Laker fishing sucked, OOS Musky was a surprise though

[limeyangler]

Hi all,

 

First of thanks to Leechman, GBW, Steverobotham, Ben_Daniels, Cudz, Garnet and Dr. Salvelinus for your quick responses to my smallmouth bass queries. Unfortunately all the good advice was to no avail....not a bass anywhere to be had.

 

Like i mentioned in the bass post, i had fished this lake for Lakers twice before, and skunked both times. However on the second outing ....determined to catch a fish before going home i threw a mepps out in a small bay and got a bass...and another and another. That was 3 years ago....and i was completely green around the gills(pun intended) when it came to fishing freshwater fish species up here.

 

Since then though, despite the steep learning curve, i think i have got at least a little bit better and do quite well, quite often. With this in mind i had every expectation to get into a lot of lakers and at least one Bass....was not to be......in fact we only got 2 small trout with 2 missed/got off half way up and not even the slightest hint of anything bassy all day....despite trying just about every suggestion made and a few things that have worked before.

 

With the ice only off this lake in the last week or two we completely expected to be able to dial into the Lakers anywhere in the water column, definitely conentrating on shallower waters at this time. In fact the water temps were still pretty low....around 40- 42 degrees, with surface temps in the afternoon on south facing shores around 46-49 degrees.

 

Strangely though the only sign of baitfish...or any fish for that matter that showed on the fishfinder were at depths between 79 and 108 FOW! thats where we got our trout...without a sniff of one before that trolling the 6 - 45 FOW shorelines/humps/bays etc....etc....

 

We did see another boat out there, a local guy who fishes that lake all the time he said, and they had not caught a single thing, that sucked for them, but made us at least feel a bit better in that it wasn't anything we were doing wrong that was making the fishing so tough.

 

The best, if not a little bit surprisng was the OOS musky i got after 2 hours of fruitless trolling in the shallower water, ON A SMALL HAMMERED GOLD WALLEYE SPINNER WITH A MEDIUM MINNOW (deadly for trout on Thunder Lake in the spring). Another great part of the day was the weather, whilst not conducive to fishing perhaps, it must have been at least 20 C out there today...and sunrise was breathtaking.

 

All in all an interesting experience....but on a three strikes and your out rule...i think i will be giving this lake a miss in the future!

 

 

Going to a small lake by the highway for a family picnic tomorrow....hopefully get my bass then!

 

 

 

SUNRISE WAS BREATHTAKING

 

 

 

 

THE DAYS 'ACTION'

 

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THREW A RANDOM LURE FOR 5 MINS WAITING FOR YOUTUBE UPLOAD

 

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DISCOVERED A NEW RECIPE TONIGHT FOR THE TROUT WE CAUGHT, FOUND SOME HOMEMADE GARLIC BUTTER IN THE FREEZER, COAT FILLETS WITH IT, SPRINKLE ON LEMON PEPPER SEASONING, OVEN BAKE FOR TEN MINUTES, GRILL (BROIL) FOR 3 MINUTES, YUMMY, JACK LOVED IT TOO.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[johnnyb]

So you nail your first muskie last year (ahem...finally) and now you're pullin 'em in without even trying. Nice!

 

Nice shots of Jack too....I can't get over the hair!

[FisherMike]

great report!!! im glad you didnt let your buddy grap the musky by the eyes.

[Leecher]

Love the first pic of the sunrise Simon

Very nice and cool to be able to hook into a musky at this time of year and I think that was the best way to release that beast from them trebles.... in the water

 

Little Jack certainly is growing fast and looks like he's enjoying his meal

As always, great report, pics and videos!!! and keep them coming

Jacques

[muskymatt]

Nice eye grip....I hear that works great to decrease post release mortality....

 

Hopefully you took that opportunity to educate your friend on proper fish(any fish) handeling techniques,.

 

M.

[fishindude]

Glad to see you made it out limeyangler, it's too bad the fish didn't cooperate.

 

Btw, that trout looks delicious, I'll have to give that recipe a try sometime.

 

Thanks for sharing!

[Roy]

If you listened to the clip, I think Simon knows that matt. He was with someone who made a tiny bit of a faux pas. Consider it a bit of a learning experience for his bud...leave it alone.

[limeyangler]

So you nail your first muskie last year (ahem...finally) and now you're pullin 'em in without even trying. Nice!

 

Nice shots of Jack too....I can't get over the hair!

 

Its like waiting for a bus....nothing for 2 hours then 4 come along at once!

 

Isn't that just the funkiest ginger 'fro ever!

 

 

great report!!! im glad you didnt let your buddy grap the musky by the eyes.

 

Thanks Mike......yeah....i gave him a bit of a verbal earbashing for 10 minutes after that, i hate that on any fish....even more so on a musky! but it was cool to get one so unexpectedly.

 

 

Love the first pic of the sunrise Simon

Very nice and cool to be able to hook into a musky at this time of year and I think that was the best way to release that beast from them trebles.... in the water

 

Little Jack certainly is growing fast and looks like he's enjoying his meal

As always, great report, pics and videos!!! and keep them coming

Jacques

 

Thanks Jacques, sunrise was truly breathtaking...it was friggin' cold (-1C) but flat calm....just so tranquil. Yeah....i did not want to even take her/him out for a picture, plenty of time for that in season, luckily it was a walleye spinner so no trebles, and right in the corner of the mouth.

 

 

Glad to see you made it out limeyangler, it's too bad the fish didn't cooperate.

 

Btw, that trout looks delicious, I'll have to give that recipe a try sometime.

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Thanks Fisherdude, yeah...fishing kinda sucked, but might just have been worse than it really was cuz my expectations were too high...lol...nah...fishing sucked...lol

 

 

If you listened to the clip, I think Simon knows that matt. He was with someone who made a tiny bit of a faux pas. Consider it a bit of a learning experience for his bud...leave it alone.

 

Thanks for pointing that out Roy, nuff said i fink

[muskymatt]

If you listened to the clip, I think Simon knows that matt. He was with someone who made a tiny bit of a faux pas. Consider it a bit of a learning experience for his bud...leave it alone.

 

Exactly Roy...he obviously saw what was something he noticed as a handeling practice he would not do so he immediately commented on it....opportunity presented itself to educate on this so as I know many here on OFC would I hope he did a little educating.

 

The eye grip comment speaks for itself IMO!!

[Joey]

Very nice Simon. Too bad the lake didn't produce like you wanted, but you did get into fish and got a meal. Was a better day than I had

 

Joey

[Moosebunk]

He'll be a fish lover for life. Gotta feed 'em fishy fish early so they'll appreciate them all.

[corvette1]

nice ski simon congrats

[TJQ]

Great report.. that trout looked awesome!!