Gregoire

That would be great Mike. It would be great to fish with you. I would really love to wet at line in the fish factory that is St. Claire. I

We fished all over

Usually with musky I am just thinking of a quick pic and back in the water. I don't even think I brought a sign with me. If I manage to get out another time I'll try to remember a sign. With the cold water the muskies are really releasing well.

I got a chance to fish the Kawartha's this weekend with cowanjo. Initially the plan was to fish Saturday and Sunday, but coaching obligations and the honey do list got in the way. Initially I thought that I would not be able to make it up on Saturday before sundown on Saturday, but I huffed it up and got their by 4. By 4:22 we had launched and by 4:30 we were on our spot. After casting the first spot it was starting to get dark, but we decided to hit one more spot right after sundown. It was a good plan as John got a good hit on a large piece of rubber. When I was netting the fish a hook from the lure got hung up on the net, and we were both moving quickly to get her free. I but the eye of the hook, but the hook did not come free. I seemed like the fish was out of the water for a long time, but was probably only 30 seconds. John saw an opening and cut in a few more places and the fish was free and in the water. While John was cutting the hooks he let the net lower a bit into the water. Upon entering the water the fish took a breath and jumped clean out of the net. Our worries about her releasing were exaggerated, but we did not get a pic. Too bad as this was the biggest Kawartha fish I had seen this year. I am guessing 47+ inches and fairly fat. After that it was getting dark so we decided to call it a night. We ran back to the launch and were back in the warmth of the cottage just after 5. The next day the plan was to get up early and hit the fish at sunrise. As it turned out we both slept in a bit. We still made it on the water by 8 or so. We fished hard, casting and trolling. At one point John was pulling up his trolling lure to clean it, but got the hooks caught deep on some rope. While we stopped the boat so John could free his lure I grabbed my jerkbait rod and started casting. After a few casts I had a solid strike. It turned out to be only a mid 30's fish, but was nice and fat, and was the only fish of the day. Overall we fished for an hour for one big fish on Saturday, and fished for most of the day on Sunday for one fish. Not a bad weekend, especially since it may be the last time I head out this year.

Wow, nice fish.

I can't imagine the pain you are going through.

When you get it post a review please. I have been thinking about going in that direction for my blade rod as well, but not sure if it would be better than the calcutta conquest 401 with a power handle that I currently use.

If it has to be a lefty than your options are more limited. I would suggest trying to pick up an abu winch if you will be throwing blades or a 300 series curado, I prefer the older dsv series. Pair it with an 8ft compre or okuma and you'll be good for a bit.

My favourite set up is a st croix big nasty with a calcutta conquest 401. If you plan on doing a lot of musky fishing, especially casitng, then I would recommend spending the extra money on a calcutta, and getting a st croix LT as they make it a lot easier to fish all day. If you are just going to fish every now and then the shimano compre and okuma evx are nice enough rods for less than half the price. I have heard good things about the okuma isis reel for its price, and the abu 7000 is a classic reel. As has previously been stated you can spend 250 or 700 on a combo, and I believe you get what you pay for. You can spend less, but I doubt the combo will last.

A bulldawg or any other large plastic jerkbait would be a good lure. Don't be afraid to throw the smaller stuff as well. If you are tossing bucktails, and I would give them a go, make sure that you are slow rolling them, also try pausing and jerking them. You never know what might trigger a strike. One last thing, make sure that you have all of your release gear ready. Things can get a bit crazy with a musky on the end of you line. The small ones are especially fiesty. When you add in the instability of a canoe you need to prepare for the unexpected. If I was musky fishing from a canoe I would want handling gloves, hook cutters, jaw spreaders extra long pliers and a good sized net.

I Think that no kill zones in specific areas are a good idea in some situations. I doubt that imlementing a no kill zone in the GTA would be succesfull unless the policy was heavily enforced. I think that honest aglers would see dishonest anglers taking fish and not facing any consequences and some would choose to do the same, and may be tempted to disreguard regulations. I definitely would argue that there is not point in implementing things that are doomed to fail. Just think: How many people would buy a fishing licence if they knew that they would never be checked for one.

