Reef Runner

Beauty!

And that’s musky fishing for ya. good effort and sounds like you’re doing the right stuff. You’ll tie into one eventually. I use a palomar knot to tie to the o-ring. it takes some practice but placing your thumb and on the spool/line and applying little pressure when casting will reduce your birdsnests. Follows: Don’t pause before the figure 8, make it a fluid motion at the end of your retrieve. Sometimes you just can’t get them to go. Return to the spot later or try a different lure. Im too poor to buy cheap is my mo. lol. Buying quality gear will be dependable when you need it to be and will hold up over time.

Tying PP directly to the welded ring already provided atop the flouro huskie muskie leader and snap lure on the end. TDR is definitely a good rod for trolling. Speed as fast as you can move without your lure blowing up out of the water, differs by the lure.

PowerPro is what I’ve been using for years 80#. For leaders not joining two lines here. generally 120-150# reliable snaps, bearing swivel and welded ring. I can recommend Huskie Muskie leaders from Handlebarzfishing.com. 12 inch for casting, that or 36 inch for trolling. Rods, can be personal preference, casting you want a heavy duty but light 8 foot or more. Trolling you can use a telephone poll. I’ve seen guys use a heavy or xtra heavy downrigging rod that doesn’t cost much but do the job. Reels:Started with an Abu Ambassador, great real for the price and good for starting out. Still have one for trolling only (has the clicking function on the drag that alerts me when I get a pull, I can focus more on boat position and route). Casting, after time the gears will wear out in the abu from repeated retrieval of big baits. I’m a shimano reel guy: Shimano Tranx, calcuttas are ideal but $$$.

My go to’s: Jakes/believers for trolling 10inches and up. Casting inline bucktails (double 8s, 10s). Big heavy duty spinner baits. Rubber (bulldawgs, Medusas). lots of good advice above. Can get pricey for sure. “Invest” in heavy braid 80# and 120# leader so you don’t donate those expensive baits to the lake lol. Best of luck. Reef

Extremely rare. I fish there pretty much 1-2x a month. Folks moved up there early 90s and, even though pike were present at the time, still had a fishable musky population then. Starting in the 2000s musky was in a steady decline, started getting into more tigers than pure strain. 2010s lake pike population started to decline as well. Now it’s mostly bass. If you tie into a ski it’s a rare occurrence. Not to say it’s zero, but chances are low.

Concur with the gentlemen above. Moon River Cottages (located in Arnold’s Bay) also rents boats Moon River Cottages (705) 375-2081

For conservation areas within an hour Mountsburg close to Guelph or Island Lake in Orangeville. These places get hammered pretty hard so expect a pressured fishery and plenty of hammer handles. If you’re willing to stretch the drive to 1.5-2 hours to the Kawartha’s, namely, Canal, Mitchell and Balsam Lakes hold some good pike. Reef

PM sent.

It’s purported that Ramsey Lake right in Sudbury have Crappies. Otherwise, the French R and bodies south. We spend a week on the Key R every summer and get lots (boat access only) but imagine they can be had from shore off the highway. Reef

Massassauga PP for bass and pike. Eyes tough to find but they’re in there.

PM sent. Best of luck.

Depending where you go some sites have a bear box you can put your cooler in; Massassauga has them. Crown land will not but a provincial park back country site may have them. Call ahead and ask what your site has. some parks also have raised platform decks you can pitch your tent on rather than the ground. Bungees come in handy here. I’ve left my cooler in the boat shored and anchored. I ratchet strap the cooler tight; bruin will have to work for his lunch as hard as I had lug the darn thing if he wants a free lunch. At least for my better half, important they have a wind breaker for the boat and warm gear for the evenings. This time of year bugs aren’t bad but be prepared with the OFF spray. Never used the air horn but having it handy provides a sense of comfort.

Used a 25hp electric start Suzuki tiller in a deep and wide 14 tinner for a week at a cottage I rented earlier this summer. Even with a max load (water access ferrying in all our gear in 1 trip) the motor would fly. Never had a problem and started every morning with a push of a button. Even with two of us in the boat had to put a cinder block on the bow to even the weight and get us on plane in a couple seconds. Great motor all around. Would definitely recommend. edit to add: was great on fuel. We’d make the 14km trip out to GBay a couple times that week and the boat was used mostly back trolling for eyes 6-8hrs a day for 6 days, only refuelled once all week.

