Gregoire

I tried a right handed baitcaster, and it was not for for me. I switched to lefty and it works for me. To suggest that I am doing a disservice to someone by telling them to fish the way they are comfortable is pretentious FYI.

Wouldn't the same logic apply to spinning reels as well? In some countries it is standard to reel with your right hand on every reel, why do we have a difference in North America? In my humble opinion baitcasters are predominantly right handed because that became the industry standard. I am a proud lefty, and not only do I not feel the discomfort after fishing, I also think that having my most powerful arm on the rod is advantageous when musky fishing. I am no reel designer, but I know at least one prominent musky angler who agrees with me. I also like this debate, and am aware that both sides have points and counterpoints, and dismissing one side is ignoring some compelling evidence. in my opinion it is a preference, nothing more, and claiming otherwise is pretentious.

St croix premier or tackle industries 8ft plus rod XH and revo winch or Calcutta B. Scower the classifieds and try to find them used as that will keep costs down.

Nice report Craig. I hope you'll have a bit more time this year. It would be great to wet a line with you.

That would be heartbreaking to me. Those things are works of art.

I lost a legend perchbait on Pigeon, a hose jerk on LOTW and a Dadson bullet on LOTW. I have more expensive baits in the arsenal, and since I lost the perchbait have tried to be more cautious.

Black Bulldawg

Great report Pete. You blew through the 50 mark in style. I cant wait for June as well, I think this year is the year I start to figure out some river fish.

I was a bit sloppy with my post. I meant to say fish waters where you see a lot of fish follow and eat on the 8. You really learn to refine your technique. Check out this link to see Cowanjo catch a nice fish on the 8:

The best way to learn how to do an good 8 is to LOTW. On waters where they seem to only eat on the 8' you learn really quickly how to do it right. Musky on the fly is something I really want to start doing. Those ones look like they came from St Clair.

That was awesome.

The logic behind lowering the speed limits is the survival rate for pedestrians struck by vehicles. I understand why people who drive everywhere would be apprehensive about lowering speed limits, but it seems like the reduced speed limits would only be applied to urban areas.

When I heard pink semko that fish was exactly what popped into my mind as well.

Pretty good article. I think the feedback you are getting in this thread is better. Totally agree with the walk the dog baits being good for locating fish, bad for hooking them. A trick with the WTD baits is to get on the trolling motor if they are not committing, you'd be shocked at how far they'd follow. It's kinda awesome, but not likely that they will commit. I also like using really buoyant jointed minnow baits as topwater baits with a slow retrieve. They are also good for the dead stick.

The leader will depend on the type of water you are fishing. Open water basin trolling, long mono would be fine, just check it after every fish. If you are trolling structure wire is a better option. I know this year I am looking into getting some 7 strand and using it for both trolling and casting tails. The one thing that I think is Bull is leader visibility. I do not worry about it.

Longer leaders for trolling does a few things: 1. Gives the lure more action 2. Gives much more snag resistance, as braid will cut very quickly along rocks. I learned this the hard way on pigeon, lost a perchbait. 3. Can give a bit more stretch on the strike, providing a better hook set (which also depends on the rod that you are using) 4. For those who believe it makes a difference, makes the line more visible. I use long leaders mainly for the snag resistance, by that I mean that they are less likely to break if shagged on the bottom.

I've used it. In my mind not much different than the fluoro. Never had a failure with it, and at the price can afford to swap them out quite often. I especially like them for some topwater lures. .

So cool that you got to do the Chicago show. A great guy making a great product. I hope the Aussie did didn't scare too many customers off.

Seems like a good way to kill time until June.

Make sure to back up your way points from your old boat and give them to me.

I'm a huge football fan. Liked the Cowboys when I was younger, my grandmother passed that on to me, she loved Tom Landry's hats. I had a few buddies who played in the league, so cheered for the Seahawks for a while, and spent a half season cheering for the Bengals. If I had to pick a team it would be the Bills, only because they are the closest to home. I watch the sport because I love it. I play in a few fantasy football leagues, so most of the time I am cheering for individual players to do well.

Mature musky are a warm water species compared to Pike. The Kawartha lakes are shallow and warm for the most part. To me this indicates that Musky have an evolutionary advantage in the system.I have not followed the Pike Invasion project, but think that it would be valuable to look at the success of the pike spawn. I know that there are currently a lot of smaller pike in Balsam, but I have not heard of many 40"+ pike caught, ones that can compete with Musky for prime forage areas. The Kawartha strain of musky is an incredible. It is amazing that a high density population of musky that is naturally reproducing exists. . My observation is short term, but in the 5 years I have been fishing the system, the fishery seems to be improving, especially in terms of size. I have nothing against studying the impact that pike can make on the system, but think that we need to hold off on intervening. If we start to stock the system, it should only be with Kawartha strain fish, and we should realize that continued stocking of the system will be needed. Stocking a Great Lakes strain a few times and hoping that the new strain will find a way to survive is misguided in my opinion.

The guy had a broken reel, and did what he could to get a smallish fish into the boat and I am sure released quickly. Check post history before you are critical of someone.

I'll chime in again, as I have an opinion about the amount of money an angler could make on a record musky. Don't quit your day job is the best advice I think that has been given. As was already pointed out, a professional angler would stand to cash in, as they probably already have incentives in their contracts that would kick in, and they would get a large amount of publicity. If you are a professional angler and do not bonk a record, then you are making a poor career choice. If you are an amateur angler and you catch a large fish, and publicize it, then you are opening yourself up to a lot of negative kick back. If you keep it, you could potentially make some money off of it, maybe 6 figures or so, but not millions. For me, and in my mind any reasonable person, millions would be what it would take to cash in on a fish. Even to get the sponsors, and other revenue, you would have to change your lifestyle, travelling around to shows and such, that you would have the be pretty unhappy with your life to make it worth while. The other factor is that when you make fishing a profession, it ceases to become a hobby, that usually means that fishing for fun is no longer an option. I know a professional musky fisherman who only fishes when he is getting paid, and although he seems to still enjoy it, especially catching big fish, there seems to be something lost there. For me fishing, especially musky fishing, is one of the few things that I do where I feel a sense of release and exhilaration. I get something from it that I cannot get anywhere else. That is why I do it. I do not want that to change, that is why if I ever catch a record I will take a pic and a measurement, and let it go.

If you fish for records, and the "glory" associated with the record, you bonk the fish. The only real way to know. Those live release records that are highly publicized, were not record fish otherwise they would have been bonked. There is more publicity with a huge live release record and a speculated weight, than a huge fish that is killed and weighs 55#. If you fish for other reasons, measure the fish, take a pic, and share it with your friends. It happened recently and was the best way to handle it in my opinion.