Millhouse2020

This is good to know, thanks for posting TJ!

Yesterday we decided to fish for muskie on Nippissing since the season opened on Saturday and I have been waiting since last year to get out on the water and use some of my new tackle. The day did not get off to a good start with aweful weather from the moment we got out of bed. We got soaked before we even got to the lake while packing the boat and I stayed wet pretty much all day. We fished until just after 3pm when we were both cold from being thoroughly drenched all day. My fiance caught her first muskie yesterday! I estimated it at about 34inches or so. Not huge but a beautiful first fish and her biggest ever to date. We would have got a picture if I didn't drop it in the lake!!!! I decided to un-hook it with my hands since as she got it close to the boat I was not yet prepared with a net and pliers and I could see the fish had only one hook in the tip of its lip. I grabbed it tightly and got the hook out and was about to bring it into the boat when it thrashed hard and slipped out of my grip and back into the lake.... I was disappointed I couldn't get a picture of it with her but she didn't seem to mind too much. I considered it a caught fish and we will just have to catch her a bigger one. I was so proud of her and I must say a bit jealous that she got one on the first try since it took me much much longer... We caught several more small pike throughout the day and around 1pm or so, we were trolling through an area when I just happened to say to her that she should reel in her line closer to the boat to avoid getting caught on so many weeds. I was trolling my lure maybe 20feet behind the boat in the propwash of the motor since I had been meaning to experiment with this technique more this year. I lifted my rod up to make the lure come to the surface to show her just how close it was to boat when just as the lure broke the surface of the water, a HUGE muskie breached like a whale out of the water after the lure. I had it hooked for a few seconds before I realised what had just happened. I barely started to fight the fish when it got off and sat motionless in the water directly behind the boat. The boat was still going and it took me a second before I realised what happened and shut the motor off. I let my lure on the surface like a dead fish hoping the muskie would strike what looked like a preyfish he just injured. The muske sat motionless for a couple more seconds before it turned and sank back into the depths. We stayed and fished the area for a while longer casting and trolling but it did not show itself again. I can't say for sure just how large the fish was but it was BIG. It engulfed the big lure like it was a tiny morsel. We will just have to go back as soon as we can and try and catch the giant that got away... It was a fun day and better half can now call herself a muskie hunter. She also saw the huge fish that stuck my bait so she can back me up on this "...big one that got away story..." and she is excited to get out again. I could not ask for a better day... Millhouse

Wow, great report, very very detailed! Some stunning pics too! I have sighted several large gar in the areas I fish for muskie. Would love to catch one some day. Pretty amazing looking creatures... Well done, Millhouse

There are some good ideas in here which I think I may borrow, especially the Cabela's product that attaches to the garment hooks. I use some dollar store velcro bands there are flexible. I wrap them around a few rods top and bottom to secure them together firmly. I fit over a $5 bass pro rod cover. You can fit 3-5 rods inside one cover depending on how buig the guides are. This keeps them from getting caught on anything. Then I simply lay the rods flat between the seats in the car. My fiance has a Honda Fit which is a compact car but with the hatch open we can easy slide a 7.5ft muskie rod from end to end. The tips sit on the dash between us and the rods are well protected. I do this only rarely now that I have my pickup but it worked well for me for a long time. Cheers, Millhouse

All good advice here. Especially the 3 seperate bills for boat, motor and trailer. Thus far, I only paid HST on the trailer when I bought my boat privately last year. I have not been contacted yet regarding the boat registration and taxes on the boat however I did receive my registration papers fairly quickly last year.

That's an interesting hypothesis. Although no one can know for sure, this theory makes lots of sense.

Interesting... Somehow I doubt that will make it to A&E or The History Channel

That's funny! Sometimes mistakes in the kitchen turn out OK

Dang, I guess I should make other plans this weekend...

Very nice. I am enjoying my 2011 FX4, I think you will love your new toy

This makes me want to trade in my tiller... Beautiful machine, time to get it slimed up

I have had the same experience. Stopped many times in the west arm of Nippissing but they never asked for my card. Just wanted to verify if we had life jackets and safety gear and confirm no alcohol in the boat.

It's funny you mention bilgewater. I remember watching an episode of Charlie White's fishing machine years ago. Not sure how many board members remember that show but he was the first to have under-water camera's regularly on his show. On this episode they decided to do an experiment with scents. They wanted to see what foul odours may do to a lures ability to catch fish. So they took 2 identical lures and dunked one in the bilgewater. Their hypothesis was the lure without the bilgewatr bath would cath more fish because the fish would be repelled by the odour of the diry lure. Well what happened was the salmon struck the dirty lure at a rate of 4 or 5 to 1. They couldn't believe why this would be the case so they reported their results to a fish biologist and he concluded that the oil in the bilgewater was acting as an attracting. Oil comes from decayed organisms and contains ammino acids (protiens). He believed the fish were smelling this and were attracted by it. Regardless I remember seeing this many years ago because I thought it was so facinating at the time. There are some scents that are know to repel fish for quite a while, bug repellent with deet being the worst offender. Apparantly in tests, bass were repelled for hours by lures that came in contact with deet.