Beauty!

Well done Bill. Love the Moon. Spend lots of time here and have the smallies dialed in (more so in Iron City Bay up to Sharpe Island and into Moon Bay). Good job on raising the ski, they are a rare sight on the Moon but when you do see one they are big! My PB for the area is a 47 but easily the fattest I’ve ever had. Didn’t get a girth measurement as I usually just get a quick length and put ‘em back asap. Good luck hunting it down when you go back. Reef

Fun trip, well done!

Shallow and weedy, deepest parts are in the marked channel. For bass, weighted senkos in any pocket you can find. Pike love the spinnerbaits, chartreuse works well. goodluck, reef

Tarp and strong rope, set up over the tent for shade during sunny days and rain block when it showers. With respect to gadgets, portable power bank keep electronics topped up for the kiddos. We like the thermacell for skeeters, set it up just upwind around the campfire at night.

Hello everyone, Headed up to the Key River, water access cabin for a week. Firewood isn’t supplied and don’t feel like cutting brush, fallen dried logs half a day when I can be on the water lol. Anyone know a spot where I can purchase bags or loose firewood between PAB and the Key that’s reasonably priced? Marina there is charging $12 a bag. Appreciate your replies.

Sharing a pic from this weekend of a silver laker caught in Kingscote Lake in Algonquin. Kinda cool looking and only found in this lake. First laker trolling from a canoe for me which made it extra special. 2 oz weight, small gang troll, chartreuse mepps.

Attention all Lake Ontario Bass anglers: MNR is looking for feedback with respect to bass regulations in FMZ 20 (Lake Ontario): https://files.ontario.ca/mnrf-fmz-20-2020-proposed-bass-reg-change-en-2020-02-28-v2.pdf I am for the proposed rule change of splitting the open season between Largies (3rd Sat June-Dec 31) and Smallies (1st Sat Jul-Dec 31); adding a pre-spawn season (Jan 1-May 10) with limited possession limits. Take a read, tell 'em how you feel.

Amusing that these 1st ski stories are all incidentals lol, as is ski fishing happens when you least expect it! My first was also an incidental catch, OOS but a cool story. I was a young lad and it was a couple weeks after eye opener on the Moon River. We were two, packed in a coleman canoe, all our walleye gear, deep cycle battery attached to a small minnkota which I was operating off the back. I had just dropped a few dineros the day before at BPS on a brand new spinning combo (Shimano Sedona with the drag on the back paired with a BPS 7 foot medium heavy stick) that I was itching to baptize with a eye or pike. After unsuccesfully jigging some spots I tied on a leader and attached a brand new walleydiver in perch and we began to troll using the trolling motor. Hugging some 25 feet from shoreline and exiting a narrow, a large vessel with some guys trolling big plugs (probably for "pike") comes straight at our tiny canoe making me alter course toward shore. After correcting the canoe and avoiding the wake of the oncoming boat, I think I'm hung up on bottom. Then I felt a massive headshake and was like nope this is a fish lol. I had my drag set light for eyes so I tighten up and the fish moves us into the middle of the bay. When I get it about 10 foot from surface we saw the giant striped flash of the musky and realized our dinky walleye net would not suffice. So I'm battling this giant ski and using the motor to get us to shore. I pop out and shore land what was about a 47 inch, moon river thick behemouth. My legs were shaking while I stood knee deep in the water holding the big girl by the tail until she kicked and swam off. Still got the lure, tooth marked and trebles almost straighted right out that is now retired.

Didn't fish but seen guys hand lining right off the causeway between Varadero and our hotel this past November. Once the sun set and folks were leaving the beach guys were using inner tubes with a wooden board for bench just off the beaches maybe 100 yards out, also hand-lining. Here's a decent write up from Trip advisor: https://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g147275-r155025592-Varadero_Matanzas_Province_Cuba.html

Welcome aboard. Another Gulf fisherman here, down on the FLA side when I visit the folks for some weeks in the winter. Good group here, enjoy.