Sleepless muskie report... 5/5

[Fisherpete]

After working a bunch of overnights this week, on Friday morning I decided to head out solo straight from work to the lake. In the past, I have found that if I stay awake the day after working a night, my sleep pattern returns to normal much faster. It worked... I passed out last night around 10pm, and woke up today feeling great!

 

On to the fishing... fished from 10am-5pm, and the day was a set of bookends... two in the first hour, three in the last. All were caught in the same 500m area! Fish were extremely aggressive today, absolutely inhaling the lures despite a very high retrieve speed. Sadly, one of the fish didn`t make it - the hooks were way into her gills, and she was spurting blood even before I cut the hooks out. I tried to revive her anyway for ten minutes, but I know she was a goner. I hate when this happens, it`s only the second out of 59 muskies this year that has been hooked fatally. Nature of the game I suppose... when you fish with big hooks, some of those hooks will eventually find their way into a sensitive part of a fish. Today`s fish ranged from 33-40 inches. Pics are kinda crappy as they were taken from video clips, and I managed to break the camera after fish number two (dropped it), so the last few pics are from my phone.

 

 

So, the search for a new camera begins... the Olympus Stylus tough series is nice, but I am leaning towards the Fuji XP10 that is on sale right now at Future Shop for $169... 12MP, 720p HD video, waterproof to 10 feet, shockproof from 3.3 feet. Not sure if the extra $230 is justified for the few extra features on the Olympus! Anyone own one of these, or something similar? Let me know what you think. Here's the key specs on the 3 cameras.

 

Olympus Stylus Tough 6020 - $329

14MP, 5x optical zoom, 5x digital zoom

720p HD video

Waterproof to 16 feet, shockproof to 5, freezeproof to -10C

1GB internal memory

 

Olympus Stylus Tough 8010 - $379 silver, $399 black

14MP, 5x optical zoom, 5x digital zoom

1080i HD video

Waterproof to 33 feet, shockproof to 6.6, freezeproof to -10C

1.6GB internal memory

 

Fuji Finepix XP10 - $169

12MP, 5x optical zoom, 6.4x digital zoom

720p HD video

Waterproof to 10 feet, shockproof to 3.3, freezeproof to -10C

13MB internal memory

Edited August 14, 2010 by Fisherpete

[Lunkerhunter]

great report pete, too bad about the camera, im sorry i cant be of much help regarding which one to choose.

 

by the way is that 59 muskies for your boat this year? or you personally? and i thought i was doing well. hahaha

 

cheers

[Fisherpete]

59 is the boat total. It's more than has been caught in my boat over the past 6 years combined!!! The lucky lure rocks!

 

Don't feel too bad about the camera, I won it from the show "Urban Outdoor Adventures" with Shaun Rickard... they had a photo contest on their website, and the pic in my avatar won me a Nikon Coolpix S2. It served me well for 4 years! I was thinking about getting it repaired, but it owes me nothing, and I want a camera with better video for my solo trips.

Edited August 14, 2010 by Fisherpete

[Djeep]

great report! on a side note, I have the fuji finepix and I couldnt ask for more for shooting fish pics. It's great for the underwater release vids too. If all you're using the camera for is fishing then I'd get the fuji, the store reps when I bought mine said the only improvement on the olympus is better image stabilization. I find the image stabilization on the fuji works great however.

[Fisherpete]

Yep, this one will be a fishing/outdoors only camera... we already have a decent Canon G3 (not waterproof) for normal picture taking. It is only 4MP, and we have had it forever, but it takes great shots.

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

LOL @ hiding the lure!

AND PEOPLE MAKE FUN OF STEELHEADERS!

 

Sure are killing them this year Fisherpete!

[Handlebarz]

great report again Pete you have a very nice season going bet ya cant wait for them fall fatties I have enjoyed your reports all season they keep me excited as I had not been out since July 5th (well was out last week) and it was getting me itchy.

