Fisherpete

Thanks all for the kind words! Andrew - let's write up a country song with the chorus : "A lil shot of cognac, but only if you have a shack" I too took the large steak and cheese and large poutine challenge but powered thru it like a champ... I must have been starving. That was like 3 pounds of food and 6,000 calories with a month's worth of sodium and saturated fat... yum I forgot to mention the sturgeon leaping randomly out of the water everywhere - was pretty cool to see. Anyone know the reason why sturgeon do this?

Seriously, 3rd cast. Had to laugh. Mike couldn't believe it either, he is mainly a troller... well he was before taking us out anyways LOL!

Gar-gantuan specimens. Heh. They have been on the bucket list for a few years now, will have to give it a go next year! Awesome report as always. Pete

Earlier this year, as part of the Fishing for Tyler charity auction Mike Rousseau was kind enough to offer up a guided day of muskie fishing on the St. Lawrence river. Andrew was lucky enough to end up with the trip, and chose me as his lucky sidekick to join! Having fished a tough closing day there with Mike a few years ago, I was pumped to give the Larry another shot. As many of you know, a few weeks ago Andrew and I had a great three day adventure to LOTW, and together landed nine muskies on that trip. Three were beasts, a 48.5", 49.5" and my first fifty incher ever - a tank of a 51". I had been hunting for that first fifty for ten years... my hopes were high that the St. Lawrence might cough up my second! Andrew is also hunting for his second, although his first was a 55" from LOTW that will likely be a very tough PB to beat... for a while anyway... 48.5" 49.5" 51" Day One Mike was fishing in a walleye tourney on the Saturday, and invited us up to join him afterwards at the weigh in. It was a tough bite, but Mike and his brother placed second in the tournament - congrats were in order! We arrived just as things were wrapping up, dropped off our gear at his cottage and headed out for a few hours of bonus evening fishing. The plan was to cover lots of water and troll for the majority of the time. I chose the rod on the left, Andrew had the one on the right for first bite. It didn't take too long before my rod went off - a decent little pike to break the ice. We continued on trolling until dusk, and just before heading in Mike arrived at a spot that he knew might be good for casting. On my third cast my rod buckled, and I set the hooks into a fish. I knew immediately that it was a really big one. She stayed down deep, and battled me with massive headshakes followed by line peeling runs. I eventually got a glimpse of her quite a ways out, as she thrashed down deep. Huge flashes of gold let me know that this was a monster. "It's a fifty boys!!!" I grunted as the battle continued. As I fought her closer to the boat, and got my first real look at her, the adrenaline flowed even faster. I yelled "Holy... she might go 55"!!!" This was surely the longest muskie I had ever had at the end of my line. She finally tired just enough that Mike got the net under her and the battle was won. Some whooping and hollering ensued, and I could not believe what had just happened. Third cast. Just ridiculous. One of if not the best fight I have ever experienced. I hauled her out of the net, and Andrew began snapping pictures. She taped out at 53.5" long with a 22" girth. My LOTW beauty was heavier, but she was my new PB for length. Reviving her took a bit which was not surprising after that lengthy battle, but she swam away strong. She tailed along the surface for quite a while, and we stayed with her for a good half hour until she powered down to the depths. We resumed casting for the remaining shreds of daylight without any further action, then headed in for some well deserved celebratory refreshments. Day Two After a good sleep in Mike's cabin, and our bellies full of Timmies, we headed out on Sunday morning. We primarily trolled again, stopping occasionally to cast high percentage spots. At the same area where I got the big girl the night before, Andrew raised a good fish which roared towards the boat chasing his lure, her large snout only inches behind. He swung smoothly into a figure 8, and on the first turn she smashed it - but was just skin hooked, and the hooks immediately popped free on the first headshake. She was a mid 40's fish and pretty thick too. Excited at seeing a good fish already, we carried on and not long afterwards, one of the trolling rods loaded up and peeled drag. Mike popped it out of the Salty, handed it to Andrew and the battle was on. Very similar to my fish, this one stayed deep, and fought very hard. Andrew played her perfectly, and she made it into the net. It was another nice fish, 46" and solid, and also happened to be tagged. We took pics, recorded the numbers from the tag and released her - I managed to take a cool underwater video of the release and took a few stills out of it. At Mike's request, the very obvious background has been covered to protect this area. Battle shot In the net Mike raised one more fish casting, but that was it for the day. Our mission had been accomplished - Andrew and I had each hoped to land a fish from the Larry, and I was lucky enough to land a giant and set a new PB. 53.5" is going to be a challenge to top, but I am certainly up for it! The St. Lawrence is a great fishery, and Mike is a knowledgeable and very personable guide who goes that extra mile to put you on big fish. Every time out is a genuine chance at the fish of a lifetime. Andrew and I will be heading back there in the not too distant future to hunt for more giants! Thanks again to Mike for his generosity in putting up this trip, and to Andrew for bringing me along. Thanks for reading! Pete & Andrew

