tjsa

My first Musky was similar in size to yours so don't feel too bad.lol It could only get better from here on.lol

Ohhhh, I am not feeling bad at all, I caught`s a Musky. I was just noticing your avatar, and seeing my pic, and ................well...................

Awesome Report !! Glad ya got a bit of a break! I worked on LOTW for a summer when I was 20, those pictures bring back alot of memories... especially the pelicans. If im not mistaken, lotw is the worlds largest summer nesting grounds for pelicans, at least i was told that somewhere along the line.

I can believe that TJQ, they are everywhere. Kinda hard to think of a seagoing bird(at least to our general knowledge) of mating in the middle if Canada. But the food resource for them is there, so why not. Who knows how they found their way there from the coasts. We have a few hundred in certain lakes in the Thunder Bay district also, mainly on the larger lakes in our area. Suprisingly, not on Lac Des Mille Lac, or Shebandowan, YET.

They have recently been seen locally in the Kaministiquia River, and the inner and outer harbour of Thunder Bay.

Sounds like a good time, Tom. I've never seen crayfish in such great numbers and out in the open too!

Thanks for sharing that.

Roy, it didn`t really matter what time of the day, mornings had lots more of them than afternoons, but there were always a few hundred along the beach. On the last day a barge went by with 2 Bobcat mini-forwarders on them to the cottage just north of us to put in a septic field. The waves from the barge washed a lot of them well out of the water. I walked down the line of them, and man, they can move fast even out of the water. A couple stood their ground, picked them up to see if they were Rusty Crayfish or not. Nope, just the regular crayfish species native to Northern Ontario.

Its kinda creepy in a way, go out after dark, and shine a flashlight in the water, and THOUSANDS of eyes light up from them,

One creature I did not want to tangle with on this trip, and they are there for sure, was a snapping turtle. I got this pic off another fishing board, he took the pic pre-fishing for the 2007 KBI, don`t know how old this guy or girl is, but hazard a guess between 100 and 200 yrs. old.

Those claws are probably longer than my fingers. And look at the mass. No need to turn turtle and hide in your shell when you are this big, although a scraping of the hull might be in order.

Thanks Johnny, but I have to laugh at your avatar compared to my picture. My hands were similarly placed, just a wee bit closer together,

I ain`t complaining though, sheesh, I went one for 2 on the ``fish of a thousand casts``.

Son of a....................hope there were not any deaths involved, thats got to be extremely scary to have happen to you in the wee hours of the morning.

And everyone a worthwhile read...

 

Congrats my friend...

Wholeheartedly agree with Norm, Jack. It`s not the quantity of posts(I should talk, )its the quality. Yours definately were. Congrats.

SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That fish is a brute for sure, nuff said.

Congrats on the win. Enjoy.

....Great report Tom. Almost made it there 2 summers ago with TEP but ended up staying in Vermillion Bay due to the algae bloom on LOTW. Stayed at an old motel a few blocks behind Bobby's (got the shirt ) actually right between the tavern and the public launch. I'd go back in heart beat and would definitely take more coin for Bobby's.

Thanks everyone.

And Chris, the algae bloom was just starting when I was there. Everything is late starting up here this year with the cooler temps and rain we had in the spring. I only saw the bloom in secluded sheltered little back bays.

And, the mayflies were in full hatch also, but we still caught fish. I guess that when you mostly fish for walleye on this lake in 20+ fe et of water, the hatch doesn`t have a significant effect on success. We did not come across too many bass though, so they may have had something to do with that.

Oh, and regarding Bobby`s, I used cash, limited me to a specific value to spend. The credit card did not see the light of day, :lol:

Great report Terry, OFC would`t be complete without a Shiningtree report from you.

That was quite the walleye your bud caught also. He sure looks happy.

Nice report Tom. You had a good week on LOTW. I hit Bobby's Corner for the first time in 1972 when it was owned by Bobby and his brother, both crazy guys who were well into curling. They'd flip a coin for double or nothing on a purchase and a few of our guys thought they could beat the house. Didn't work because the house was buying at wholesale and they were pretty good coin flippers.

 

Bobby introduced us to twister tails by giving up a few free samples.

 

Your report makes me miss LOTW which I haven't fished since 1992. I was recruited to put together a trip to Totem for 48 contest winners. We had a super time and caught lots of fish. I was planning to spend a July week on LOTW this year, but it didn't work out.

 

Too bad about the long drive. My tongue is in my cheek as I say I feel sorry for you about traveling so far for good fishing.

