Jigger

Think that fish has been stuck before? Nice fish. Come October it'll be stupid big.

Nice fat bass. Definately a great way to open the season! Congrats.

Well good morning to this post! Beauty Brookies Guido! Congrats! I met a CO from that region a couple of months ago, told me we're totally taken care of if we ever go up that way. Your post just pushed me a little further in that direction. I'd love to get my hands on some of those!

Ehg, I don't think it counts toward anything, My tourney paper is sitting on the lake bottom after it flew out of the boat shortly before I landed the tiger. We circled back, but it was too deep to reach. I'll have to print off a few more for the weekend... Sinker, I'm not making that mistake again. Even if I do, you'll never catch wind of it.lol

Great report Tbay! Can't say I've ever had a day like that on Scugog, so hats off! Looks like you've really got the hang of 'ski-ing! Great shots, too. Does your camera have a polarized lens? The shots turned out really big...I mean good...

They both look like Tigers to me. The dorsal fin looks weird on the first one. Think there are sailfish in Balsam? Congrats either way man, some guys fish a long time without hooking into one. Second one is real nice!

Thanks guys, the hat has been... taken care of. But I can't guarantee it won't re-suface at some point. The tiger put up an awesome fight for a fish its size. Fortunately, or not depending on how you look at it, I had a severe malfunction with my normal spinnerbait combo and had to retire it and use my flippin rod to huck spinners. So instead of the 12lb mono and sketchy reel, I had the heavy power rod and 50lb Power pro. Good news is, I was able to handle the big runs put out by the fish. Bad news is, I need a new baitcaster. Glad I landed her!

I wish I would have called you last night man. I thought I had to work today and got the call at 630 saying the shop and all our sites were shut down for the day. We'll have to get out soon. Glad to see you're making the most out of the new ride! Congrats on the kings!

Had a good opener this weekend. The water was sitting around 70deg for the two days I was on the water and the bass were fairly active. Big fish were hard to come by and I exept for a couple of bigger fish hooked and lost, the majority topped off at about 18in with plenty more under that length. My buddy brought up this stupid hat that had to be worn by the guy who caught the biggest fish. This one came early on a Senko and gave me the hat for most of the day... After he left I happened to run into another friend who cottages up there and went to check on some largies. After catching two little largemouth, I threw my white and black spinnerbait up into a pocket in some lily pads and this pretty kitty decided to come in for a pic... Had to change up lures quite often with soft plastics accounting for most of the bass. But whatever was being thrown, the key was to slow down. A good weekend and now only have three more days before getting out again! Hope everyone had a great time this weekend!

Headed back up to Haliburton to see if the Muskie would be a little more co-operative than last weekend. They weren't. Lots of rain still has the water very high and the fish rather lethargic. After buzzing through all the traditional spots on Saturday without a sniff, I tried some more out of the way spots, and had a good sized 'ski roll over on a marabou in-line that I was throwing. Nothing came of that fish and I ended up heading back without anything to report but a little pike and a bass that was hanging out in 20fow. So later on that night, while enjoying a few wobbleys, we noticed this big ole moth bashing itself against the bay window. When it landed, I thought I'd check out the macro feature on my camera... Theres a good half-dozen of those, I thought it was pretty cool... So morning rolls around and I'm sure the 'skis are laughing at me. I decide to do the milk run again, this time in slow motion. I messed around with a jumbo jig and creature combo last year and tied it on and vowed to only use that rod, forcing me to slow right down. The first spot I hit still didn't produce, but at the second spot I got one. Way into a tangle of trees that came from about 16in to 25 fow within 5 yards or so, I felt a distinct TIC. Fight on! I've got to give dues to Fluoro leaders at this point. The leader I use is 100lb Seaguar and its awesome! This fish had me in a mess of trees you wouldn't believe and I thought that if anything was a test for the fluoro leader, this was it... Not even a flake or nic to be found. Go fluoro! So the fish came to the net, I see a guy putting his boat in and ask him to take a pic " no problem!" hes already on his way to see the 'ski. With the fish safely unhooked and in the net, I get my tourney paper out and get ready for the shot. Out comes the fish, he takes the pic and alls well. She took a minute or two to revive, giving me a chance to get a rough measurement at the side of the boat. Later on, I measured the line, it came in between 45 and 46in. At the very least a pb by .5 an inch! So I turn on the camera, scroll to the pic... As you might have surmised, I left the camera on macro So the lesson I learned this weekend was... Always check your camera settings BEFORE you head out on the water. Sorry Slammers, I'll get the hang of it yet!

Nice haul, guys. You did good to head that way Johnny, Sinker knows his water for sure! Great lookin 'skis for both of you! Guess you made the right choice...both of you. WTG!

Atta boy! Keep the inches coming! Looks like a blast out there, congrats!

I had that problem with my first camera. It was as if there were two different memory sections on it. Keep turning the camera on and off every once and awhile and see if it pops back. Like Raf said, don't take any more pics on that card. Nice fish at any rate!

