on specific water temp ranges and what the muskies will be doing? I've searched quite a bit, but haven't found any hard info, ie 50-58degrees - spawning, bring up your baits and go pickerel fishing I hope the French is close to the 60 degree mark or over, if not I think it's going to be a very tough weekend.