Outstanding catches in all 3 species - congrats! Great pictures too.

There is a new Ranger fibreglass tiller on the market, not sure if you are a console guy or not. I saw one this weekend on the St. Lawrence, very sweet ride! http://www.rangerboats.com/models.cfm?gid=36&mid=7214 17'6" length 86" beam max HP 75

Nice king! Lake O makes it almost too easy to get them, it means a lot more to get one on GBay. I took a salmon charter there years ago and all we caught was a bunch of 4-5lb bows. I have the same socks without socks tan just not quite that dramatic LOL Pete

Here's their phone number and address if you need it. (905) 571-3001 1350 Phillip Murray, Oshawa, ON L1J 6Z9

I've been to their location in Oshawa three times, two for broken rods and one for a broken reel. All three times in and out no problems with new gear. The guy even took the spool off my broken reel and gave it to me as a spare without me asking! Why not just get a new reel if they offered?

Wow, very nice collection of buckets and bronzebacks!!!

Nip, Gbay or the St. Lawrence would be my guesses for weight. Lake of the Woods might not produce the absolute heaviest fish, but the sheer number of 50+ fish is second to none. Virtually every day I have fished there I have seen giants. Overrated? Hardly. I'll be making that 25 hour drive every year for the rest of my muskie fishing life! There are fifty inchers in Scugog but they would weigh 30-35 pounds on a very good day. My best from the bog is an October caught 47 that weighed 25 lbs based on her measurements.

Very sad, I grew up watching his movies and his stand up was second to none. A brilliant mind coupled with charisma and wit. It was mentioned today on the news that he was beginning to suffer from the early stages of Parkinsons.

Thanks guys! Planning for the 2015 trip has already begun... will be 7+ days of fishing! Pete

Amazing read and pics as always Bunk - thanks for putting this together! Congrats on the new PB laker as well - absolute beast of a fish! Pete

Very nice pics Joey, and that is a solid muskie that Paul caught! One of these years I will make it up to Nip... Pete

Thanks Andrew for bidding on this trip and donating to the Fishing for Tyler event. It's been my honour to take out three groups of great guys doing these trips, and all were very successful days on the water. I'm looking forward to doing it again next year! I was indeed quite nervous going into that day, it's been a pretty tough season for me on Lake O so far - my best day so far before this was only 2 kings a few times, and one trip I managed 3 bows. I knew that it was for a good cause regardless, but still, you want to put on a good show out there! Between 5:30am and 11am, we ended up going 6 for 9, 5 kings and the one bow which was just under 10lbs. No real giant kings, but a few that were in the high teens and gave Andrew a new PB salmon and some great fights. His longest king was 35.5" and is a solid entry for his team in the OFC tournament! I had marked tons of bait and hooks the night before in the same spot that Andrew and I fished, but none would bite... I was on the fence about coming back there but I did, and thankfully they did eat the next morning! That steelhead was weird, nice solid hit on the rigger on a high spoon and then came in like a log. Not a single headshake or anything. Like Andrew said, I must have trained it to swim right into the net LOL! The wind can go away now - I haven't been able to get out again since! Would love to get into a few 25+ kings and maybe even my first tyee before the season winds down. Cheers Pete

It's actually amazing - the first year we went up one of the guys in our group was a bass nut and he did well every day. Seriously, every species that the lake offers has incredible fishing. It's nuts, just a giant fish factory. Pete

