Search the Community

Please send advice I’ve fished both lakes and nothing so I’m in need of advice for regular and ice fishing

hello i am new to this board and i am looking for information on musky fishing in the mill lake area of greorgian bay. or the McGREGOR BAY area. i am going to take my first trip to Georgian bay to musky fish and any info would be greatly appreciated. thank you frank

Has anyone fished the pool in recent years, fished it a few weeks ago a couple of times , caught some bass, but was shocked at the boat traffic and jet skies all over the lake . Has anyone concentrated on fall musky or walleye in recent years. Would love to hear .

Im heading out to Emily provincial park in a few days and am going to try out some fishing while I’m there. If anyone has had any experience with musky or walleye. I do have a canoe so I’m not going to be strictly fishing from shore. Thanks.

Heading to Killbear in a few days for my birthday but from everything I’ve read the fishing there isn’t great but that’s all from years ago. Anyone been there recently and had any luck? Thanks.

hi all, been spending some time exploring my home lake , casting as I go, got into a nice musky in 2’FOW on the edge of some reeds. Water temp is 51F and rain, rain, RAIN! This is the 2nd 40”+ musky I’ve caught in the last month or so on a small spoon, a Warden’s Worry Wobbler spoon to be exact, so much for casting all those giant cranks!

It seems like a lot of pike are getting into the Kawarthas now... not sure if it’s a good thing tho? Here’s the vid of our fishing catching day ? https://youtu.be/kVUu4xlVqv0

Hooked up with a friend from the board yesterday in search of an elusive (for me, anyway) We ended up connecting with four. I'll take that over work any day.

Well it took a while but had a few days off work this past week and finally got the boat in the water. Had to take a bit of a test run before a Friday/Saturday morning musky adventure, so took a quick run down to Lake Ontario to see if the boat would work. Since it did...trolled around for a few hours. I don't do a lot of salmon fishing, but do have some dipseys, couple of spoons and a flasher/fly rig. Managed 3 small salmon in a few hours, and then caught what my friend referred to as "a big stinky laker". Considering my first laker was caught thru the ice a few months ago, and weighed maybe a pound, this was quite a different fish. Caught it on the flasher fly at around 120 feet down over 170 (this is the king kong of dipseys...not the usual one). Once in the boat I understood why he called it "stinky". Lakers have a smell all of their own! With the boat running well, went up to Kawarthas for Friday and then Saturday morning...hoping to land some fish that are known for their stink (not to mention teeth and slime). Tried 2 lakes I had never fished before, so it was a bit of a guessing game where to start etc. Day one we managed 5 muskies and day 2 landed another 3. Nothing huge, biggest were 43 and 42 inches. Almost all the musky we caught still looked pretty beat up from the spawn. Took a few hours on each lake before we found em, but once we did the fish cooperated! Pretty satisfying going to a new body of water, struggling to find the pattern, but then getting rewarded eventually. Water in Kawarthas was 66 in am then 68 by early afternoon...this was the same on both lakes. Here are a coupla pics:

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.

Anyone here use these lures for pike and musky? If so, how well did they work for you? Rapala Jointed Clackin Rap 14cm 1-1/2 oz Rapala Glidin Rap 15cm 2-1/12 oz Rapala Subwalk 15 15cm 2-1/8 oz

I am delighted to announce the publication of my new book "120 Days - One man's quest hunting giant muskies on Georgian Bay". The book is being released December 28. I am currently taking orders by Paypal or through email transfer at [email protected]. In Canada the book is available for $32 including HST and shipping. In the US market it is $26 including shipping. More information is available on my Facebook page. Friend Bill Hamblin.

Hello All, Some may have heard, but my good friend Christine Cope landed a monster 55" muskie this past Saturday while fishing Lake St. Clair. Not only is this fish long, but it is fat and such a clean-looking specimen. I put together a short write-up detailing the catch after talking with Christine yesterday. You can find it here: http://www.wideopenspaces.com/female-angler-lands-monster-55-inch-lake-st-clair-muskie-pics/ Good Fishing, Justin

