Fisherpete

Yessir, they certainly give you a workout!

Thanks all. Gotta love the Lake O fishery, 10 minutes from my house to the launch. Even a couple bites per outing is a ton of fun. And is the fishing ever easy compared to the muskie grind!!! And nope B - kept my knuckles a mile away when she peeled off line! The nice thing about the Amundson is that it has an amazing drag system, can even set it so precisely as to load the rod as the cannonball drops, but not pop the line from the rigger clip! Pete

Snuck out solo for the evening bite after work, was not disappointed. Started out with a high teen, then just before packing up landed this beauty 39" in the dark. I caught a 39" last year that went 26.8 lbs... this fish was likely in the same ballpark. Just might have made the derby leaderboard this week... maybe I should have bought a derby ticket! Ah well, was a blast and she swam away to get even bigger. These were also the first two fish I have caught on my new mooching setup (Amundson TMX4/Rapala 10'6") - which is just amazing. So much fun fighting them like this. Seems like every time I get a decent chinook I am fishing solo and get lousy self pics!

August 5th Leaderboard update! Sorry for the long delay folks, been a busy guy recently. Some great entries caught in the past weeks - here they are! Team 1 - adds a tourney leading 21" bass and upgrades their NGL trout with a 33.5"! Team 2 - adds a 19" bass! Team 3 - adds a 17.5" bass and a 31" muskie! Team 4 - Gallie continues to roll with a 23.75" walleye upgrade, a 29.5" carp upgrade and adds a tourney leading 38" salmon! Team 5 - upgrades their bass with a 20.25", upgrades their walleye with a 29.5", upgrades their muskie with a 45", upgrades their pike with a tourney leading 41" and upgrades their salmon with a 35"! Team 6 - Manjo39 is still hot - upgrading their walleye with a 24.5" and adds a 19" bass!

I'm still pretty tired from the 23 hour drive back, so not much in the storytelling department this time... but here are the highlights and lowlights. 8 of us in the cabin, John (cowanjo) from the board and 5 new faces to us. Great bunch of guys, I'm sure John will add to this post. Thanks again John for all your organization for this trip. Water temperatures - swung from as high as 82F to as low as 66F while we were there. 3 straight days of gale force winds. Could not get to our milk run during that time, but as a result explored some new water and learned a few new patterns. A 30 minute boat ride under normal conditions becomes a 3 hour white knuckle ordeal in 6 to 8 foot tightly packed angry waves. First time I have ever seen Andrew stress out. The Princecraft took a real pounding but thankfully came out still floating Despite the adverse conditions, the results were good - most muskies the two of have landed in a LOTW trip so far (15), with Andrew kicking my butt 11-4. Nine of Andrew's eleven were over 40". I did manage to boat the biggest at 45 1/4" (to his 45") but my fish was not as pretty lol. I also managed a couple very nice pike on the trip, including tying my personal best at 41". Andrew - thanks again for everything. Here's the pics.

Nice looking ski - clean and dark green. Congrats!

So sorry to read this Wayne. My families thoughts and prayers are with you and Jen. Pete

Yup Just ignore the posts that are not helpful... I.e. Looking for rod storage for 6 rods - answer - only bring 1 or 2 rods with you lol! You will still get great info from many of the amazing members here.

BPS pro qualifier set has been great. Look for when it goes on sale.

Rapala J-11 in gold/black.

Maybe check them on a scale? It always seems like there is still propane in mine when it gives out...

A last minute change in plans sent Andrew and I off to the Kawarthas for a muskie hunt. We worked hard and ended up having a decent day on the water. 5 fish landed, 6 follows with one being a giant. All fish were landed between 11am and 4pm under bluebird skies and calm - which is really strange for the Kawarthas! No action at all during the usual productive dawn/dusk times. Oh well, that's fishing for you - just when you think you have things figured out... Andrew caught a 40" and 33", I got a 39", 38" and 35". Nothing huge, but lots of fun and great battles - Andrew's 40 did a massive jump that was at least 3' high and 10' across - the most spectacular jump we have ever witnessed. Here's a few pics.

Didn't know that stinkbait works for smallies B Just kidding lol. Beauty smallie, the big ones fight so hard.

Nicely done! A 30" walleye is likely more than 7lbs unless it was really skinny...

Beauty pike!

If you are close to them, Shimano in Peterborough does an amazing job tuning their reels, I think it is $25-30 for a Saros and that includes any parts that need replacing. My Calcuttas and Stradics come back like new after I take them in. Pete

Use real corn Jer with one of the rubber ones to help it float off the bottom and keep it on the hook

Nice report Mike - great pics of your multi-species success! Looking forward to your bass reports after the summer trips, you always seem to get a few toads! Pete

Great, thanks again guys.

Thanks - was wondering about this myself. Remember hearing about a product called Nik-wax (sp?) that you can also use?

Sorry to hear that B, I'm sure they will get you all fixed up. Pain in the butt though, and I'm with you - anything to do with the eyes is scary. I had a metal fragment removed from my eye earlier this year, and as the guy came towards me with the vibrating needle, I said "You are going to do WHAT with that???"

SAIL carries Orcas also.

Great report and pics as always Joey. That 44" is a beauty. You are an inch up on me so far this year Looks like everyone had a great time.

There are big ones in there for sure, we just had a hard time finding them without any cabbage. We tried fishing rock also. Will give it another go later in the season.

I use the orcas for dispeys, they work great. Because your drag is not locked down like when muskie trolling there is not much stress on them even when a big king hits.