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French River Report


jimmer

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The fishing isn't very good.  8 guys, 4 boats, 3 full days and only a hand full of snot rockets.  Not really worth it.  Beautiful scenery, but I have seen it many times.

We are all considering another option for the next time we get together.

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1 hour ago, jimmer said:

The fishing isn't very good.  8 guys, 4 boats, 3 full days and only a hand full of snot rockets.  Not really worth it.  Beautiful scenery, but I have seen it many times.

We are all considering another option for the next time we get together.

I pmed you

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1 hour ago, jimmer said:

Between Hartley Bay Marina and Atwood Resort, whatever that is.

The Lower French.

That's a disappointing result Jimmer. Personally love the French, and I'll scoot down to the Pickerel river: Ski in my avatar is from there.  That stretch can be a tough fish and then sometimes someone flips the switch and it's on fire. 

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16 minutes ago, Reef Runner said:

The Lower French.

That's a disappointing result Jimmer. Personally love the French, and I'll scoot down to the Pickerel river: Ski in my avatar is from there.  That stretch can be a tough fish and then sometimes someone flips the switch and it's on fire. 

We have fished the French years ago, more down towards the lake and did well the first year, but results declined from there and we stopped going. Two of the guys that were with us were there a few weeks back and did very well with the muskie and landing one over 50" ; also catching a few others over 40".

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Was our Spring and Fall trip for many years. Stayed at Atwood Island Lodge, great food. Fishing was always great, catching tough at times. Fished early morning and evening till past dark. Took in scenery trolling mostly during the day. Caught the odd Musky trolling and did OK with walleye in the early and late hours. In recent years moved to Upper French and then Nip West Arm. Catching, in my opinion, is better and the scenery is always great.

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2 minutes ago, OhioFisherman said:

I don't know if I could or would judge a lake on a 3 day trip.

Hey Ohio - This has happened a number of times for me years ago and I stopped going. Just couldn't resist the invite to get away.

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6 minutes ago, OhioFisherman said:

No disrespect intended, but even some of our favorite bass lakes for tournaments could have widely varying results from tourney to tourney and year to year. If your going to travel for a trip you would like better results?

None taken Ohio. I even mentioned to the guys before the trip that the fishing probably won't be what they expect and maybe we will have better success in another location. The response was that it's not always about the fishing.  I agreed and joined them. The potential for one of those giant muskie is what drew us there. I have fished for muskie many years and have had many skunks and many exceptional days, it's just the way it is.  It is a long drive though when traveling alone.

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2 minutes ago, jimmer said:

None taken Ohio. I even mentioned to the guys before the trip that the fishing probably won't be what they expect and maybe we will have better success in another location. The response was that it's not always about the fishing.  I agreed and joined them. The potential for one of those giant muskie is what drew us there. I have fished for muskie many years and have had many skunks and many exceptional days, it's just the way it is.  It is a long drive though when traveling alone.

I don't even fish the French anymore, the slot limits are very restrictive and I do like to bring a few fish home for dinner. I have found some other spots that produce well but are in a different management zone (same area). Next time you guys want to go up that way let me know and I'll see if I can help.

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3 minutes ago, Big Cliff said:

I don't even fish the French anymore, the slot limits are very restrictive and I do like to bring a few fish home for dinner. I have found some other spots that produce well but are in a different management zone (same area). Next time you guys want to go up that way let me know and I'll see if I can help.

Thanks Cliff, I will. The weird thing is one of the guys has a couple of cottages on a nice lake east of Parry Sound and we were joking that we would have did better there.  However, there are no muskie in the lake.

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The lower French is a hard nut to crack for muskie,  you really gotta fish it like a river opposed to a lake.   I had one nice blow up after a week of fishing for them (Early morning and evenings only) other guys at camp boated 4, including a 54in giant.    We'd have completely different stories for that week, although for me the scenery is enough to keep me coming back.  I'm definitely not a hardcore muskie guy but I thought I put a decent effort in over 7 days.   We did destroy the walleyes though, haven't had walleye fishing like that in a long time.   We stayed at Bears Den, I'm sure you drove right past it on your way from Hartley Bay Marine.

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21 minutes ago, BillM said:

The lower French is a hard nut to crack for muskie,  you really gotta fish it like a river opposed to a lake.   I had one nice blow up after a week of fishing for them (Early morning and evenings only) other guys at camp boated 4, including a 54in giant.    We'd have completely different stories for that week, although for me the scenery is enough to keep me coming back.  I'm definitely not a hardcore muskie guy but I thought I put a decent effort in over 7 days.   We did destroy the walleyes though, haven't had walleye fishing like that in a long time.   We stayed at Bears Den, I'm sure you drove right past it on your way from Hartley Bay Marine.

We stayed at Bear's Den. The walleye wouldn't cooperate either. That's fishing though!

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