Thanks everyone, it truly is incredible up there. For anyone going to LOTW for the first time, I highly recommend going with Darcy or another top guide. The lake has infinite hazards, and navigation is not for the faint of heart. The lake also has far different muskies than we have down here - they do not behave like Kawarthas fish. There are also so many good looking places to fish, it's really hard to narrow down which spots hold fish consistently - going with a guide will speed up your learning curve immensely. Worth every penny. We've gone to LOTW for three straight years now, and fished 20 days there, but will still be going out with Darcy again next year when we get there even though we will be bringing our own boat. Briant - Darcy was snapping away with a digital SLR, I took pics with a Nikon N1. We both got some great shots over the trip, the ones posted above are 50/50 from the two cameras. Cheers Pete

Berkley makes a product called Easy Clips - I used to use them all the time with good success. You will have to tie it on once, but after that changing lures is a breeze. I landed many big pike and muskies with no issues on them. Here's a link: http://www.berkley-fishing.com/Berkley%C2%AE-Easy-Clip-Snaps/Swivels/1285567,default,pd.html Pete

DAY THREE – Rapid Retribution I awoke on day three feeling better about what had happened the night before. I had been raising big fish all trip, and the two giants that I hooked and lost the night before were not because of anything I did – they were just curious, nipping, tasting, whatever – and the fact that it happened to Darcy right after too reaffirmed that. If they ate, I would have caught them. We headed out under bluebird skies and glass calm water – not your ideal conditions. Once again, Darcy started his run on a big fish spot. It was my turn at the front of the boat, and I cast out the same bucktail that the big fish had nipped at the night before. On what I think was the third cast of the morning, a big muskie rose up and was following my bucktail towards the boat. With Darcy and Andrew watching in anticipation, I switched gears and burst the bucktail forward – she lunged and ate it immediately! I slammed the hooks home, and horsed her to the boat – Darcy slid the net under her, and a huge sense of relief came over me – and the guys. Despite what had transpired the night before, the trip was now a big success. We had both landed a big one. She was not as girthy as Andrew’s beast, but still pretty thick and extremely clean and beautiful. She taped out at 48.5” on the bump board, my second longest muskie ever. Here she is. With all pressure now off, we headed to the second spot of the day. Andrew moved to the front of the boat and I headed to the middle. I continued on with my now lucky bucktail, burning it in fast, and it only took a few casts before another giant rose up and attacked it. I could see that once again this fish was not well hooked, another nip and slash – so I leaned back into the 9’6” XH rod, and cranked my Calcutta TE as hard as I could – using the full strength of the 100 pound braid. I literally dragged this giant to the boat and straight into the net in 10 seconds as she thrashed and tried her best to shake the hooks – which popped out as soon as she was in the net. I screamed with joy, and all three of us admired the giant in front of us. This was by far the biggest muskie of my life, and she was perfect. Beautiful markings and colour, flawless, massive girth from head to tail. She taped out at 51” with a 25” girth, putting her around 40 pounds on most muskie weight calculators. I could barely hold her out for the pictures – you can see the strain in my face in some of the pictures. Enough words, here she is. At this point, I could have honestly put the rod down and not fished for the rest of the day. I was so happy. But right after my giant, Darcy and Andrew raising big fish after big fish that were hot on the figure 8’s and a few even getting briefly hooked quickly got me re-motivated haha… I'm a true addict. Darcy soon landed a pair of 29” walleyes on muskie crankbaits! Almost a third the same size! How’s that for incidental catches? Here’s a pic of one of those giant eyes. Mid afternoon I again hooked into a nice muskie – looked to be a 43” or so. Again, lightly hooked – I horsed her to the boat and she shook off literally inches from the net. I didn’t even care, nothing could bring me down. Andrew soon tied into another – which he got to eat on a full figure 8 – the first time he has successfully had one eat on the 8. Another victory for the trip! She was a solid 41”. The fishing slowed right down by early afternoon. We kept on trying, raising the occasional fish but it was clear that their mood had changed to negative. They were coming in very low and slow. I caught another decent pike and that was it for the day. We headed in, thanked Darcy for the incredible fishing and packed up – only having a few hours to sleep before heading back to Winnipeg for an early flight home. I would like to thank Andrew for organizing the trip, and for being an amazing friend and fishing partner. We have now been in the boat for each other’s top 2 muskies, as well as many other species. You rock buddy, LOTW every year until we are too old and feeble to cast muskie lures. We can troll then. Darcy – you are an outstanding guide – I doubt anyone knows LOTW as well as you do. Thank you so much for putting me on the fish of a lifetime – my first fifty, but certainly not my last J Thanks also for your great coaching and camaraderie over the 3 days. Can’t wait to share a boat with you again next year. And there you have it folks, chapter three of LOTW concluded. With a very happy ending for all involved, and a little photoshop action to correct the picture below to what it should have been in the first place… the 5-0. Cheers and tight lines to all our friends on OFC, Pete & Andrew