Well here goes my first fishing report. Last Saturday I had the pleasure of fishing with FisherPete. We started early thanks to him for picking me up at a friends cottage around 6:00 am. From there we drove to the local Timmies for our daily dose of caffeine, and I beleive Pete grabbed some eats for brecky, not being an early eater I opted out. Upon arriving at the launch I could feel the excitement of my first real full day targeting the elusive Musky. After launch we grabbed our rods and Pete set me up with a double 9 inline. I was tempted to throw 10's but the day before I was using 10's but the retrieve was really tough with my setup (St.Croix medium heavy, Abu NaCl). After about half an hour or so I had my first snag, it was a beauty, undaunted Pete backed the boat up and as a team effort managed to pull what seemed to be a power line from the bottom. As there were no power line markings we unhooked the tail and continued on our journey. A little while later we headed to one of Petes go to spots, where we noticed some boat had beat us there and was pulling in a Ski. (no thanks to my snag).We had decided to move on from there to his next spot.We fished hard for the next two hours or so and then "wham" Pete had on a beauty, with my polarized glasses I could see this baby did not want to come to the boat. Shortly there after I netted his georgeous barred Ski. After the release I had decided to switch up to a Chartreuese double 10, which I was surprisingly able to retreive with out too much effort, it was discussed to the cupping on my previous inline might have been the issue. Within about 25 minutes of switching lures I had a hit, not 20 feet off the boat, the sight was amazing. Pete quickly netted the fish and It was picture time. After releasing the fish it was clear that the conditions were perfect, Overcast which is great for me and my all to easily sun burning skin.A few more hours of casting inlines and at a different spot, that all familiar "whamo", and this time the thing darn near jerked the rod out of my hand, after an exhilarating fight Pete netted my second beast of the day. This baby had slammed me from the side and bent the inline badly. Another pic and quick release. Pete then straightened out the lure for me to continue. After a quick snack (sliced pizza and pop) we headed to a different location. With only a couple of follows we headed out again. About an hour later we came across a shallow rock reef where wouldn't you know it, Pete slammed another Musky. Again a good fight, quick netting and a Pic for the records. After the release we decided to head to the North end of the lake, unfortunately the weather turned and the clouds left. The blue sky had turned the fish off, but we stuck it out until 7 PM. I would like to thank Pete for his knowledge, dedication,perserverance and all out great time he showed me that day. Also a special thanks to "Kelly Kustom Musky Lures" who Custom designed the spinner Pete had obtained and that I used all that day. Can't beat a day with four big Muskies out of four landed, and with ten or so follows to the boat. As for sizes I believe they were in order 36.5, 37, 39, 39 That's all for now. Dave

I'm quest for catching a musky started 4 years ago with Jeremy84 in the Kawarthas. That is were I lost what me and Jeremy were sure was a musky because nothing before then had bent my rod to its breaking point before. Last year also with Jeremy and on the same lake in the Kawarthas while fishing for bass, on one of my casts I over shot the area I wanted my wacky worms to go, so I powered reeled it back in and as it was boat side, WHAM SPLASH something big hit it and broke the pre-tied set up i was using and knew then that I just lost what would have been my first musky. So after that I went into a musky gear buying friendzy, buying both a trolling and casting rod off the classifieds as well as a trolling reel. i purchased a casting ABU C3 from BPS. Pete (Fisherpete), introduced me to a friend of his who make his own inlines so i made a custom order. After being outbid in the Tyler Auction this year for the musky trip, I spoke with Pete and hired him to take me out for some Kawartha Musky. Trip day (June 13 2015) After a real chaotic week of work a much needed fishing day was finally here for me. Speaking with Pete throughout the week leading up made each day feel like a kid waiting for Santa to come. Like a kid on Christmas eve I went to bed super early, mainly because the time I had to be up at but also because it also meant that morning would come sooner. So I was planing on being up at 3:00 in the morning ended waking up at 2:45 to have a quick coffee, go to the bank then make the trip from Halton Hills out to Whitby. After packing up Pete escape and ensure we had everything we needed it was off to McDonald's for breakfast then off to the first lake of the day. Once we ere at Lake # 1 we spent a good part of the morning tossing some of the inline lures. I did have something swipe at my one inline at one point but we figured it was another species because it did not follow the lure back in. After no success we decided to do some trolling along a weed bed that it on the edge of a bowl. Which we still failed to catching anything. At this point of the day decided to try a point on the lake where Pete has had luck in the past and tossed a variety of lures before packing up and taking the show to another side of the lake and boy was it a good idea. We started off trolling the one part of the lake and not even 10 mintues after moving, Wham had a fish on using a spinbait. My adrenaline skyrocketed and as we were able to see the fish in the water coming up from the depths. Moments later I had my first ever Musky in my hands, and it measures 31 1/2" which would have been my team ( team 6) first musky entry of the year. So I did not do my normal "byte" on this one as we wanted to get the fish back in the water so I kissed it godbye and we were off on another pass of the troll were we had what would have been the second one on however it shook the hook before as Pete was pass me the rod. about 50 yards later another fish was on and we weren't about to loose this one and boy am I glad we didn't because it gave me my first Kawartha 40"+ and gave me an upgrade at 42" After about what must have been an hour of nothing, once again a musky hit the spinnerbait and this time it put up a bit more of a fight and had lots of energy. It measured at 32"