I hate it when people only quote a part of post, that way they can skew your opinio. If you would take the time to read my post you would see that I do not think that there is a point in making rules that are impossible to enforce given the current amount of resources we devote to policing. Although the majority of citizens are law abiding, there is a minority that would realize that enforcement is lacking and would do what they want, much like the situation that exists now. While throwing around ideas and discussing this topic is worhtwhile, if we really value and want to protect our fishery we need to devote a lot more money to managing the resource. Unfotunately that would mean either taking money away from other departments, raising taxes overall, or taxing fisherman at a much higher rate. Personally I would be ok with raising taxes overall, or paying more for my fishing liscence, provided I knew the money was going to maintain the fishery. I realize that I am in the majority on this issue.

AS has been pointed out the real problem here is enforcement. The government of Ontario either does not have, or is unwilling to commit the resources to enforce our current fishing regulations. Going to to a tag limit, which I think is a great idea, or a no kill system is not possible without first having access to enforce those limits. This would mean a massive increase in the amount of CO's that are on the water. I have fished many highly pressured water ways in the past year, and on weekends as well. Not once have I come across a CO this year. Something like a CO on the water in every major lake in the Kawarthas, and multiple CO's on a lake like Simcoe would be needed. At the very least CO's stationed at boat launches at the end of the day to check anglers catches at the end of the day. The greatest ideas in the world are useless unless we are able to act upon them.

That rod would work for Musky, as long as you pair it with a 4000 or larger size reel and do not throw baits over 2oz or so. I have a friend who has been very successful casting crank baits for musky with this set up. If you start throwing blades or heavier baits you will need to go to a baitcaster. A lot of companies make lefty baitcasting reels now. The new shimano calcutta d is supposed to be a good reel, but I prefer the TE or the JDM conquest. On the lower end there is the Daiwa Lexa or a little bit more the revo toro NaCL or the older revo toro series.

I believe that Simcoe has the potential to be a trophy musky water if the population can rebound. The forage base is there. I used to be quite skeptical of this program, but now I think it is worth a shot. The lack of a fishable population after 10 years of stocking could indicate that Simcoe may not be support a high density population like St Claire or the Kawartha's. It may be more like Georgian Bay, or some of the lower density areas of LOTW. Simcoe is also a body of water that is going through an environmental change due to invasive species. As the ecosystem of the lake stabilizes the musky population may follow suit.

My buddy caught a 52 this year that looks to be about the same size of that fish. I would guess the fish is between 25-30 lbs and 48-52 inches.

The ulgy stick is a great entry level rod and is nearly indestructible. That would be a good rod to start with, but it is a bit short. If you plan on throwing bucktails you may want a longer rod to make the figure 8 easier.

You could look at the rapala magnum line of rods which you might be able to get for about 50 bucks, but they are only 6'9". Bass pro does make a line of musky rods, and they are around 50 bucks, but they are only 7ft long at the max. I would hesitate with using a bass rod to throw musky baits, unless you plan on keeping the lures on the small size, 2 oz and under. If I were you I would wait until you could up your budget to 70 or 80 bucks and get a used shimano compre or st croix premier.

Nice fish Pete, congrats on the PB.

I would think that if the big pike are deep then the musky are shallower.

That is cool. With the population being as small as it is in Georgian Bay I would guess that it is the same fish.

I thought this was going to be a thread about musky baits. I'm a little disappointed.

I have to agree with the speeding it up part. This year when I was at LOTW I saw a decent fish dart out of nowhere towards my bucktail it was hot on it and was about to eat so I lowered my rod tip in anticipation of a hook set. The fish stopped dead, which was incredible to see, but heartbreaking as it stared at the fluttering lure and sank away. To echo what others have said, keep the same cadence or even better, speed it up. I also like the advice to speed it up on the way in to the boat and go into a wide figure eight. Always anticipate a follow, even if you do not see a fish. Last week I lost a following fish because I did a lazy eight. My buddy went back to the same spot this weekend and caught her, a healthy 43" fish.

The fishing has been a slow lately. It seems like the bite window has been really tight, maybe half hour or so, either around mid day or before sunset. Locate where the fish are and keep throwing at them. They aren't eating often so the key is getting something in front of them when they are hungry. If you were able to locate fish a month ago they seem to be in the same place. I would run and gun between really good spots and hope to locate a hungry fish, and I would downsize a bit.