Wild Muskie Adventure!

[Aaron Shirley]

Last week I spent a few days of muskie fishing up north at my friend Steve's cottage (annual thing). We hit the tough waters of Georgian Bay from his cottage and boat, and we also took a drive to fish a northern Ontario back lake for muskies as well. We both had a blast fishing together as we do every year, but we really had a wild time fishing the back lake. It was something neither of us have ever done before, and we were pumped for this adventure to explore a different kind of muskie fishing altogether. Steve got a tip on this back lake and we decided to give it a try this summer with my car topper boat.... are we ever glad we did!

 

I'll start off with the tough waters of Georgian Bay... we had a major cold front move in for our 2 days of fishing as we got there on Thursday night Figures! It never fails. Furthermore, Steve saw two huge dead muskies in his spots the week before in an already tiny population of fish. We suspect one of them was the massive fish I lost and he had follow in the past few years (guesstimate at about 55-inches). We felt sick to our stomachs about it.

 

We were determined to make the best of it though, fish hard and have fun. Fish would be a bonus in our eyes this weekend with the odds stacking up against us. As it turns out, Steve hooked and boated a small muskie (by Georgian Bay standards), at 41-inches in length on day one. Things all of a sudden looked up.

 

Steve with his 41" Georgian Bay muskie

 

 

I got two nice carbon copy pike like this one fishing for muskies and also got a smaller one

 

 

That would be it for Georgian Bay muskie action, and we didn't get to fish much on day 2 due to a major storm blowing through in the afternoon.

 

Now for the back lake muskie bonanza report

 

We had to launch in a small creek and make our way up the winding creek to the small lake as the creek narrowed with many obstacles like beaver dams, logs and even a waterfall!

 

 

The creek at a wide section

 

 

The creek at a narrow section full of trees barely wide enough to sqeeze through my 12' boat!

 

 

Steve hoists the boat up a 3' waterfall so we can continue on our journey.. sure glad he is 6'4" and 280-pounds of muscle

 

 

We were met at the narrow entrance to the lake by a guard.. luckily he let us through lol

 

 

Finally, after many miles of rough winding terrain, we arrive at our destination back lake

 

 

We set up the Humminbird sonar and down easter rod holders and began trolling to learn the lake's shoreline and structure. It didn't get deeper than 16-feet at the deepest section of the lake

 

 

 

 

After we learned a bit about the lake and didn't get a hit trolling, we decided to cast to shoreline weed growth.

 

 

 

I got a nice muskie within the first hour on a Mepps Musky Marabou, but unfortunately, we were not prepared to get a photo and did a quick release at boatside. It was approx 38" long and had beautiful colours. I had the hot hand this day, and continued to boat 2 more, lost 2 others and had another hit all on my favourite orange and black Mepps Musky Marabou and 6" Storm Curl Tail Spin Shad. I also had a few more follows. Most of the fish hit right at boatside on an L-turn or figure-8, which was awesome.

 

I forgot to ask Steve to take his cradle and we didn't have a measuring tape, so we guessed at the average size to be from 32- to 38-inches in length

 

 

 

Steve lost the biggest fish of the day in the mid-forty-inch range on a Storm Spin Shad after it barrelled under the boat. He also had several follows. All in all, it was an unbelievable adventure and day of muskie fishing, despite the smaller average size of the muskies in the mid-thirty-inch range.

 

I also had this big snapping turtle follow in my bucktail! I teased it to the boat so Steve could get a pic... man are they quick... I had to pull my Mepps away pretty quickly or my hot bait would have been gone!

 

 

There is no doubt that we will be returning again to visit this great Ontario back lake full of muskies and adventure.

 

 

Good fishing!

 

Aaron

[mattyk]

wow, really cool adventure and great pics. Sucks to hear about the dead muskie.

[Joey]

Nice looking Muskies there Aaron. Sweet report.

 

Teasing a snapping turtle, now that's just wrong

 

Joey

[ccmtcanada]

Fantastic report Aaron. It's too bad really that you do this for a living...LOL. Great pics...esp the one of the tight squeeze in that creek!

[bowshep]

Nice report looks like a blast. Sorry though l dont have my glasses were did you say that back lake's name was. If you put it in capitals l might be able to read it. lol Peace Ken

[tbayboy]

Great stuff Aaron - nothing as fun as finding a brand new spot and exploring its fishing potential.

[solopaddler]

My kind of trip, awesome report!

[Roy]

Another super report Bud. Man, that Steve guy looks amazingly like the Bedarf fella.

[JFR]

A great report Aaron, thank you for sharing your adventure.

 

John

[Rich Clemens]

That is truely a great report and would have loved to be there with you guys. Sounds like a super great trip. Appreciate you sharing it with us.

[muskymatt]

Absolutely fantastic adventure

 

One of the best posts I've seen here yet.(Except Moosebunks...maybe)

 

Thanks.

 

Matt Clay

[Handlebarz]

nice report that plce looks mighty nice

[Rizzo]

Awesome report! Nice that you were able to get all the comforts of home to the back lake too (the motor is a nice start!)

[Pigeontroller]

Great report Aaron!

[Shaun Rickard]

Great report Aron, sounds like fun mate

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Cheers, Shaun

[dustink]

Awesome report.....just awesome!

 

dk

[Tacklebuster]

what a great adventure!

[dsn]

 

I love this shot Looks like hes popping out of the photo.!!

 

dsn

[fishboy]

Great report and pics-thanks for sharing the adventure.

 

Cheers

[scuro]

Getting there is half the fun. What angler hasn't looked for new water and felt doubly rewarded when it produces?

[kennyman]

WOW!!! Awesome report. Maybe I'll find a lake like that sometime. Incredible! I'm not asking where it is, but how did you find out about a lake like that? Word of mouth or did you just find it on a map and go?

[Aaron Shirley]

Thanks guys, it was a lot of fun, and the adventure of exploring a new area and getting there was half the fun for sure.

 

Kenny, my friend Steve Bedarf got a tip on this back lake through word of mouth. After I had an idea where the lake was, I searched for it on Google Earth and found it. I looked for the best access point, then mapped outor route and printed the page off with directions to the access point Ya gotta love Google Earth! While I was searching, I found several other lakes close by that we intend on trying as well.

 

The OMNR stocked many of Ontario's back lakes with Kawartha strain muskies years ago, and many lakes that were stocked were not even documented, so there are a lot of small gold mines in Ontario.

 

Check out Google Earth and give it a try... you will never know what you may stumble onto.

 

Cheers,

 

Aaron

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Never mind the muskies, thats a huge pike!!!!

[bassmaster4]

awesome report i once caught a snapper on a trout spinner accidentaly it was way out there and i felt the weight so i set it not knowing it was a snapper on the end of my line but it wasnt hooked very well so it got off and i got to keep my spinner

[fishnsled]

Never mind the muskies, thats a huge pike!!!!

 

 

Ill second that! Great report!