Fisherpete Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 (edited) Earlier this spring, I sat anchored on the Grand River, with a big slimy hunk of sucker bait cast out and waiting to be gobbled up by a monster catfish. March fishing often requires a winter jacket, or sometimes even a survival suit - but here I was, mid March, clad in shorts and a t-shirt. I think the temperature that day hit a balmy 32C, and I went home that day with a wonderful farmers tan. "This is awesome..." I thought, "Early spring... hmmm... bet the June muskie trip this year will be great!" 2011's June trip had been a really tough one. The water temperatures were in the low 50's, and on the day we arrived, there was virtually no weed growth to be found. 9 days of flogging the lake mercilessly led to a whopping total of 4 muskies landed - although my perennial piscatorial pal Patrick did land his personal best 48" ski on the second day of the trip. The weather was cold, windy and wet day after day. We actually debated postponing 2012's trip until later in June to see if it would be better. Thankfully, that delay was not required... and we hit the water opening morning ready to roll. This view was very easy to take as we left the dock every morning... Weedbeds were well formed and in their usual formations, and the water was a nice 62F. It took less than an hour before the first in-season slime of 2012 coated the cradle - and it was a tiger to boot! Not a big fish, but it broke the ice nicely. As the day went on, several more muskies were landed... and two were TINY. Was this dissapointing? Absolutely not. It is always a great sign to see small fish - it shows that the muskies in the lake are still reproducing succesfully, and co-existing with the pike population. Great news Most of the smaller fish were released at boatside, never leaving the water, but here's one example of a hungry lil' girl that made up for her lack of size with sheer aggression hitting a lure that she had NO business even looking at. Every so often, when our arms felt like lead, we would take a break from throwing big stuff, and chase some of the smaller member of the esox family - pike... and on most days they were more than happy to oblige us. I love seeing pike flash out of the heavy weeds and smash a slowly wobbling spoon in clear water... we even saw a good sized one sitting in a pod of lily pads, threw on a topwater and sure enough, she exploded on it first cast! No hammer handles to be found... virtually all fish were in the 28"-32" range, and well-fed. Some of them were overly ambitious and hit on lures as big as 10" Jakes! Pike were not the only species to attempt to bite off more than they could chew... on the same day, Patrick landed the two biggest bass of his life in 15' of water casting 8" DDD's! If anyone is offended by the OOS pics - sorry... look away A few of our usual walleye hotspots on the lake also produced, and we landed some nice gold on this trip. One evening, I had a 5 cast sequence that went like this... walleye, walleye, musky, nothing, musky follow! (We trolled that spot the next morning and nailed that ski btw...!) We did encounter some inclement weather during the week, but after getting caught in that same storm in 2011 that knocked a float plane from the sky into the bay that we had been fishing just minutes before, we were more cautious this time around. One afternoon, it was glass calm and sunny as we cast away... with dark clouds far on the horizon. All of a sudden, it felt like the temperature had dropped by 10C in a matter of seconds... we looked at each other and high-tailed it out of there... and good thing, as we sped down the lake, the wind and waves built incredibly fast, and we actually saw what appeared to be a mini-tornado form - it was sucking up water from the surface and lifting it close to 50 feet up! It lasted for about five minutes, then went up onto land. Not ten minutes later, as we unloaded the last of the gear into the cottage, a savage storm rolled through the area. Often after a storm, mother nature treats us with a great sunset... Oh yeah, this was a muskie fishing trip LOL! back to the matter at hand... there were 3 quality fish caught on this trip, and here they are... Patrick with a 40" Myself with a heavy 42" that demolished my lure as soon as it landed on the surface on a long cast And the best fish of the trip, a beautiful 45.5" that gave Pat the fight of his life We ended up with 16 muskies boated for the week, 14 naturals and 2 tigers... 25 pike, 11 walleye, too many bass of both species to count, and piles of panfish when we felt like just being silly from the dock. It was an excellent start to the 2012 season... hopefully the year of my 50. Oh yeah - the new equipment all worked great... from my home-made leaders to the Trojan tackle trolling tower. Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed the making of this report. Tight lines all! Pete Edited June 12, 2012 by Fisherpete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Grant Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 (edited) . Edited January 30, 2014 by XxX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizzo Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 great report! Thanks for taking the time to post it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccmtcanada Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Despite the tough conditions, you guys stayed with in and were rewarded! Great pictures and report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey buoy Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 What a lake!!!!!!,every fish available and lots of them. Thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leecher Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Great mix bag of fishes Pete Great report... Good job Thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mercman Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Dang awesome Pete !!! I averted my eyes away from the Bass pics, but had to peek anyways....Hawgs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Clemens Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 That's a heck of a week in anyone's book. Awesome and thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Woohoo, great report and pics Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msp Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Well done guys ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregoire Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Thanks for sharing, that was a great report and I am envious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adempsey Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Looks like a great trip! Thanks for putting it up, always nice to read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvette1 Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 awesome trip nice skis and eyes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TroutnMuskieHunter Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Good report Pete!....what a great week you had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacob Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Great report, some nice fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 WTG Pete. A week worth waiting for. Glad you had a good time. What you witnessed out there is a "waterspout" . They usually die off shortly after hitting land. Use Google to read up on them.....they're interesting critters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broker Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 A great report! well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jigsnreels Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Nice bunch of gators, and that bucketmouth's a beaut! Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spanky80 Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Beautiful pic's, looks like a great time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jds63 Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 nice work guys ... great report and pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squid Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Nice stuff man and great report!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovetofish Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Super glad Pete is our team! Great job guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyb Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 INcredible report, sir! Even if that was the only outing of the year you'd be smiling....for a few months anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asdve23rveavwa Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Awesome report Pete, looks likes lots of "toothies" came out to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spincast Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Excellent report as always. Some beauty fish to start your season off - hopefully this year you find that 50 you've been hunting for. Dave (Trojan Tackle) makes a set up - love mine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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