DAY TWO – Elation and Heartbreak We started a few hours earlier on day two, and once again both started raising fish. Andrew had a savage strike, but didn’t hook her… the lure came back with this large tooth firmly lodged in it! Andrew pulled the tooth out and slipped it into his pocket for good luck… and it didn’t take long for that to happen. A crushing strike and great battle later, Andrew’s third fish was in the boat. She was a nice one, 42.5” with solid girth. We kept on fishing, and I’m pretty sure I saw Andrew pull the lucky tooth out his pocket and rub it (carefully) just before we fished the next spot. We were working a shoreline between two islands that featured lots of fallen trees and cover, when Andrew’s blade was just hammered at the surface by a very large muskie. This fish was incredibly strong, and Andrew could not budge her from the bottom as she thrashed side to side with massive headshakes. Finally she tired just enough that he raised her up and Darcy slid the net under her. She was a PIG. Long, with incredible girth and a massive head! High fives and whoops all around, and the guesses on the length began… last year when I got my 48”, both Andrew and I were convinced that it was a fifty when in the net because of the huge girth – it makes it difficult to judge their length… so I went with that same number and pronounced her a 48”. Darcy and Andrew both thought she was a 50 for sure. We took the pictures and placed her on the bump board – where she taped out at 49.5”! Just an awesome fish, and as we talked about her afterwards, really didn’t care at all that she was half an inch short of the ‘magical’ mark. We all agreed that a 49.5” with that girth is a far superior fish to a fifty+ with normal weight… in summary, Andrew was simply elated with his catch. He even felt that this fish might have displaced his snub-nosed 55” as his favourite catch of all time… as she was so perfect in all aspects. Here’s the pics. There’s still a few more I will upload and add later. So, after our nerves settled down, we continued on… Andrew was now firmly kicking my butt 4-0 in the muskie department. I finally got on the board, enticing this mid 30’s fish to eat a Handlebarz bucktail on a well-executed figure 8. The pressure was off, and I was pretty pumped to have caught her on an 8 as well – I was starting to have more and more confidence in my boatside manoeuvers. As dusk approached, so did a massive storm front. The three of us were almost giddy with anticipation about the potential of what could happen under these conditions. The clouds were heavy and low, the winds picked up and thunder rolled in the distance. We power fished quickly through big fish spots and then it happened. I was bringing in my blade in pretty quickly and swung into a routine figure 8, by now the standard with every single cast. At the end of the second turn, a massive fish rocketed up from the depths, and slashed at my lure – hooking herself on the very tip of the snout right in front of Andrew! One massive headshake and she was off. Adrenaline coursing through my veins, I had to laugh even though it hurt. The way she nipped at the lure and was just snout hooked rarely if ever equates to a successful landing. We all looked at each other, a mixture of excitement and disappointment in our faces. There was still plenty of time, and the storm was intensifying, so we kept on going. At the very next spot, with the skies now opened up and rain spilling down on us, I was again burning in my bucktail, this time across the top of a sunken reef. A huge muskie – even bigger than the last - rose up behind my lure and once again just nipped at it – once again hooking herself in the tip of the snout! One massive headshake and the giant was lost. I actually fell to my knees, and screamed an obscenity at the top of my lungs. The boat was very quiet for the next few moments. The first hooked and lost giant was disappointing yet still very exciting. This one just devastated me. I’ve been hunting for a giant like these for eleven years now, and fish as hard as anyone I know. I wanted it to happen so badly. I continued on, but my heart was not really in it. Moments later, the exact same thing happened to Darcy – a 48 or 49 this time – nipped, hooked, one headshake and off. Unbelievable. All three of us had a chance to land a giant in the same day. We fished on, but post-storm we saw no more fish. We headed in for the night. I was extremely happy that Andrew landed his giant, but now felt quite a bit of pressure to catch a quality fish myself on day 3 – the last chance.

