Fish Catching Travel
(Sorry for the late post – We did not get back to Muskie Bay until almost 10 and it was 11 before we hit the sack.)
The original plan was walleye trolling in the morning, then casting in the afternoon, until we saw the weather report. It was supposed to be sunny, warm, and calm, and it was, all day. The nicest day by far. With that in mind Clyde said this is the day for Bear Bay.
Bear Bay is a small bay (lake) that is 20 miles above Sioux Narrows, I mean way out in the middle of nowhere by boat. He has been telling us for years about this small isolated lake. It is about half the size of Fayette county for you Texas folks. It was supposed to be a 100 fish place, and while we only caught around 50 (not complaining) both boats easily caught 125 plus for the day. It was one epic smallmouth lake.
Once we got to Sioux Narrows we stopped for gas and then the Clyde saga continued. He felt a vibration on the trailer on the way, when he looked the new rim on the driver side, which was just put on, all the lug nuts were spun almost off, the lugs were trashed, and the rim was wallowed out, It was lucky he made it without the wheel falling off. So he called Paul, the owner of Muskie Bay, who took the time to bring him a new trailer and take Clyde’s to get it fixed. He is the salt of the earth and one of the really good guys. No wonder Clyde has been coming for years.
We stopped at the government office, paid the launch fee, and off we went.
Sioux Narrows is one of the premier muskie fishing destinations in the world, and of course this is the drinking fountain.
We stayed close and fished, an hour later here came Clyde. While we waited we fished.
My heaviest smallmouth of the trip. This was a hoss anywhere in the world.
We put in at the government ramp. We headed out across Whitefish Bay, into Yellow Girl Bay, (they are both huge) through a small channel into a smaller bay, and then through a real shallow channel into Bear Bay, which is a lake smaller than Fayette County. (A reference for you Texans) It really is a small lake, and it is astounding how deep it is. Some of it was over 80 feet deep.
They went to the back and we started in the front and by time we met in the middle they had boated 25 and we were an easy dozen for a little over an hour. Without some kind of counter it is almost impossible to keep track when you are catching the snot out of them. It was so interesting how the fish were on the bank. And I mean on the bank. You had to put your bait in the first 6 inches to get bites. It was topwater for them, jerk bait and plastics for us, though we caught some on topwater also.
Notice the bite mark on this girl, we caught several like that.
The Shoedog stayed with the jerkbait and caught them one after the other. For the next 8 hours we stayed in Bear Bay and caught them. I threw lots of stuff at them, mainly to give my hands a rest which are just tore to shreds right now. It was smallmouth fishing at it’s finest. A truly isolated place, as Shoedog said, it was the quietest place in the world, except for the drumming of the grouse. The sounded like a low throated diesel engine.
The weather stayed fabulous all day, it actually got hot.
One of my bigger one of the day. But how can you really tell when 90% of them were really nice big smallmouth.
One of Shoedog’s biggest for the day. Notice more bite marks on this one.
The water warmed to 67 degrees in there. I finally could not take it and picked up a buzzbait and caught this pike.
This picture does not do that fish justice. It was my biggest so far.
When the one above got that buzzbait it was only 10 feet from the boat. She absolutely blasted it, what a bite. We tossed buzzbait for a while and caught another 8 or so before we met them. They stayed with topwater all day and finally brought out their flyrods and they were smacking them on poppers. As the fish were on the bank they knocked the crap out of them. And let me tell you when the fish are this size they must have been something. They fight so hard.
Finally about 7 we decided to make the 50 minute run back to the ramp. It was awesome, dead calm and beautiful. We followed the GPS track as we motored through some of the most beautiful country in the world. Winding our way past hundreds of islands and reefs, the motor humming, hands aching, after one of the better days of smallmouth fishing of my life. The fish in Bear Bay were not quite the size of Cedar Tree the other day, but they sure were willing. It was an adventure and well worth the effort to get there.
As soon as the beaver gets done munching on this it may block the small channel into the bay making it even tougher to get in there.
As soon as you see a big beaver house like this the anticipation rises, these holds lots of fish. You can never tell whether it will be a muskie, pike, or smallmouth. And how many years did it take to make this?
This has turned in to a real adventure. The fishing has been great, and when it is in a place like this how could it get any better. It is now 6 am Saturday morning as I write this. The boys are all still snoring and I am surprised there is any paint left on the walls.
Unlike yesterday the weather will be crap today. It is breezy and cold. We probably should have been out there now, as it may deteriorate as the day goes on. So I am not sure what is coming today. Our best bet will probably be to launch at Muskie Bay and fish Crow Lake in case it gets to ugly. The old saying in Texas is if you do not like the weather wait 5 minutes, well Texas has nothing on Canada. The forecast is to not top 60 today, and it is supposed to be in the high 70’s 2 days from now. But as all of us are experienced cold weather fishermen, we have the gear, and are just crazy enough to be out there in it.
I am still in search of a really big pike, and this week we will start keeping a few fish to take home. We are halfway done and I am starting to feel the pressure, how can a week have gone by already. Funny how even after a week when we are beat up and sore I am ready to do it all over again, bad weather or not. So we shall see, as soon as I start making noise and wake those girls up, no offense to girls. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