I have heard many times that WD40 works well as a fish attractant. I have never used it but am curious to try. Have any board members experiemented with it and if so what were your results? Generally, I always use scent of some sort. If anything, to remove any odours I may have got on the bait that fish dont like, ie soap, sun block or worse bug repellent... Millhouse

Thanks for the tips Mike, I really appreciate it. This has me psyched to try trolling in the wash again. I suspect I`m going to need a new pair of underwear if I catch a fish with only 6 feet of line out! I

Very cool, nice creation! I have never had any success trolling in the wash despite many attempts. I gave up on it. I know a lot of successful fisherman swear by it but I have never had success. I don't know if the water i am fishing is too shallow 8-9 or so? I have tried anywhere from 5-20 feet back in the wash as well without so much as a sniff. If anyone can share any tips for propwash trolling I would love to hear them... Millhouse

This is for the muskie hunter's on the board. What are you go to muskie baits? What bait, colour, size etc and why??? Like if you had to pick only your top 3-5 baits to fish with for the whole season, what would they be and why? I find myself always leaning to my bucktails, and specifically safety pin style bucktails. I fish in weedy relatively shallow lakes and tend to troll more than cast and they are as close to weedless as you can get. Hauling big baits with lots of trebles tends to have me spending more time pulling salad off my lures. Also, my fishing partners and I have caught all but one of our fish on bucktails the past several years so I am confident in them. I can also fish these baits bulged on the surface, at mid depth or let them sink before retreiving so I can cover more of the water column. I have no clear winner with respect to colour but tend to vary from natural to bright depending on light and weather conditions. I have plenty more lures on my arsenal which need to get wet much more and many that have yet to see the water so my goal this year is to experiement more and get more proficient using other baits. Curious to see what everyone's preferences are. Cheers, Millhouse

Well said. I honestly believe it doesn't take all that much more effort to outshine most of the competition. That goes for many different endeavours.

I'm confused. When is the best/optimum time to water???

I know that in Ontario, the over the counter stuff is far more benign than it used to be but if you have serious concerns, I would check with the experts at a garden supply store or something who could give you an informed opinion. I finally cried uncle this year and called in the pros the other day. I did so much work on my lawn last year to improve it only to wake up one morning this spring to see a sea of yellow, I almost cried... I have some neighbours whose weeds are out of control and spreading. Anyways, I purchased a package from Turf King recently that includes several treatments of fertilizer and weed control, plus soil areation and some other stuff from now till the fall. It cost $350 in total which seemed like a lot at first to me but when I thought about the bags of fertilizer, seeds and weed control I buy and spread myself otherwise its not that much more to have someone do it for you and use stronger stuff. I think the more common weed control product now contains iron as the main ingredient that kills weeds without harming your lawn or the environment. I'm no expert of course but this has been my recent experience. I think you should call of the pros, Weedman, TurfKing, Nutrilawn and see what they have that meets your needs for safety with your kids and pets. Hope this helps.

I'm gonna have to wait until the 3rd Saturday to hit Nippissing... Good luck to all you guys though.

Great post! Its making me more anxious to get out for rainbows on Huron....

I learned my lesson posting a couple dealer service related questions on the board a while back, its a very polarizing issue. That being said, if it were me, I would say be patient and wait for what you wanted if you have your heart set on something specific (4 stroke), I'm sure you will be happier in the end despite the delays knowing you didn't compromise. I can see from the dealers end that deliveries can be delayed for all sorts of reasons they have no control over but I think its also OK for customers to push a bit for some additional options or incentives for the wait. As mentioned, we are paying significant money for their product and as a customer you have other options. Customer service is difficult to execute well, you can never keep everyone happy but conducting business with fairness and integrity should be expected all the time. If you promise or commit to something you need to follow through.

Great tip, I'm going to try this. I never used sandpaper to clean my handles before but I did find a useful method with regular dish soap, some baking soda and a toothbrush. I just made a past of the soap, baking soda and some water and used the toothbrush to scrub it into the handles. Clean all the surfaces you need to, then rinse with water. It works with foam handles too. It cleans and refreshes the cork nicely without removing material like an abrasive sandpaper does. Its worked well for me but I will try your method since I think it may be just a bit faster. Thanks for sharing.

Sweet rig!!! I'm jealous...