After catching my first musky 2 years ago I've been Hooked. I splurged on a Calcutta 401D and couldn't be happier. I'm still new to fishing for the toothy critters but I now know why Musky fisherman are so passionate about them. What I'm looking for is advice on line (Mono vs Braid), lbs to use and whether my 6'6" MH simax wizard rod would be okay for now. I like Mono and always will but braid seems more sensible because of its small diameter. I am alright with a baitcaster ( may 1 birds nest every outing 2 Max) but am afraid that if I nest it i'll be chopping off $50 worth of braid. What would be must have baits in the box? Any advice would be great.

I was out with 3 buddies yesterday got out about noon, Was really busy out there everyone enjoying a beauty day on the lake. We were casting in a spot we had luck in a few weeks back, about 12 FOW, two of my buddies had a follow each but nothing committed, one may have been a pike. We moved a little ways and tried an area around 9-7 Fow, i got a nice hit on a Handlebarz Egg head white/green(Cisco), which turned out to be a nice pike. Probably my personal best at 33" With the same lure tied on about 10 minutes later i saw a flash when i did a turn at the side of the boat, thought it was just a small musky, but half way through my figure 8 my rod loaded up and it was on, this fish fought way better then any of my previous fish, and i thought for sure on a couple jumps it would come un-pinned, but we manage to slide it in the Net. A 44" fatty and my new PB! What a blast, was my first fish Ive ever got to bite on a Figure 8 Also got a decent sized gar that wanted a piece of my Tube. Trolled for 1 1/2 hours to end the day, didn't get a rip while trolling. Unfortunately none of my buddyes hooked up, but they sure want another invite out after seeing a few fish boated... I'm super pumped and just want to get back out there for a bigger one!

Well i have been searching for my first boat for a few months now, finally found one that i like and made an offer! I was mostly interested in a good musky casting rig, with the ability to go out on the big lakes and troll steelhead/salmon when needed, i think i found the perfect rig for my needs. Not to big, but can handle the rough water if needed 1992, Lund 1890 PROv dlx 1992 115 Merc 2012 9.9 Suzuki kicker It came with some Big Jon downriggers and some downriggin rods and tackle as well. Love the boat! got out last night for the maiden voyage and managed to land the first fish in the new rig, that was awesome! Had multiple other follows and a few lost fish as well, they will have to wait until next time. My brother also got a nice pike...couldn't keep his musky pinned though... Manged to hit 42.5 MPH with 4 ppl and a dog on board, was surprised at that.

Hey OFC, Well I have dropped the BillstheBassMan handle and changed to MuskyMotivated. Treat this as an introduction of sorts. I fished my local rivers for years, enjoyed what I did....trout from opener until June. Bass until the season ended. I would take the odd lake excursion but was happy fishing 3lb smallies against the current. Until it happened..... Late last season I was bass fishing and hooked into a river musky....a small 40". I caught my second within 20 minutes. My third and fourth came within weeks. The long winter was spent collecting musky tackle (a very lucky kijiji deal helped). I researched the species, their habits, and waterways on an hourly basis. That first Musky changed the game.....I found myself huddled in parking lots in January buying Legend Tournament rods from Fisherpete. Compres at Tim Hortons from Rob Cadeau, talking Muskies to the point of hypothermia (I mean I could have just bought another coffee). 3 Lexas, 1 boat, 1 humminbird si, 5 rods, 1 kicker motor, and countless lures later I figured it was warranted I change my handle. I drove 2 hours into thunderstorms to fish skis for a few hours this weekend as opposed to driving 10 minutes into clear skies to countless loaded bass holes. For those who have offered their wisdom along the way it is more than appreciated. Fisherpete (I now handtie 150lb flouro just off example of the leaders you gave me), Lew (your west arm stuff put the first ski slime on my boat), Speedtroll, and yes, even Musky or Specks (sorry about the redd survey). Report/Pics to come for when I figure out how to properly load them. MuskyMotivated (Ryan)

Hi folks, i am pretty new to Ontario and don't have anyone to ask, so posting here hoping to get an advise. I am planning to spend last week on August in some camp with the goal to open a score on Ontario musky. I mostly do jerkbaits and trolling and have all the right tackle. I am slightly learning that Georgian Bay may be a right destination, but any other place and lake is also considerable. So basically just looking for an advise on a camp with decent cabins, renteable boats in verified good condition and cheerful enough service fo reasonable price. Obviously, there are a lot of lodges advertised online and I will end up selecting just one, so would be great to hear feedback and recommendations based on the recent musky trips which can help me to to make my selection. Thanks very much for sharing any related info

