Fish Catching Travel
Friday it was all over but the shouting. We fished hard the last 2 weeks, harder than I have ever fished and that is saying something. 14 straight days, with the shortest being 4 hours and maybe one 6, the rest were out at 9 and in at 9. We went fishing nuts, and my body is paying for it.
To finish up Thursday real quick, it was slow and the weather was not the best. We bass fished and trolled for trout. It kept raining and got cold and we decided to hit the most productive smallmouth place we had on Crow Lake. We fished back into the cove on one side without a bite. We fished the deeper side and Shoedog had a muskie hit but not hook up, the first time his whole trip he actually missed a big fish.
When we got to the back of the cove he caught a smallmouth so I put on a Rage Craw on a jig head and when I was reeling it back in a huge muskie boiled it at the boat. We decided to motor back out and make one more drift in when I hooked a small muskie on a buzzbait but lost it. Then a giant took a run at it and blew up but I did not hook up. And then it was over. That little smallmouth cove was full of muskies, probably eating smallies.
I want to remind you that it is illegal to pursue muskies before the opener. We did not have to pursue them, it was the other way around. The very bait Shoedog caught most of his muskies was the same one he threw for smallmouth and pike most of the week. It would be impossible to not catch one if you cast enough. Let me tell you, we did a little bit of casting, but I digress. Here are a couple of pictures from the last couple of days that are not posted.
That was one big beaver dam. They saw it the day before and water was running over so the beavers fixed it overnight.
It is so beautiful there, and quiet.
A fresh rock slide.
We did have several brushes with wildlife today, the first one was a momma otter and a baby. They were messing around on the bank and headed to the water but saw us, turned around and headed the other way. They are one neat creature. There are so many things to see here and you never know when you will see them. One of the places we heard about on Crow was The Meadow near Emme Bay. We actually found it by accident, remember this is a big place. We were quiet hoping to see some cool wildlife and we did see a deer. I will always remember this as the most beautiful spot I never caught a fish.
“The Meadow.” Possibly one of the coolest places I have ever fished. We saw one deer there, to bad we did not catch a fish in there.
As we fished down this bank we came to a beaver hut, and is we caught a lot of fish off them, we moved in position for the perfect cast, and there she sat on the nest. Loons can not walk worth a crap since there back legs are for swimming and not walking. So they nest right on shore, and this was pretending we could not see her, but protecting her nest by laying all out.
That is a momma Loon protecting her nest. One of those “if I lay real still they will not see me things.”
When we quit that day we saw Clyde fishing the resort cove so we stopped. They had gone to get a part for the trailer from hell and when they got back John sat down for a minute. Clyde did not have the heart to wake him up, and he was sleeping in the same place when we got to the cabin. And as a side note the view from the porch was all outdoors.
This is what would happen to you if you ever sat down. I never sat down.
Day 14
Today there was no problem with anyone getting up. We all felt it, this is it, end of story. Funny how after 14 grueling days all of us would have stayed if we could have. This place is a fishing paradise, and whether you catch a big one or not, just the very anticipation of being on Lake of the Woods can not be beat. The day was epic, but it was not the fishing and we will get to that later.
Shoedog and I started catching fish, and except for a couple of places, we caught fish all day. There was a few nice smallies, and more little ones than we saw on the trip. We caught pike off and on all day. While some were ok, our expectations and goals were for a big pike. We caught them on jerkbait, spinnerbait, and buzzbait. It was one of those days where the fish just bit.
We caught lots bigger than this one, just a real great smallmouth area.
Most of the day it was small to medium pike and we found them from an inch deep to 15 feet. Buzzbait and jerkbait were the ticket, but we just did not boat that last whooper. Then I put the smallest one in the boat all trip.
I set the record on the last day for the smallest pike of trip.
For our final (almost) place we went back to where Shoedog caught his biggest pike. We stopped the boat on the point and there was an Eagle in a tree with some kind of hawk or falcon harassing it. We drifted past before I could get a picture and then he decided to fly right in front of us and land it a tree. And there he sat, just to cool a bird.
They are usually wary and fly off. This Eagle flew into the tree and landed right in front of us.
Eagles are all that.