Lake of the Woods. 14,552 islands. 65,000 miles of shoreline. Incredible raw beauty and wildlife. Spectacular fishing for virtually every species of fish that swims, and of course, monster muskies. Andrew and I first visited LOTW in 2012, and spent 8 days there chasing muskies. It was a tough learning experience, we lodged in the worst possible area of the lake for muskies, and had to quickly adapt our weedy Kawartha forged skills to the rock filled waters of the far north. Our figure 8 boat side skills were poor at best, a critical skill for catching big fish up there. We caught quite a few pike, and limitless walleye. We raised numerous muskies every day, many of them large - but catching one eluded us until day seven, when I finally pulled a healthy 42” out of a sunken tree. On day eight, with just hours left in the trip, Andrew hooked into the fish that forever hooked us both on LOTW – an incredible 55” behemoth which not surprisingly remains as his PB. We returned in 2013, hoping that our learnings from the previous year would improve our numbers of fish caught. Our base location was improved, and we had a much better idea of where to find the fish this time around. We also had nine days of fishing scheduled. As the trip approached, we learned that the muskie fishing was hot – but just before we arrived, a massive cold front rolled in, dropping the water temperatures from 80F all the way down to 64F. The muskies were thrown for a loop, but fortunately for us, big pike took advantage of the cooler water temperatures and moved up into typical muskie spots. We caught six pike over 40” during the trip including my PB @ 41”, as well as a bunch of 39”’s and 38”’s. The muskie fishing started out great – Andrew and I had a double header at the very first spot of the trip, ten minutes after we launched the boat – and Andrew caught another nice fish at the second spot. But after that hot start, the muskie fishing became very difficult. We were seeing quite a few fish, but just could not get them to eat. For the trip, we landed eight in total, four each. On the second last day, I landed my second PB of the trip – a super heavy 48” muskie. I had landed one muskie before longer than this one, a Kawarthas 49.5”, but this fish was just in a totally different class with her girth. On the final day of the trip, while stopped for lunch, we decided to jig for walleye for a few moments, and I landed my third PB of the trip, a beautiful 28”. The hooks of LOTW were driven into us even deeper with this trip, and we had already started talking about next year’s trip just hours after returning home. Shortly after the 2013 trip, I changed careers, as did my wife, and seriously doubted that I would be able to make the trip in 2014. Andrew had a number of major life events happening as well – a new baby on the way, a new house, extremely busy at work… life was looking that it would get in the way this year. But our drive to get up there again was so strong that we figured out a way to make it happen. Fly there instead of drive, and fish three full days guided by one of the top muskie guides around – Darcy Cox of Tank Industries guiding. Condensed, hardcore muskie hunting. As the trip approached, both of us had our doubts that three days on the water would be enough for us, but what unfolded during the three days put those thoughts to rest. Our plane arrived in Winnipeg on Wednesday afternoon, and we hopped in a rental car and drove the three hours to Kenora. As we pulled in, Andrew recorded a little video… Our hotel was right on the water overlooking LOTW. Darcy was to pick us up from the dock in front of the hotel every day. Can't get any better than that! The next morning, we got to the dock a little early, and Andrew snapped this quick pic of me... was supposed to be the 5-0 on my hands representing the fifty inch goal… but this dummy put his hands up backwards haha… uh oh, did this mean I was going to go 0/5??? Time shall tell… DAY ONE – Getting the Kinks Out Darcy picked us up from the dock and we headed out. Weather conditions were ideal, water temps good. According to Darcy, decent numbers of fish had been getting caught, but very few giants had been landed. We headed onto his milk run, and soon started seeing fish. I seemed to be raising most of the big ones, but none were very interested in eating. I had a few take a turn on the 8, but no real aggression. I caught a decent pike, and not long after Andrew broke the ice and landed our first LOTW muskie of 2014. Mid 30’s fish. Glad to have the pressure off of getting that first one, we kept fishing, and in the evening Andrew hooked into his second of the day, a bit bigger than the first and around 38”. The setting sun made for a few incredible shots of this fish! We fished well into the dark, but that was it for the day. Andrew was happy with his two landed, and although I never got a muskie, I felt good because I raised many of the bigger fish of the day and would get my chance.

Sorry guys and gals, still working on it... went thru 400+ pics tonight... Here's a few teasers...

Very cool - I have to give open water lakers a go one of these days! Pete