Fisherpete & Patrick's 2010 Muskie trip

[Fisherpete]

For the past five years or so, my friend Patrick and I have went on a June fishing trip, targeting muskie of course. We had three lakes in mind this year, four if we ended up at Rice Lake to go carping for the final weekend.

 

The week was a bit broken up, due to some commitments, but the fishing schedule was as follows: Saturday (muskie opener), Monday, and then Wednesday-Saturday.

 

Patrick could not make the opener, so I went out with the wifey, son and pooch. It was very windy, and there was a ton of boat traffic, but the ice was broken on the muskie season with a clean and healthy 35" fish.

 

 

My son Nick likes to fish, but at age eleven is more into constant action like panfishing. He tried fishing for musky for about an hour, and then settled back with the MP3 player and chilled out with Milo.

 

 

Sunday was a fun-filled day of helping my brother move... with the highlight being the large piano he owns. Off to the hammer he goes... good luck Will!

 

Monday was a day trip for Patrick and I... so we planned to maximize our time, and fish from 7am until 9pm... a solid 14 hour day. The first 10 hours of fishing left a bitter taste in our mouths... nada, not even a follow. Had the lake been pounded too much on opening weekend? We started to troll a stretch of water that looked promising, and moments later, my lure was destroyed by the hit of a big fish. After a great fight, my first beauty of 2010 was in the boat. A gorgeous 45.5", and a nice upgrade for Team One in the OFC tournament!

 

 

 

After a quick revival, off she went.

 

 

Revitalized, we continued the troll, and soon after, Patrick had his first of the year, a scrappy 31".

 

 

We closed out the day at one of my honey holes for this lake, and Patrick caught his second, a 32". Monday turned out OK after all!

 

 

I had to work Tuesday morning, and then joined my wife in the afternoon at her doctors office for her second ultrasound... she is 4 months pregnant with our second child. The ultrasound made it immediately obvious that it is our second boy in there! Suggestions for names welcome... she is leaning towards Tyler... I prefer Bucktail LMAO!!!

 

Patrick and I packed up and left late Tuesday, so we could get off to an early start fishing on Wednesday. Well, the early start didn't happen, but we were on the water by 9am. The day was grey, cold, windy and wet, but the fishing was hot. We decided to troll out from the launch, and a decent smallmouth hit Pat's muskie lure! 5 minutes, first fish landed, not bad! 5 minutes later, a chunky largemouth came in on a giant bucktail. We moved to a bay that has produced some nice muskies over the years, and I was soon rewarded with a solid 36".

 

 

We continued working our way down the bay, and soon confirmed that Pike have indeed made their way into this lake, and in numbers as well. I like Pike, but have mixed feelings about seeing them in this lake. Pat and I already knew that there must have been pike in there, as we both caught tigers in 2008, but this was our first time catching pike. And we got a bunch of them in the next hour... I caught a 31" and a 28", Pat got a 32", and several more follows... my 31" is an upgrade for Team One as well.

 

 

 

 

 

In the middle of the pikefest, a 32" muskie came to play with me as well. Rain was coming down pretty hard when she hit, right at boatside. I got to see her rocket up from 8' down and smash my plug.

 

 

As evening set in, we moved to our favourite walleye hole, and I soon got what proved to be the best walleye of the trip, a chunky 23". 4 more walleye followed, but all were in the slot size for the lake and had to be released.

 

 

Oh yeah, the 23" eye is another upgrade for the team

 

 

On Thursday, we decided to try another lake, that Johnny Bass and I visited a few weeks earlier, and had a follow by a giant ski. The day was tough, with only 3 fish landed in 9 hours of fishing... Pat caught a World's Greatest Sport Fish (Rock Bass) and I got 2 muskies, a 26" and a 36".

 

 

 

The 36" was right as we were preparing to leave, and once again hit right at boatside... saved the day from being a total loss.

 

On Friday, we headed back to the lake where we had done so well on Wednesday, although conditions were drastically different. Hot, sunny and calm. By noon the water temps had risen from 65F to 70F. The jetskiers and waterskiiers were out in numbers as well... yech. The fish were turned right off, and apart from a few panfish, a tiny walleye and this overly ambitious 17" smallmouth which drilled a 10" Beleiver, the day was horrible.

 

 

Saturday - the final day of the trip. Conditions were overcast, with light mist/drizzle falling... hmmm, similar to Wednesday... would the lake behave today or should we go elsewhere? We decided to stay and hope for the best. Soon after starting, I got a huge hit while trolling past a dropoff - but she shook free before we could see her. Damn... would have been a good one.

 

We moved to the pike bay, and soon had 2 follows and a 30"ish pike lost at boatside.

 

The day passed quickly, and as evening set in, we decided to hit one of our muskie areas which typically produces in late summer. The weedbeds have just started taking their normal formations, but we found some nice deep cabbage, and after 5 minutes of trolling, my rod went off, the drag SCREAMING. As soon as I took the rod out of the holder, and felt those massive headshakes, I knew she was a good one. My heart started pounding when we saw her in the water for the first time - she was HUGE, thick from head to tail, with a massive head. After a few crazy boatside runs, she was in the cradle. This was the heaviest ski I had ever seen - and man was she hard to hold. As it turns out, she was not my longest ever - she came in at 45.5" (I got two 47"ers last fall), but by far the heaviest.

 

 

 

 

After a quick revival, she swam away strongly, and we followed her with the boat until she dove down deep. No better way to end the trip!

[vinnimon]

Nice fish!

[Headhunter]

Great report! Really nice pics!

HH

[Syn]

Great pictures with amazing results.

Bookmarked.

[asdve23rveavwa]

Awesome report, great lunch time reading here at work !! I am so pumped for another shot at my first musky this weekend after reading a bunch of musky posts over the last week!! Can't wait for Saturday.

[wankerjohn123]

Nice fishing! Great pics.

[irishfield]

Some great fish there Pete!!!

[Tom McCutcheon]

Great report and well done on the muskie count.

 

PM sent

 

Tom.

[Tarzan's Jane]

Wow....great report.

Congrats too on soon to be baby #2. When I was expecting my youngest, I allowed my oldest who was 11 at the time to pick the name. He had two names picked (Curtis & Tyler), upon seeing his little brother's face, he chose Tyler.

 

All the best,

[Roy]

Great report Pete! Some respectable fish in there. I have a feeling that your act of kindness towards Will and his piano on Sunday came back to you in the form of a 45.5" muskie on the Monday. Good stuff.

[fishindude]

Whoa! You definitely got those muskies on lock. Wicked report, thanks for sharing.

[Terry]

some nice fish there

[BFSC Kevin]

Oh my god.

I need to try musky fishing.

[WeedLine]

Those are some good ones.

[muskeybugged]

Awesome stuff there! Thanks for sharing!

[fishnsled]

Some very nice fish there, SWEET! Great report and congrats on son #2!

[TC1OZ]

EPIC POST! Thanks for sharing!

[Steve Piggott]

Nice report, thats good # considering they are a fish of a thousand cast.How many cast did you make? Great job Pete

[corvette1]

nice skis and gators congrats

[addymark]

those are beauty fish!

 

would love to hook one in that range

[mepps]

Great stuff!

[bigugli]

WTG

[Cookslav]

Wow..thats one heck of a trip!

Thanks for sharing it.

 

If you don't mind me asking what colors and depths were you running?

[GBW]

nice report, pic's and congrats on child # 2. BTW, Geoff is a good name...

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Excellant report! Looks like a Musky fest! You should have killed those pike!