We headed down the bank and I picked up a buzzbait and had a big muskie follow it to the boat, again, for the umpteenth time without taking a swat at it. As happened to me time and time again this trip they just did not get on. Right before we left we talked to the some of the guys there for the muskie opener and they said the had a week with over 50 follows and only one taker. Those big fish have a mind of their own.
Shoedog had a follow on the other side, but other than that we only put a couple of more pike in the boat. So we decided to call it a trip in the big grass bed by the ramp. So we buzzbaited through it and then I told the Shoedog to catch the last fish so I could take a picture, and it was over.
The last fish of the trip. How many did we catch as both boats in 2 weeks? Literally hundreds and hundreds.
The following picture can not present the true condition of my hands. Toothy fish, lots of trebles, thrashing pike, all of them a recipe for disaster and injury. Other than Clyde’s little hooking episode there were no major human injuries.
My thumb and forefinger were tore up. Everything you see on that finger is an open crack or cut.
We headed back to Musky Bay and the work began. Boats to empty and straighten, lures to organize. (I just threw handfuls in a baggies for arranging when I get home.) We got all the boat stuff done, covered it then on to the packing in the house. Jake came up and welded the trailer fenders back on, if you remember they got taken off for the big tires, and the bearings and ……. tomorrow’s recap will cover all the Clyde stuff. They even had car trouble on the way home, but they made it.
Jake welds Clyde’s fenders back on the trailer from hell.
So with both boats basically ready to go, it was in the house to pack the rest and straighten the joint. Clyde had some rib eye steaks that were as thick as a brick for the last meal. Then it came, rain, big time. When it came it got dark, pitch dark, and it started pouring and blowing, for probably an hour it came down like I have never seen it before. Hail was mixed in and it was rushing down the road to the lake. It was unbelievable, and it did it a couple of more times during the night.
Raining as hard as any of us had ever seen with a little hail thrown in.
When we got up the next morning the road was washed out. There was no way it could be used, which meant that the guys on the waterfront cabins could not get up the hill and out, and the guys on the upper area could not get there boats in the water.
The next morning the road was trashed.
That was a huge canyon all the way down to the lake.
But between Paul and Jake, and the little bulldozer they have, I am sure the road was fixed immediately and everyone got to fish. But it was impressive, it washed tons of gravel down that hill, and the water was still flowing when we left at 6 the next morning.
After pictures of the road it was time to leave. Unfortunately some selfish callous fisherman had parked right in front of our rig. Here it is 5:30 and we are ready to go and it looks like we can’t get out. Bad enough we were leaving but if we had been fishing I would have really been irritated. So we tried one way, and it wouldn’t work, so we tried another and we just squeezed out. I would just like to say to them try to think about what you are doing, hard to imagine anyone that discourteous.
Then it was off right before 6, and before it was over we drove over 1000 miles in 18 hours to make it to our brother’s in Arkansas. We got 6 hours of sleep, a quick breakfast with the parent’s, and it was on the road again. 9 hours later we are at Shoedog’s. I transferred stuff from his boat and truck to my truck, and it was the last stretch. 3 hours later I was home, and it was all over.
This one was of the monumental fishing trips I have ever been on. I was lucky to share it with 3 guys who went into a fishing frenzy on day 1 and were still consumed by it at the end of day 14. 14 days of up at 5:30 am, supper at 9 pm, bed at 11, and nothing but fishing in between. It was not for the faint of heart, my body is in a state of shock right now, 3 days after my last cast. So many things seen and done, some real unusual happenings, and those great Ontario big fish. And Paul and all the extended family who live and work there run a first class operation, they will help however they can, and Paul wants you to catch fish. I can not say enough about the hospitality, they were great.
It is not time to put this all to bed yet, and I will close it out tomorrow. We took a few notes on the way home, and I want to review it all, get it in one place. There is so much to tell about fishing there, and I can never do it justice. And there are a few general things I need to tell you about if you want to ever take a trip like this. The place is massive, impressive, and imposing. If a person is willing to work hard, and step out of his box, the fishing possibilities are endless, and the next big one is right around the corner.
So thanks for fishing with us, it was our pleasure! Feeling like a tough guy? Try 14 days of fishing madness out of Musky Bay if you are tough enough. Keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