Hi All, I haven't had a chance to post much of anything lately, but managed to have an eventful weekend with my buddy John (cowanjo) and thought I'd share the story with OFC. If involved three days of fishing, about 900 kms of driving, some fish being caught, and some disappointments. It started on Friday afternoon. John and I had made plans to fish the Mississauga Chapter of Muskies Canada outing on the Magnetawan. and needed to pick up John's boat at the cottage, so decided to head up as soon as we could on Friday, fish until dark, and drive to River Haven's Resort hopefully before MIdnight. I arrived before John, in fact a few hours before him in my excitement, so got the boat set up and was on the water with some time to spare. The skies were blue, and the weather was hot, but I decided to stay close to home and see if I could have any luck. I fished hard, and I fished hot, but did not find anything but a small musky that follow my bait to the boat. It was getting close to the time that John was going to arrive, so I decided to troll back. After a few minutes, as I was passing a point and got a decent hit. I felt a little heavy, and I thought that my hard work had payed off with a feisty little kawartha fish. As I got it close to the boat I was a little surprised that I had hooked a large walter. Some of you may know that hooking large walleye is a problem that I have. At least I think of it as a problem. When I am hunting musky my focus is quite single minded, and anything but a musky is a huge disappointment. I have a tendency to hook rather large, 25" plus large, walleye. This guy was not exception, as he filled out the bottom of the stowmaster pretty well. Oh well, at least it was a fish. I trolled back to the cottage and picked John up. We talked about what I had seen, and devised a plan for the rest of the day. We went back out, hitting a few spots on the way to our destination along the way, before we got to our milk run. After drifting around a bend something strange happened to John's line. To be more specific, nothing happened during his retrieve. He was reeling up, and all of a sudden he felt nothing. A fish had hit, and was running right at him. I looked down just to see a smallish musky swimming towards the boat, thrash it's head, and spit the lure. It happens. I told John "It was just a small guy anyway, at least we don't have to release him." My attempt at consoling John were not met happily, as he muttered something to me. Seeing as this is a family friendly site, I won't guess at what he said. We gathered ourselves, motored up to the waypoint, and continued our drift. After a few more minutes, I heard John say "yeah, I'm on", and saw him set the hook and start reeling at a rapid rate. For those of you who have fished with John, you'll know that he sets the hook on everything; clumps of weed and scattered rocks being some of the most common objects. Whenever I see John set the hook, or hear him say "fish" in his down under drawl, I look at his rod or for a fish so that the Aussie does not fool me. This time it was not joke. I say a large fish rise from the water, and told John "it's a big fish". Luckily, John's penchant of setting the hook well meant that the fish had hooks buried into her, and before long she was in the net. After cutting some hooks, and letting her revive in the net for a while, John handed me his phone to take a picture. When John hooked her, I knew she was big, When she was in the net John said "That's a fifty", but I was not convinced. She had a huge head, and a fat body, but a skinny tail section. I'm guessing that she was spawned out, and had just started feeding again, so had not started to bulk up yet. When we got her in the water she kept stretching, and stretching, and easily reached 50". After releasing her, John asked me for his phone, so he could see the picture. I have been in the boat with John when some big fish have been caught, and he has caught a 50" class or bigger fish the last two years, but those were on LOTW. This was his first Kawartha 50, something that is quite rare. You can only imagine how disapointed I was when John could not find the picture. I guess in my excitement I hit the wrong button, and at one point took a video, but did not capture the fish at all. The lesson here is to check the picture before you release a big fish. There is nothing wrong with letting her recover in the net a little. After that disappointment we gathered ourselves again and resumed our drift, but saw nothing else, and decided to pack up the boat and head to the Mag, as we did not want to get in too late and disturb our bunkies. We pulled the boat and packed up our gear, and were on the road. We arrived a bit before midnight, just in time to share a few pleasantries with our roomies and turn in for the night. The next morning we were greeted to blue bird skies for the second consecutive day, and it felt like it was going to be a grind. We kept a positive attitude and motored out to our first spot. After drifting for a few minutes we I hear John exclaim "fish". After looking at his rod, and seeing a nice bend in it, I went for the net. While she was coming to the net I saw too much green for my liking. It was a pike, a fat pike, but definitely the lesser of the esox family in our opinion. John being the consummate conservationist, and sharing my dislike of anything that is not a musky, quickly released the fish before I could get a pic. The best I could do was this shot of him at the net. The rest of the day was a