Fish Catching Travel

The fish know the difference.

Before we get to my morning bass trip I got a couple of comments on my current state of Musky Fever.  John dropped me this and I wanted to answer it.

That musky is gorgeous. I’ve never really fished for them, but I did catch a small one in the Red River in Kentucky once. I was fly fishing for smallmouth!

So how do they fight? I always hear that they hit hard but give up quickly. People say the same about northerns. I’ve always enjoyed fishing for pike and they’re a lot of fun on light tackle.

That one fought like crazy, of course it was caught on a Red Eye Shad and 10lb. line.  It almost got away but luckily we got her in the boat, after she stuck her head through the net and was on the way out.  As far as how they fight I would describe it as hand to hand combat.  To see them swim out and eat your bait, and then putting the hook to them with 10 foot of line out is just to cool.  It is not a prolonged fight like a tarpon, it is more like a wrestling match.   One mistake and you are toast.  So it is not the fight more than it is about the bite, at least as far as I am concerned.

Good Morning Doug
What a great musky, looks like in the 50 inch class. People who have caught a trophy musky are in a special fishing club only shared by a few. The fish of 10,000 cast. I have a 44 incher that came from Lac Seul on a boat in camp trip. One key, I’ve learned is your best shot at a big fish is trolling open water keying on points. Some lakes prohibit trolling so always check first. As a side note seems most huge walleye come on live bait. We caught hundreds of walleye on lures, but the monsters caught were on live large flat head minnows with a bottom bouncing rig almost always in the narrows with a lot of current. I caught a couple of 8 pounders on a trip with Ghost River Outfitters. Lake Marchington is some of the best walleye water in the world.
Looks like the gulf is back right again! After a bad trip a couple of weeks ago, it’s good to see things settling down. I was at the pass and the water was fresh enough to drink. I can’t find the 1/32 or 1/64 oz flats lok jig heads anywhere. Do you have a source? Keep up the good work and I’ll keep reading.
Steve

First I have no clue how long that one was, I was in a state of shock.  It was the fish of a lifetime, which I fully intend to top this trip.  Trolling is actually top of the list this trip.  We can troll both Crow Lake, which is primarily a musky lake, and of course Lake of the Woods.  LOTW has 65,000 miles of shoreline and 15,000 islands, one big mofo.  Paul from Muskie Bay has been on the cover of Muskie Magazine with a double of muskies caught trolling at night, both over 46″, so we have a really good resource.

And from what I have read many of the muskies of LOTW spend the summer suspended in open water on bait schools.  Then at the end of August, when we are going, the ciscoes (a baitfish) come out of open water and spawn near the points.  So your suggestion is spot on for our trip.  Where we put in on LOTW there is Whitefish Bay, and it is a giant, and has many points, humps, and saddles to explore.  And one thing that helps we have caught maybe 10 or so and had tons of follows in that area on both prior trips, so we have a good place to start.

My biggest walleye on our 2 prior trips.

I am not much for the walleye except for our fish fries.  I fish for them to appease the other folks, but for me it is the musky and smallmouth that I love, along with some of those nice big pike if you can get the small ones to leave you alone.

As far as the 1/64th jig heads I found some at Tackle Town in Rockport.  The ones I have been using are made by Bagley, they have a small collar but no loc, but I have also found some other brands that are labeled 1/32 that are about as light, and they work fine.  The more I use them, it obviously helps to have the wind at your back, the more I like them.  First you can fish them really shallow, much better over the tops of grass in a 2 foot of water, and you can fish them aggressively.  As Capt. Black from the Baffin area said in his article it stays in front of their face a little bit longer.  As a result of the slow fall I have found that I do not miss as many, they seem to eat it and not let go nearly as fast.  And I am fishing it on 8lb. test and a long light spinning rod which means I can cast it a mile, which never hurts.

Last, it is amazing after the last  couple of years, when you are done for the day you are not covered in salt.  Some of that water is fresh as all get out, which of course affected the fishing for a while but will provide us tons of benefit in the future.  It was good to hear from you and I appreciate you continued support.

And the rest of you send me comments, suggestions, reports, pictures, bitches, it does not matter, I love to get any and all of it.  It really helps me out and makes the website better.  I do this for you so any help I can get is appreciated.

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The Boss is finally off after a long stretch so it was a quick morning trip to the lake.  I wish there was something to tell you that is earth shattering, but alas, same old, same old.  I caught 3 on buzzbait on the first bank, none worth a hoot, and then 5 pitching a small lizard.

That would be the size of it for today.

As the water temp continues to slowly creep up, and the water lever slowly creeps down, tough fishing is to be expected.  Other than in one little area where there appeared to be some emergent grass barely peaking up off the bottom there is just no deep grass, at least that I can find.   The fish were all in the shallow grass, but the last couple of trips are moving to points, especially near deep water.

 There was no one at the ramp when I got there at 6:30, and no one there when I quit at noon, which tells you something.  It is time to put on the thinking cap and find another pattern.  Those good fish are bunched up somewhere, I just need to find a different way to catch them.

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My buddy Clyde sent me a copy of a story that I thought I would share with you.  My old stomping grounds in North Arkansas included the White River.  I fished it 100’s of times and guided on it for my good lake customers.  And while I caught an occasional nice trout in the winter there has been 2 giant Brown trout caught this year alone.  The latest was exactly 30lbs. and was released alive.  Folks that is one big fish.  Here is the link if you want to check it out.  I hope to get a chance to fish the river before the year is out.

http://www.baxterbulletin.com/story/news/local/2015/07/10/city-man-catches-pound-trout/29966553/

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Today was a sign that it is time to maybe take a little lake break and concentrate on the Gulf a little more.  Unlike the lake the bay fishing is heating up.  So it will be off to the salt in the next day or two.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines.