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Hello everyone, I'm going to a cottage on balsam lake from the 16th-20th, hoping to target some pike, walleye, and crappie. From what I've gathered I would guess that pike and walleye are post-spawn and in shallow water (4-10') sitting in the new emerging weeds, and crappie would be in bays, spawning possibly? Also, it might help to know we have a fish finder that has sidescan and can tell us the depth we're in. I would be grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction regarding how to target any of these 3 species on balsam lake. Thanks again.

https://youtu.be/DssYsx9UZMA

Here’s a vid link of our day on Rice Lake from two days ago! It’s been up and down fishing with the yo-yo weather https://youtu.be/EScAJ3TUPxk

Hey all, Just thought I would share a photo of my 2017 opening day musky and introduce myself. I have been a member of the forum for a few years but am just getting into posting and sharing. My dad, a.k.a rattletrap 2, has been on here for years and now that I am such an avid outdoors woman with a thirst for knowledge he said this is a place I might like to spend some time. I fish regularly, for any fish but have a real passion for slaying musky these days. I am also a novice bow hunter, looking to get more into it this coming fall. A big thanks to Mike over at handlebarz lures, and his double 8s in a custom colour from the muskey oddesey I was able to bring this beauty bruiser aboard within the first half hour of my opening day up in the kawarthas. I look forward to sharing and learning from and with you all.

Hey all, Just thought I would share a photo of my 2017 opening day musky and introduce myself. I have been a member of the forum for a few years but am just getting into posting and sharing. My dad, a.k.a rattletrap 2, has been on here for years and now that I am such an avid outdoors woman with a thirst for knowledge he said this is a place I might like to spend some time. I fish regularly, for any fish but have a real passion for slaying musky these days. I am also a novice bow hunter, looking to get more into it this coming fall. A big thanks to Mike over handlebarz lures, and his double 8s in custom colours from the muskey oddesey I was able to bring this beauty bruiser aboard within the first half hour of my opening day up on the kawarthas. I look forward to sharing and learning from and with you all.

I have a trailer up in Ennismore on Buckhorn. This past weekend was the Theona Park fishing tournament - 16 teams. I've entered the last 3 years rotating partners between my dad, my brother and this year a family friend. This season has been a weird one. Catching in unconventional ways compared to the norm. The heavenly spots that you visualize catches on aren't producing. There's definitely been quantity this year but nothing of substantial size. A normal day is anywhere from 4-8 1lb largies. Despite all of this I had a good gut feeling about the tournament. We had a smallie spot in mind that we knew we needed to hit first but it was going to be tough knowing others knew about it as well. Sure enough someone had beat us to it and within 45 min landed himself what had seemed to be a 5lb. smallie. This sent us for a whirl and really crushed any excitement we had started out with. We started working a small patch of reeds around that spot and an hour and a bit in landed our first bass (3lb) on a white swimmer. We worked up a shoreline not far from that spot and while my friend was working the back of the boat out into more open water I was hitting the shoreline with a wacky, something that hadn't been working for me all season until then. I landed two 4+ lb. largemouth on that worm and just like that we felt like we may be in the running. The last few hours were near dead and the last 2 bass caught were just to fill the limit and add to our overall weight but I was really hoping on that one bass to maybe even take biggest fish. It was close. At weigh in we had a total of 13.6 landing us 3rd place! Largest fish went to that guys smallie at 4.85. My largest fish was just under him at 4.6. All in all it was a great day and the first time I've ever placed in a tournament or caught that quality of fish in a day. It really made up for a not so exciting season on our lake thus far.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to head out with FisherPete once again. We met at 4:00 am (yes 4 am) at his local Go station so I could park my vehicle and hop in his. After and hour or so we arrived at the launch and set out on what was to be a great day of fishing.The mosquitoes were really bad and I got bit a few times in short order. It was still very dark out but Pete managed to find some bug cream to my relief. We headed out casting up the shoreline. As usual I was throwing double 10's and Pete would alternate between blades and other baits (suicks etc.) Sunrise came about 45 minutes later and we headed North towards towards some of Petes spots, The weather couldn't have been better, overcast with a nice cool breeze, but the water temperature was a little high as one could have expected with our hot summer A few moments later I had a nice hit, set the hook and after a surprisingly hard retrieve Pete netted the first on of the day. Let me tell you I was expecting a mid forties based on the fight this girl gave me. It turned out only to be a thirty five. Shortly thereafter we headed to the next spot, and within a few casts I couldn't believe my luck slam. I don't want to over exaggerate but this was my best Musky fight to this day. She jumped out of the water and I knew she had some size to her. Pulling my rod under the boat several time as I walked hurriedly from the front to the back of the boat a couple of times she surfaced only to be quickly netted, unhooked, measured, couple of photos and then healthily released, It was at this time Pete noticed the battery on his camera was toast (thanks to Iphones no big deal) This was my second biggest to date at 43" beating out the 42" that got me addicted to this species. We hit a couple more spots with no luck and then headed more north and sure enough Pete had put us on a couple more fish, Pete landed this nice ski which he considered too small to lay on the board. My guess would be 34-35". I followed with another fish shortly thereafter, again I don't know why but these fish were fighting for their lives. A big struggle at the net and the fish never made it in the boat. It was decided that the fish would be considered caught (to be debated) as it was boat side on the net, but not in. (Pete blamed himself, but as we know s..t happens when dealing with these beasts) I am positive this fish was at least 40". Photo would have been here...... We had spent enough time at this spot and decided to move on to the next. After arriving I switched to orange black from orange yellow which turned out to be a great move as within moments I had another fish on. Adrenaline pumping through my veins again another great fight this was going to be another Kawartha biggie (to me), After another struggle with the net we landed this 40.5" Beauty. The weather started to change, clouds disappeared, wind dissipated and my biggest fear had arrived, The dreaded Bluebird skies. Pete to the rescue with some 60 sunblock. We fished hard for the next few hours without as much as a follow. It was previously decided we would head to Lew's house (fellow OFC'er) to pick up some gear Pete was purchasing. We arrived at Lew's, stories and gear exchanged, and some time later we headed back for some more time on the water. (Thanks Lew for the great deals and time spent). Shortly after launching Pete caught a baby about the size of his bait (recently acquired from Lew), No pics. We headed North again and spent the rest of the day and evening searching for just one more, to no avail. The sun went down we packed up and headed home. Hopefully after throwing double 10's all day I have conditioned myself for my upcoming trip to Witch Bay, LOTW's Thanks Pete for yet another epic day on the water. That's it for now, Dave