grind, to say the least. We do not know the water well, and were kind of throwing darts at the spots we were fishing. I say a decent fish on a lazy follow, and two musky were boated close to us, but all that we could manage was a small guy. Even though this is just a small one, we were happy, as this was our first Georgian Bay Musky. We spend some more time fishing, but ended up being pretty burnt out, and went in for the outing dinner. For those of you who fish musky and are not members of Muskies Canada, or have never been to a Muskies Canada outing, I would highly recommend that you join and you attend outings. It is quite nice. The delicious roast beef dinner was followed by an auction of a huge prize table. I would imagine that everyone in attendance left with a decent haul on the night. We did pretty well ourselves, with the big win being a sling blade to add to the collection. A rod that would come in handy, as on Sunday I managed to break a sling in half while I was pulling my lure out of the weeds. Luckily St Croix has a great warranty, and that rod has already been replaced with a new one. That night we had pulled the boat, and packed up, as we were not sure if where we wanted to fish the next day. Sunday we were in no rush to wake up, but when we crawled out of bed the skies were blue and our choice was clear. Back in the truck and fish the Kawartha's. We were rigged up and on the same lake we fished Friday a little after noon. We had a plan and were eager to execute it. The day started off a bit slow, but on our 3rd or 4th spot I heard the Wallaby war cry "FIsh, Fish". I looked over saw a decent bend in the rod, and grabbed the net. This time a little male had come out to play. Because he had inhaled the lure, no pic was taken, as the hook cutting and reviving process was the most extensive of the trip. He did end up reviving and disappearing in to the depth after about 5 minutes. In the mean time we had drifted quite far from the way point. Instead on motoring back to the spot, we decided to drift back with the trolling motor. On his very next cast after retying I heard what I though was a koala bear screech, but it turned out to be John saying "Fish". I again checked his rod, and this time saw it doubled over, so I grabbed the net, and lifted the trolling motor. Because of where we were on the lake, I told John that it was probably a big girl, and I was right. She was in the net, and properly photographed. After that I was beginning to think that John had a horseshoe up his but. That made 4 fish to my 0 for the trip. In reality, he is a skilled angler, who was choosing the right baits and presenting it properly to the fish. Nevertheless I kept fishing hard. We went to a few more spots. and fished for a few more hours, and finally I felt some weight on the end of my line. Finally my turn. "Fish, fish" I said. I felt the some weight, some head shakes, saw John go for the net, and started to reel in. Then nothing. I was kicking myself. I had lost maybe my only chance to get a fish, and was blaming myself for not setting the hook properly. I tried to shrug it off by telling John that it was just a small one, but I was kicking myself for missing a fish. Again we kept fishing. I was casting away, and getting quite worn out. Then it happened. It felt weight on my line, and set the hook. At first I was not sure if it was weed, as there was a lot of scattered weeds in the lake. Then I felt weight, and a good amount of it. I hoofed on her, and reeled her in. I could feel that the hooks where in her pretty good, but saw a large fish in the lake at the end of my line, and could not relax until she was in the net. After what seemed like much longer that I'm sure it was, she was in my the bag, and she was pretty big, but I wasn't sure if she was a pb or not. She definitely had a big head on her. I just wans't sure how long she was. She ended up being a pb by 2 inches, and was also the heaviest fish I've ever caught. It was only 6, so we decided to keep fishing the pattern we were getting them on, and hoped we would get lucky one more time...and we did. John hauled in this healthy fish. We kept fishing after that, and took many "one more" casts. I had a few hits, but could not set the hooks into anything else. It turned out to be an awesome weekend. 6 muskies in the boat, at least 3 more with hooks in them, and many more seen. Thanks for reading and happy fishing. I would like to thank Mike Parker for providing John and I with our official uniforms for the weekend. Unfortunately zinging the bling didn't land us any fish, but he makes a great lure, and his shirts look awesome. Greg AKA Roaring Dan Seavey

I am new to musky fishing and I am looking to put together a musky box. I only have an orange buck tail and a black and orange bull dawg. I will be mostly fishing Cache Bay and the west side of Nipissing, might venture to Trout Lake or Nosbonsing. My question is, if you could only take 10 lures, what would they be and in what colour?

Ann FYI for the Musky guys Mike Lazarus was on Musky Hunter this week. It may run again later in the week. I did not know who he was but after googling him I saw an old thread OFC thread about him. I gather he is very well respected in the Musky Community. I don't know anything about Musky fishing but I find Musky Hunter one of the better shows on WFN.

John sent me the photo of this happy pair that he came across at the cottage this weekend. I am happy to see them coupling, Hopefully the water will warm so that the spawn can begin.