Haliburton Musky Opener

[Jigger]

Headed off on Friday to the cottage with high hopes of a bountiful musky opener. Years gone by have always treated us to a good crop, but this year was thrown a huge curveball. Steady rains throughout the week pretty much saturated the land and with more the night before opener, things were to be sketchy at best.

 

When we launched first thing Saturday morning, the first thing we noticed that the water levels were well above the norm for this time of year. I'm talking ice-out high water levels. Complete with floating trees, docks and anything else that was unfortunate enough to be near the waters edge. The next big difference was water clarity. The lake we were on is normally gin-clear, not this trip. Visibility was poor to say the least. Lures were dissapearing within 2ft of the surface. Perhaps the rain the previous week had started the spring turnover? Whatever the case, those two factors and a few reports given to me from the previous weekend left me with a bit of a bad feeling, and it wasn't unwarranted.

 

We fished hard. Hard. For about 8 hrs. I ended up with 2 half-hearted strikes from a couple of mid 40s fish in some clearer sections of the lake. But the regular "holding pens" were bare. Aside from those two, my buddy had one lazy follow that had no interest at all in the end. Kind of sad, but we were hoping even a pike or two would grace us with their presence. NADA. A few bass that thought they had teeth came for our lures. And that was all she wrote for Saturday.

 

I replayed everything over and over that night wondering what changes I had to make for the next day. I really didn't want to come home without getting some slime in the boat! So out I went Sunday morning, a little late at 8:30, but I was going anyways. I didn't have alot of time seeing as I had a 9th degree burn from the day before, and the sun was already out in full force. I remember thinking to hit secondary spots that wouldn't normally be available to the post-spawn fish because of the extremely high water levels. The first spot was a small creek arm with a flat thats about a foot deep under normal conditions. This time the flat was under 4ft of water. With some green starting to show, I felt a bit better about my chances. The water was definately clearer because of the current coming from the creek and after three or four casts, I saw a small dart come out of some reeds and nail my spinner. Turned out to be a nice little pike. 30in or so. Fired another cast parallel to a series of overhanging trees, big boil! Set the hook and the fight was on. Get it closer to the boat and see that its another pike. A real nice one at 38in and fat! But still no muskie.

 

After getting right into the creek without anymore action, I headed to another part of the lake and started fishing an area that has never produced for me, but is close enough to a good summer location to make me throw a few token casts around.

 

I saw her from a mile awway sitting in a small bay tanning her scales on another flooded flat. Again, current provided the clear water I felt was necessary for any margin of success. I cast the spinnerbait past the "log" in the water and without hesitation she took. A brief struggle later and the first legal muskie was in the net...40in and real purdy!

 

 

I know the pose is weird, but I was trying to get the freakin tourney paper in the shot. Thanks to the nice folks who came over to take a pic for me. If you recognize the spot, please keep it to yourself. Thanks.

 

[ccmtcanada]

Loved the report Jigger! You had tough conditions, but re-thought your tactics and got your first muskie of the year....I'm still learning about fishing from a boat....and I have TONS to learn, but reading reports like yours help me out a lot.

 

That pic...doesn't look like you're sitting on anything...kind of a mindfreak moment....haha.

[medmart]

Nice looking muskie there jigger hard work always pays off

we need to get out soon

 

Rob

[mattyk]

nice report, thanks for sharing!

[fishindevil]

Great report !!!...and as we can see hard work does pay off,nice ski !!!!! cheers

[Rizzo]

great report! If I can't get out fishing, its nice to read about others' success. sounds like a little persistence (and knowledge of the lake) paid off.

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Nice Musky! Sounds like that lake has a healthy population of big toothy critters!

[tbayboy]

Nice stuff Jigger, congrats on sticking it through to the end.

[huntervasili]

Glad to see you were rewarded for you're persistence with a Beaut of a fish

[Sinker]

Atta boy Jarred!!!

 

We gotta hook up man! My lake or yours, doesn't matter to me

 

Sinker

[Crazyhook]

nice work dude, fishing ahs been slow nice to see you got a nice one!

[johnnyb]

way to tough it out and find 'em Thanks for sharing the pics!

[ehg]

Ya sounds like you had tough conditions forcing you to search for the muskies harder.

Your knowledge and persistence paid off though, congrats!

 

BTW, i credit the 'Musky opener tatics' thread you started, with helping us get a few fish on opening day.

cheers,

ehg

[highdrifter]

Luuvv it. Well done. Sight casting to aggressive fish is that much more intense. Every once in a while we find ourselves in that particular situation, and we just can't believe it when they take. You can't help it but feel that ferocious surge of energy when the fish charges for your bait. awesome.

 

cheers

HD

Edited June 10, 2008 by Highdrifter

[Victor]

Congrats on catching'em under the tough conditions ... it's great to see that hard work pays off in the end !

[Greencoachdog]

Great Report and pics!!!

 

Keep practicing taking pics with the logo and fish and you'll have the hang of it in no time!

[Jigger]

Thanks guys. It really was bugging me that Saturday didn't go as planned, but thats fishing, right? Tell you the truth, I'd trade that fish so that my buddy could have got one. I hate when someone comes up and fishes for the day and leaves empty handed. Thanks again.