 

I know what you mean about taking so few pictures. I just returned from a very successful week on LV and hardly have enough photos to put together a decent report. Sometimes soaking up the action just doesn't leave enough time to pull out the camera.

Thanks Connie, and that ``long drive`` of mine I know does not compare you what you do twice a year. Usually I am a day tripper, only 2.5-3 hrs. one way, with fishing in between, lol.

lol, you do not kow the half of it. If you are not seeing one of these guys, then your head is buried in the sand. They were EVERYWHERE!!!!!

It was damn near impossible to not look in a direction and not see one.

Great report and pics

A good mix bag of fish

 

Thanks for sharing

Leechman

No, thank you for responding, much appredciated Leechman.

Sweet report Tom. I love all the pics, from the pelicans rafting to the musky to the bear ears

 

Congrats on the two firsts, the musky and the sauger. I caught my first sauger this year too.

 

Sounds like you all enjoyed yourselves and had half decent weather to boot.

 

Joey

Thank you Joey, it was basically just a fishiing trip, that turned into something else. I am not likely to ever land another Musky or Sauger,s o this trip was special indeed.

Excellent report and pics Tom!!!

 

Those Crawdads would have made a heckuva feast!!!

Thank you Raf, and Glenn, for responding,

Glenn, Now how did I know you would respond as such, lol

Those guys were only 4" best, couple were in the 6" range.

well i'll be....

 

there are muskies under 40" in LOTW

 

great shots tom.

Yeah,there are Raf, and I found a couple, thanks for the tips BTW.

Soooooo..........my bud, whose wife and her family have an island on LOTW's invited myself and our other bud out there for last weekend. The other bud could not make it, but I did, ....................and..................well...........LOTW's delivered.

Lac Des Mille Lac, closer to me, can be a tough fishery at times, this place is definately not. Virtually everywhere we dropped a line(other than the humps, we could not beg a fish off of the humps).

Started off with the long 6.5 hr. drive to Kenora, stop on Dryden for a refill of Timmies, then Vermillion Bay at a place called Bobby's Corner's, where we each picked up one Musky Lure. I opted for the "Funkey Chicken"(basically a feather duster with huge hook), and my bud bought the??????????????????? "cowgirl"sumtin' or other????????????

Who thinks up these names for Musky Lures????????????

Suprisingly, I only took 50 pics on this trip, 7 of which where a bit blurry, and deleted.

Where I stayed the 3.5 days, an island just south of the Barrier Islands, Crowrock and Shamus Islands.

The main cabin, I opted to stay in the outer cabin, no electricity, no running water, oil lamp for light, felt like old times, didn't take a pic of it.

Our ride down to the island, a 20 ft. Bayliner. How we stuffed all our gear into this boat I will never know.

Our fishing vessel for those days, a very, very, old Thorens 13 ft. aluminum. This boat has been used, and abused. It was used to haul rocks for the cribbing for the dock, and has a few patches in it. My buds new Yamaha 6 horse is on the transom. It got us around OK, but doesn't match his 9.9 Mariner for torque.

We caught a lot of walleye, and perch, and a few Sauger in the mix. Here is one of the Sauger my bud caught(and it was part of a very nice meal on the 2nd day there)

Now, I have never caught a Sauger, or ever seen one personally, so I had to land one, and I did, just a wee one, lol

Actually landed two, the other being about the same size, both released.

Also caught my PB perch, about 15 inches, hooked deep and bleeding profusely. Said to self, get a pic at the dock, but forgot to tell my bud of my intentions, and he got to it with the fillet knife a little faster than I anticipated.

THAT WAS SATURDAY AFTERNOON/EVENING

Sunday, back out after walleye, only had one Sauger and one Walleye so far worth keeping for a feed, and we caught lots more. It was hard to come by fish over 13", must be a huge year class of them. Not disappointed at all, just not what we were hoping to land. We eventually did get 6 more walleye/sauger in the size range we wanted for supper for 4 people(14-15"), but it took the morning, and afternoon to achieve it.

We must have caught 70+ walleye, and one crappie in the mix.

Now, I have heard about the Pelicans on this lake, and seen pictures. But on the ride down the lake to the island, not one pelican spotted. My buds wife said she saw a "raft" of them the day before. Took a bit of time before we came across 2 on a rock. Bit of a blurry pic, full zoom in a rocking boat, but got the best shot I could that day.

On the Sunday we headed SW to Queen Island area, into the wind, and caught quite a few fish, landed the biggest walleye of the weekend on this trip, but since we already had supper taken care of, it went back. It was overcast almost all weekend.............I didn't mind...........lower temperatures just into the 20's,,,,,,, loved it.

