Kawarthas muskies reports, three trips

[Fisherpete]

Trip 1

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

 

With the beautiful weather forecast, I headed out with a friend to hunt some musky. We were on the water by 6:45am, the sun was not even close to being up yet. Water temps were still a nice 65F, but the water was very green, perhaps an algae bloom? Would it affect the fishing? Albert was first to get a hit, and it was a good one. She stayed deep, with big headshakes and long runs, but after a moment, she shook the hook. I have no doubt that this fish would have smashed Albert's PB of 36". A few hours later, I was next, hooking into a decent one, which promptly jumped and spit my Mepps spinner. Arghh...0/2 so far... although I boated 4 decent LM bass inbetween the musky strikes. Around 1pm, we decided to pack it in, but to make one last trolling run as we headed back to the launch. I'm glad we did... it felt like my lure had become fouled with weeds, so I started cranking it in at warp speed, and it got slammed by a good one. Whoever said that you can't reel fast enough for a musky is absolutely right! A nice fight, followed by some 'interesting' netmanship by Albert with the cradle (LOL @ Albert), and she was landed. 43" and solid! A few pics and an easy release and we headed in.

 

 

Trip 2

Friday, September 25th, 2009

 

After Thursday's success, and with more beautiful weather in the forecast, I headed out again with another friend, Patrick. Patrick is a fellow musky nut, and actually got me started on them in 2003 at Balsam Lake. He was in the boat for my PB 45" that year. We started a bit later, and were on the water by 10am or so. Patrick got the first hit, and soon landed a healthy 30". I got the next hit, on a big Mepps, which once again was quickly shaked out during a jump. Hmmm... this particular lure is now 1/6, maybe time to retire it? The hooks are sharp too, I'm not sure what the problem is with it. A bit later, Patrick got into another while trolling, and landed a 32". That was it for the day.

 

 

Trip 3

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

 

Solo mission! With everyone else at work, and low winds forecast, I decided to head out and try my luck again. Late start once again, on the water around 10:30am, but the previous mornings had not really been productive anyway. The air was cold in the morning, and the water had dropped 13 degrees since last week, now sitting at 52F. Last weeks algae bloom had seemed to clear up a bit, maybe because of the colder temps and high winds for the previous few days. The first six hours were spent trying everything in my arsenal, but not even a follow to show for it. Thankfully, things changed after that. I started casting a shallow weed & reed bed, in no more than 3 feet of water, and got slammed by a feisty 33". Interesting trying to use a cradle by yourself, but I managed. The next drift, I got smashed at boatside by another nice one, 33" again, who put on a great aerial display before once again finding its way into my cradle. It was my first fish landed on one of Clive's (Mepps on the board) bucktail spinners! Won't be the last... a quick pic, and off she went.

 

 

Since the action had picked up, I decided to head back and cast my most productive area, for the last hour of daylight. Not five minutes later, my lure stopped dead on the retrieve. It didn't even feel like a hit, it just stopped. I started reeling again, and feeling the weight again, set the hook. BIG headshakes ensued, and fish on baby! After a few great runs, I raised her up near the boat, and my heart started pounding. She was big. And my 7" lure was gone - entirely inside her mouth! She had just swam up and swallowed it whole, that is why the hit felt so strange. The rod I was using had one of those Berkley fireline leaders on it, which was currently rubbing against the teeth of the beast in the water... this would be a good test!!! Cradling her was a challenge to say the least, but after a few harrowing moments, and one almost snapped rod, I got her in. I actually shouted out with happiness once she was secure... if any of the other boats heard me, they probably thought I was nuts. Because of the lure being totally engulfed, I had to lift the cradle into the boat, and use the spreaders to open her mouth. What a gut on her, it looked like she had just finished swallowing a 3lb walleye for dinner, and had taken my lure as an after dinner mint. Luckily for her (and for me), the hooks were easy to get out, and had not hit anything sensitive in there. Tape measure out... 47"!!!! New PB!!! At this point, she had been out of the water for about a minute, and although I really, really, really, really wanted to set up the camera with self timer and get a pic of me holding her, I decided to to get her back in the water. I snapped one quick pic of her in the cradle once the hooks were out, and then a few more while reviving her at boatside. I almost dropped the camera in the drink while snapping the release pics with my trembling hands! She swam off less than a minute later, after promising me that she would return next year as my first 50".

 

[Roy]

Fantastic reports Pete! What a fine time you had. Thanks for sharing those great moments.

[mistaredone]

Nice pics! My guess looking at the hooks on your secret lure its a 6" rapala in perch colour

Edited October 2, 2009 by mistaredone

[fishindude]

Wow! Amazing fish, and wicked report!

 

Congrats on the new PB, I would love to catch one of these bad boys one day, looks like I have a couple thousand more casts to go!

 

Thanks again for the pics, tight lines!

 

BTW, is that hockey tape on the jaw spreaders? Lol

 

-Fishindude

[Leecher]

Awesome report and great pics Pete

Congratulations on your PB She's a real beauty

Sounds like a fun time and thanks for sharing your trips with us

Leechman

[johnnyb]

Great report, man....awesome 47"er!! Gotta love the musky-shakes after a big one like that gets in the boat I was hootin' and hollerin' like a dimestore fisherman when I landed my biggest musky

[Fisherpete]

Actually, it is hockey tape. It does not destroy the fishes mouth that way, and actually stays in place better.

[MCTFisher9120]

Wow, great job on those trips buddy! Must be nice to tangle with a bunch of Musky.

 

Thanks for sharing,

MTBF

[Rizzo]

great report with fish caught every day, good for you!

[jediangler]

Congrats on the new PB Pete. My brother uses hockey tape on his spreaders as well. That secret lure looks like a rapala Super Shad by the hooks.

[Rich Clemens]

I see Pete is gonna give Lew a run for his money now.

Great report Pete and thanks for sharing your exiting moments with the rest of us.

Congrats on the PB. Don't wait so long now for the next PB.

[dada2727]

congrats on the beauty kawarthian! You should blacked out the hooks too, because the shad rap is the only bait I know that comes with those hooks. Pretty popular bait, I have it in perch and bluegill!

[ehg]

Very nice fish there. Congrats on the new PB

 

Fishing the Kawarthas for musky is a blast.

 

Thanks for posting this!