 

Check out the cannon cameras I have the power shot something or other and it is great 10 maga pixels and has a great timer I have it set for 30 seconds then it takes 10 pics in a row so you can have 40 seconds to get at least 1 good pic of the fish

[The Urban Fisherman]

Great report! Love the musky reports as I don't get out for them! Check out my pics on the "big bucket" report... They were taken with my older fuji wp the predecessor to the xp10 and I love it. The xp10 is obviously a newer better camera and my wp has taken a serious lickin and still takes great fishing pix.

 

Cheers,

Ryan

[mbosh1980]

I have the fuji z33 and like it for outdoors and fishing shots. I find it has major shortcomings for indoor shots. Just my $0.02

[kickingfrog]

I have the previous generation fugi and very happy with it. The new fugi has been toughened up quite a bit. In the end they are all just point and shoot anyway, so why not get the small one that is also the cheapest. You can then buy more skunk baits with the $s saved.

[lunkerbasshunter]

to bad about the camera. great report though, some really beauty fish there

 

cheers!

[alexcba]

wtg pete, you and the skunk hunk strike again! LOL

 

to bad about the one that didn't make it, but it happens.

 

we really need to step somethin up. i promise i wont look at the lure LOL!

[Pigeontroller]

Another great outing Pete! You do your best to release 'em, don't feel bad about losing one...Remember there was a day when they all got the 'Bonk'

[sauce]

that's a great outing in my books. Congrats. I know how you feel about the accidental fish killing. My fishin bud has been havin a tough year with bass swallowing senkos on him. Lotsa blood. He's spent a lot of time trying to revive fish and they end up floating a minute later.

Not trying to be a jerk, but was your fish of "keeper" size? If so, you gonna eat it? Sucks to think that an undersize dead fish must go back. Even though it would probably be better table fare than a legal keeper.

[Fisherpete]

Nope - as of this year, muskie must be 44" in the Kawarthas to keep... this one was a 37" or so. I have only ever kept one, one of the first I ever caught back in 2003. I caught it on light gear, and could not revive it despite trying for 45 minutes.

 

It does suck that an already dead fish had to go back, but if that rule was not there, all kinds of under or oversized/OOS/slot fish would be kept, with people using the explanation "It was dead anyways".

 

By the way, I ended up picking up the $169 Fuji XP10 today... also grabbed a 8GB SDHC card for only $23. I am seriously tempted to fill the bathtub and record a Rapala LMAO! It seems to take some pretty decent pics so far, probably will be even better in the outdoors. I'll break her on the water sometime this week... stay tuned for some underwater release shots in HD!

 

Alex - I'll send you a PM tomorrow...

Edited August 15, 2010 by Fisherpete

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Great report Pete. You deserve good fishing days like that after all your hard work! Sucks about the camera but it could have been worse like you could have lost a cell phone or a thumb!!!I'm in a cast right now! I wanted to challenge you. My lucky lure against yours!lol

 

If your just using it for fishing?Go cheap.I've lost enough camera's fishing. Go to X-cargo or factory direct(better). I picked up a 12 pixel,5 zoom Kodak for $59 with case!

[Gregoire]

Great report. Makes me itch to get out there.

[Djeep]

the fuji definitaly excels outdoors, it also has the timed shooting if you're by yourself. congrats on the purchase.

[fish_finder]

By the way, I ended up picking up the $169 Fuji XP10 today... also grabbed a 8GB SDHC card for only $23. I am seriously tempted to fill the bathtub and record a Rapala LMAO! It seems to take some pretty decent pics so far, probably will be even better in the outdoors. I'll break her on the water sometime this week... stay tuned for some underwater release shots in HD!

 

 

That olympus tough 8010 is a nice camera. Especially for the 1080i video capabilities. Probably would have been my choice in the end.Pulling single frames out of hd video produces some pretty nice pics. Hard to bead 60 frames/second! Despite that, I had a Fuji Finepix for years, and it took some amazing pictures for me!

 

Hopefully the new cam serves ya well!

 

Oh, sweet feesh as well man!

 

dave

Edited August 16, 2010 by fish_finder

[SudburyAngler]

Nice fish, great lure, the stink must be the key

[Fisherpete]

Yup, I have to feed that skunk some pretty funky stuff to get her smelling just right!

[SudburyAngler]

haha works like a charm

[fish-miester]

likin the skunk haha