Going west, north of Queen Island, it got very dark, very fast....but didn't look like anything was really going to happen.

Yeah, right............it opened up on us as the trailing edge passed, lol.

20 minutes later, and 5 kms later, we were fishing a hump on the main lake, caught squat, and started heading back up the north side of Crow Rock island to get back to the island..................................then.....................I saw it........................rafting Pelicans, along with Cormorants, had to be 1/4 km long, and 50 yds. wide. T'was a sight to see.

See the green point on the right, I tried to take a pic of the rest of them in the 2nd pic

Full sided to them

And a pic looking right up the length

OK, a bit off of fishing here........I was in that cabin............with nothing...............so........... bathing was in the lake. AND...................this is what I contended with in the mornings, lol

Crayfish, everywhere. No wonder this lake has such the fishery it has with such a food resource.

I got to swim with them for 3 days, and 2 days, they all bolted for the depths. On Saturday however, 3 of 'em dug in their tails, stood up on their front legs, and opened their claws at me. He he he,,,,,,immediately thought of Robert DeNiro in "Taxi Driver"...............you wanna piece of me, hanh, you wanna piece of me???

So, bully that I am, I kicked sand in their faces...............and 15 seconds later after the sand settled, they were still there posturing, lol

You little runts, I could squash you with my heel into the sand.

MONDAY, THE DAY OF INFAMY!!!

Ok, this day we decided to actually try to target bass, pike, or MUSKY!!!!!!!!!!!

Hit some likely looking spots for them(as far as we know).

In a bay known as 12 mile portage, its on Shamus Island, the winter road goes over this spot and there is a nice rock reef with a saddle, had a pike about 7 lbs. blow up on the Musky_Hawk I was tossing at the time. Was sure exciting until I realized it was a pike(trash fish to me, despite their size at times, sorry pike guys).

We hit a few other spots that should have yielded bass at least, they would have in my local territory, but, nuttin.

On the next island south of the one we were staying on, in view of the women watching us, we found a small little back bay, with wood.

First cast, nuttin, 2nd, big smally blows up on the Musky-Hawk, then my bud misses a fish he says is big as his thigh. He thinks it was a big pike. A few more casts later(I was tow-watering the Musky-Hawk, and decided to let it sink, then reel).

A silvery sided, pointy tailed, ESOX looking fish, slams the lure, but I missed the hook set. My bud saw it also, and commented "that did not look like a pike"!!

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was not a big fish, but it could'a been my first.

We moved on, fishing structure, and wood in a few other spots, had a HUGE pike come for a sniff in one spot, then lazily went back down under a log.

We travelled on , saw a small back bay, bud is watching the sonar, up to 8 ft.............not likely...........oh wait.........it drops to 20 ft................then comes back up to 10 ft.

Its a fairly non-descript back bay, with a bit of weeds obviously in shallow water. What the heck, try a couple of casts.

First cast, screwed it up. Reeled in, reset, and tossed it exactly where I was aiming, engaged the reel, and within 2 turns of the handle, BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

T'wasn't a big fish, but..................it is my first ever Musky, about 22-24 inches long, caught on a 25 yr., old black bodied, silver bladed, Musky_Hawk.

Thats it, my mission is done. Still fished, but I achieved what I wanted to.

Went back to the island, showed the ladies the pictures on the camera, and headed off for brunch to Wiley Point Lodge, one of the 3 of Totem Resorts outposts. They operate Wiley Point, Crow Rock, and Yellowbird. I didn't get to see Yellowbird.

We could not get into Crow Rock, they were booked solid for supper. Wiley Point is one of the newest of Totem's outposts, and a drive-to location. Its only been around for 15 yrs., and obviously, the most modern.

On the way there, we had to negotiate the Loisa Regatta, a yearly sailboat event on LOTW's. Lots of waving to our fellow mariners this afternoon.

Wiley Poiint is modern for sure, and their boats are used, and abused, lol.

They operate Lunds, couldn't figger out what model, the paint was well worn off of them.

Should have gotten a better pic of the boat in behind that Lund..............THAT was a work boat, I don't think there was a stitch of fabric in it other than the seats and life preservers, lol.

On our way back to the island, my buds wife says..............whats that in the water........................I see ears.

A younger Bruin making good time between the island. He/she was really moving.............we kept a respectable distance, these pics were full 10X zoom.

