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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.