Sorry to hear about your mom and the separation, man. Its not easy, but the sun still comes and goes each day and moreoften than not so will you. Like the majority have said, be civil. It sucks now, but in awhile, it may be the best thing for both of you and you'll thank each other for it in the end. Good luck man.

Thanks guys. It really was bugging me that Saturday didn't go as planned, but thats fishing, right? Tell you the truth, I'd trade that fish so that my buddy could have got one. I hate when someone comes up and fishes for the day and leaves empty handed. Thanks again.

Congrats on the PB Minnow! Sure smells good, eh?

Headed off on Friday to the cottage with high hopes of a bountiful musky opener. Years gone by have always treated us to a good crop, but this year was thrown a huge curveball. Steady rains throughout the week pretty much saturated the land and with more the night before opener, things were to be sketchy at best. When we launched first thing Saturday morning, the first thing we noticed that the water levels were well above the norm for this time of year. I'm talking ice-out high water levels. Complete with floating trees, docks and anything else that was unfortunate enough to be near the waters edge. The next big difference was water clarity. The lake we were on is normally gin-clear, not this trip. Visibility was poor to say the least. Lures were dissapearing within 2ft of the surface. Perhaps the rain the previous week had started the spring turnover? Whatever the case, those two factors and a few reports given to me from the previous weekend left me with a bit of a bad feeling, and it wasn't unwarranted. We fished hard. Hard. For about 8 hrs. I ended up with 2 half-hearted strikes from a couple of mid 40s fish in some clearer sections of the lake. But the regular "holding pens" were bare. Aside from those two, my buddy had one lazy follow that had no interest at all in the end. Kind of sad, but we were hoping even a pike or two would grace us with their presence. NADA. A few bass that thought they had teeth came for our lures. And that was all she wrote for Saturday. I replayed everything over and over that night wondering what changes I had to make for the next day. I really didn't want to come home without getting some slime in the boat! So out I went Sunday morning, a little late at 8:30, but I was going anyways. I didn't have alot of time seeing as I had a 9th degree burn from the day before, and the sun was already out in full force. I remember thinking to hit secondary spots that wouldn't normally be available to the post-spawn fish because of the extremely high water levels. The first spot was a small creek arm with a flat thats about a foot deep under normal conditions. This time the flat was under 4ft of water. With some green starting to show, I felt a bit better about my chances. The water was definately clearer because of the current coming from the creek and after three or four casts, I saw a small dart come out of some reeds and nail my spinner. Turned out to be a nice little pike. 30in or so. Fired another cast parallel to a series of overhanging trees, big boil! Set the hook and the fight was on. Get it closer to the boat and see that its another pike. A real nice one at 38in and fat! But still no muskie. After getting right into the creek without anymore action, I headed to another part of the lake and started fishing an area that has never produced for me, but is close enough to a good summer location to make me throw a few token casts around. I saw her from a mile awway sitting in a small bay tanning her scales on another flooded flat. Again, current provided the clear water I felt was necessary for any margin of success. I cast the spinnerbait past the "log" in the water and without hesitation she took. A brief struggle later and the first legal muskie was in the net...40in and real purdy! I know the pose is weird, but I was trying to get the freakin tourney paper in the shot. Thanks to the nice folks who came over to take a pic for me. If you recognize the spot, please keep it to yourself. Thanks.

Weather reports for the weekend have me smiling so far! I can already smell the slime! 2more sleeps WOOT! And Hook...That 120 came off T.O. Islands.

I'm using the stuff right now. Motor works. I don't like having to pay extra, but that just seems a fact of life these days.

Some awesome advice for any level of muskie hunter, guys! Keep 'em coming! Listening to what Bucktail said about the water temps(I'll be in Haliburton this weekend) makes me think "fish shallow,fish deep and fish in-between". If the rains' a warm one and we get some decent warmth this week, it could push them to feed better.

I'll grab some, but I'm going to try a few different things before I slap one on. And yeah, the curse is gone.

Muskie season opens this weekend and I can't be more pumped. Just as a tool to maybe help some guys keep an eye out for certain spots that they may not fish otherwise. I though the muskie guys here could share their opening day tactics. What lures have you found to be effective this time of year? What do you look for as far as structure goes? That sort of thing. Me, I have good luck on one lake that I'll be fishing on using a #4 BlueFox vibrax at creek inlets. Its modified a little with a single Mr.Twister keeper hook instead of a treble. Its extremely weedless and has pulled some really good fish out of reedy sandbars at the mouth of spawning bays. Otherwise, you'll probably see me tossing an 1.5oz Spinnerbait in similar conditions. This year's been a little cooler so far. How are you going to approach the opener?

I'll bring the net if you let me join you next time. nice report.

Beat me to it, misfish!

Congrats on the great day on the water, Bucktail! Awesome gator!