Does anyone know if there are any Ontario lakes on any Lakemaster chip? Specifically looking for Kawartha lakes. Thanks in advance Dave

Sitting at work yesterday, browsing the forums like I normally do, and I found myself pretty envious after seeing all your picture of the fish you guys had been catching lately, so I called up my old man to see if he wanted to go out after work. He was down for it, of course. He used to fish a lot as a kid but life got in the way. But ever since I bought my first boat this spring, him and I have made it out nearly every week since late April, and he's quickly rediscovered why he loved it so much to begin with. As soon as I got off work I picked up the step-son from daycare and headed to the boat launch, meeting my old man there. The kid had been on my boat once before and loved it, but had never been fishing on it. I've taken him shore fishing before but he's never seen anything bigger than a perch pulled up so I was really hoping to show him something nice this time. We get on the water at little after 5:30 and before long have found our way to spot I know that's usually been good to me. I throw a worm and a bobber on the little guy's line and cast it over a weed bed nearby then my old man and I start casting out. He lasts about two minutes before he gets bored and decides he would rather play with the steering wheel than fish. Not surprising, he's 4 years old and doesn't have a toy that isn't a car, truck, boat, or plane. The kid loves vehicles like I love fishing, haha. I let him just play around as I wasn't too concerned with him catching a perch or something, he's done that plenty now, I just wanted him to see how big fish can get to get him more excited about it. We drift around in that area for nearly an hour, trying different lures and depths and weed lines, but nothing. Not even a hit. Usually this place is good for one or two pike at least but it seems they aren't interested today. We start jumping along the shoreline to other spots I've had luck with before with similar results. Then we get out from a dock and I've just got a good feeling about this place. My dad and I both are using 3" five of diamonds by this point and on our first cast in this spot something takes his lure and whips down under the boat into the weeds. He said it felt like a strong hit and I'm there ready with the net as he pulls up... a pile of weeds. Damn, must've kicked the hook after it dove down. The kid was standing at the side of the boat eagerly awaiting the fish and the disappointment was evident in his face, he was just as excited to see it landed as we were. Now I know we've gotta get one as I refuse to let this kid go home without seeing a fish. A few minutes later and my dad has another hit, this one he's determined to keep. It's coming in real easy and not putting up much of a fight until it gets within a few meters of the boat then it begins to fight like hell, diving deep and bending the rod down solidly. I'm standing ready with the net when it finally comes up and she's a beauty. Net it quickly and pull it into the boat, finally get a good look and we are not disappointed, least of all the little guy who is losing his mind. It's a 30" pike, weighing 4.5lbs. This is an especially nice moment for my dad, as it's his season's best so far, and since this is his first season in around 30 years, it's the best fish he's caught since he was a kid. We release the fish then pick up the rods to try again, huge grins on our faces, and now even the kid is back into it. Not more than 3 casts later I hear the best words in existence, "fish on!". The scene plays out again as my dad reels in yet another fish. Not as big but still nice, 25" and nearing 3.5lbs. Asked the young lad if he wanted his picture taken with it but he ran to the back of the boat at the thought, probably not a bad thing to be a little fearful of those teeth, haha. Tried for a little bit more there without success and decided to go back to where we started off, still frustrated that we got skunked there originally. Shortly after we arrive they start biting, but only on my dad's lure. He pulls up two small ones just shy of 2lbs and quickly tosses them back. I'm starting to get a little frustrated now as I haven't been skunked all year yet but it's looking pretty likely here. The little guy is standing up in the bow with me now and points towards shore and tells me to cast that way. I do as he says as I had earlier told him we were a team so that he could feel included on anything I catch. It was less that a second after hitting the water that I felt that familiar tug on my line and knew I had one. I start reeling as my dad readies the net, but this one was a fighter. Every time I got it next to the net it dove straight down, again and again. Finally in the fifth attempt at netting him we succeeded. Not the biggest of the day but a nice fish in its own right. 28", just shy of 4lbs. I give all the credit to the kid, who told me exactly where to cast and it worked out perfectly. There may be hope for him yet! We called it a night shortly after that as we were already out later than his bedtime and knew I would be catching hell for that from his mom, but when we got home and he wouldn't stop talking about how awesome the fish were, she couldn't even be a little mad over anything that made her kid so happy.