Monday night, last day there. Same day as going for brunch, but the heavens opened up on us after getting back. 3-4 hrs. later, all is calm, what a way to end a trip.

Yeah sure would help keep them things organized and you could also use it for spinnerbaits

LM

Yes, I bet that works just fine, but I don't need one. I have a plastic tackle box screwed to the top of one of my coolers that holds at least 8 bouncers in their collapsed storage condition, in its larger open tray area, 2 or 3 of each, 1/2 oz, 3/4 oz, and 1 oz, along with 2 homemade small marker floats on top of them.

I am mostly a day-tripper, gotta use space to a premium.

The 5 LED hat lights that clip to the underside of a ballcap are really great!!!

 

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/template...&hasJS=true

available at CTC, probably other places, and THE BEER STORE.

Got 2 of them myself.

Is that why we are called A plumb a and DA plumb a

Art

lol never thought of that, but thanks for bringing ut up Art.

Yeah it's that... but mostly Crawdad poop! ... Yummy!!!

Just like the big green spot in a raw or fried Oyster... guess what that is!

 

Ya gotta eat a pound of poop before ya die anyway...

I think you guys down south are about a half bubble off of plumb, lol

double cow girl and Weagle.

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

Are those real names for musky lures???????????

you're gonna need a better rod Tom. If you have a dipsey diver rod, it will work for trolling muskies. Wire leaders will work just fine, no 'need' for fluoro.

 

Also, like GCD said, those are mostly casting lures. Without breaking the bank too much, look into a 10" jointed believer and/or 10" Jake. Both excellent trolling lures.

 

Send me a PM if you need more info.. or want to trade that big ole' black suick.

Thanks Raf, much appreciated. ALONG WITH the other responses form everyone else.

No dipsey diver rod for me(don't even know what a dipsey is), never needed one before. Got a couple of Fenwick medium heavy fibreglass downrigger rods with Triton GT's on em'? Been using them for salmon fishing up here for 20 yrs. Will not cast worth a darn, but would handle trolling no problem, and any musky I may hook. If they can handle 20+ lb. Chinooks screaming sideways, they should be able to handle any musky I might wrassle. The chinooks were not too much problem, never really tested the rods much.

I don't(and hopefully don't expect) anything larger than a 30 inch fish, just wanna hook into one once in my lifetime. If I manage to hook into one larger, I will just have to deal with it, and use my fish fighting expertise to land it.

Cannot trade the ol' suick though, I don't own it. Hope I don't lose it. Should I leave it behind??? Is it more important to not use it, for posterity???????

I will look for a Believer and a Jake tomorrow or Wednesday. If none here, I will find them in Kenora probably. The Kenora CTC store is very different from regular CTC stores, they have a target market. My bud says they have an entire aisle with upper end rods and reels(Gloomis, Sage, Shimano, etc.), stuff most of their stores do not stock. They probably have the lures also, along with bass lures that my local ones will not have.

Our main target will be walleye, bass, possibly trying for crappie(will see if GCD's sabiki rigs work if we get the time) and at least one time trying for Musky, but with only 3 days, who knows for sure. My bud is asking someone he knows out there where to even target Musky in the area we will be in. Its about 14 kms. south of Kenora the area I will be in. Are there even Musky around this area, and what are the target areas, structure, etc.

We have no clue. He has been there 30 times at least in the last 17 yrs. but never tried to target them.

He has targetted walleye, and bass a bit, but not Musky.

I will be on Lake of the Woods this Saturday to Tuesday. My bud and I may try for Musky. These were given to me by a friend of mine who worked out that way 20-25 yrs. ago, and the lures are that old also.

Also, any recommendation for a couple more would be appreciated. Most likely will be trolling for them and not casting. My bud gave me a 5'6" casting rod with an Ambassador reel on it, but I have not used a level-wind reel before. I am gonna put some 80 lb. Power Pro on it, with steel leaders(not gonna buy any flouro and crimps for this possibly one time out after Musky.

I am gonna pick up a pair Knipex side cutters. Found a place up here that has a bunch of them on the wall.

Most people go there for the scenery, swimming, chilling out, and nature trails. I haven't done any of the trails, but have heard a couple of them are fairly gruelling and will take you the entire day to complete.

The lookout is spectacular.

Lots of deer in the park and on the road in early mornings.

Lake Marie Louise does have walleye, not sure if they have boat rentals though. Couple of the small creeks, Sibley and Joe, have specks in them.

Good to hear Maureen, outboard problems are always a pain when we usually only have 4 months of the year to use them.