LAKE OF THE WOODS 2010 TRIP

Wow....what a great time. A group of Muskies Canada members co-ordinated a trip to LOTW'S for a week of fun and fishing muskies.

The trip up was beautiful as Lake Simco's North shore has fantastic scenery.

Breaking up the 23hr drive we stayed a night in Nipigon to rest before the final leg the next day.

A quick stop in Rainy River for supplies and we were 30 min from Red Wing lodge which would be our residence for the next 7 nights.

Our view as we left the dock for our first afternoon of fishing and a quick pic of the lodge behind us

Our gang!!

My boat released nine Muskies over the duration of our stay with the biggest being 43.5", no giants but all beauties none the less.







We were lucky enough to have one of our group be an experienced guide in the area and he treated us to a shore lunch fit for kings. Fresh Pickerel, potatoes and all the fix ins along with wild rice native to the LOTW area. You da man Keith...thanks.




Some scenery pics.


After the trip had come to an end we made our way North to Kenora to visit some MCI members who opened a store on the shore of LOTW in Kenora called "Figure 8 Muskie Baits", great store guys and awesome spot.....congrats. A quick overnight in Vermillion Bay to attend the inaugural meeting of the newest Muskies Canada chapter "North Western" Brian summed up the trip pretty good.

Congrats to the new chapter and best of luck.

A marathon 23.5hr return drive and we were home.

Some pics

Great trip guys...thanks.

Surprise Walleye On A Muskie bait

Casting bucktails is a favorite of mine, follows are regular and the slam of a big muskie can get the adrenaline pumping pretty good. Sometimes other species like to take a crack at a bucktail and on this blue sky day while casting a mid river hump this adventurous Walleye slammed the bucktail in full view at boatside. She weighed in at 6.5lbs ans was released back to the river to swim again.

New trailer upgrade makes good sense

Out with the old and in with the new. The old trailer didn't quite fit my Springbok Sp190 very well in length and in height. Being a bit short of what was needed and held the boat high off the ground, add the fact it was getting rusty it was not hard to make the decision to go with new.

The new trailer is galvanised, has drum brakes, double bunks and lights up like a Christmas tree.

It also hold the boat much lower to the ground making for a more aerodynamic ride.

Just in time for my LOTW's trip the first week of October.

Polly want a cracker?

Dr.John Casselman refers to it as "Parrot-beak phenomenon" and describes it is common in tank raised fish who continuously bump into the glass.

This male was caught on the Ottawa river and although rare is documented through several pictures from various anglers. Are stocked Muskies entering the Ottawa? Is there a behavior displayed at the fry stage that makes them develop this condition? Whatever the case may be they don't appear to be affected by it too greatly as they(the pics I have seen) appear to all be very healthy.

My good bud Arnaldo, who visits Ottawa to fish with me a couple times a year was fortunate enough to hook up this 40's Muskie on a "Brian Peach" Double 10 cowgirl look alike.

Two days of hard fishing and this was the result, Saturday was blue sky, hot and flat water but we pounded some spots and saw several fish. Getting them to bite proved to be a bit more difficult.

Sunday brought us overcast, strong winds (I hate wind) and rain but we felt it was better weather for Muskie fishing and we were right.

Teeny tiny muskies need loving too!

Short report.Lot's of wind.....not much muskie!On by 8am off by noon due to wind.

Little baby muskie but still fun topwater.

Bigger ones to come hopefully....LOL

Sun, rain and topwaters

Clear blue sky conditions at 8am with flat water is not what I was hoping for but with conditions expected to change I was willing to see if pre front conditions would be good on this particular day.

Trolling 12'-15' of water lead to nothing so off to the shallows we were in search of fish activity and it was immediate we knew we had made the right decision. With 3 fish follows on the first 5 casts (2-very nice ones) we had some high hopes creeping in until a pontoon boat decided to run the weed bed 75' off our bow..I wasn't impressed.

So locating to another similar spot and with a bit of cloud setting in due to a pick up in the wind we settled in a bay surrounded by a decent muskie chop.

This 42" decided a Weagle top water was just tasty enough to eat. A bit of gill damage was unfortunate but seemed not damaging enough to prevent a strong release. The best was this male hit like a freight train and did 3 incredible jumps which ranks it up with the best fight action to date...not bad for a 42" muskie.

Full moon and Muskie

It's been tough to nail down an outing due to weather issues this year but things seem to be stabilizing a bit lately and with a full moon and only a few hours to fish I had hoped to make the most of my efforts. On the water immediately after work shallow running appealed to me the most but with water temps dropping 6-8 deg in the last several days who really knew what to expect. So shallow to start it was, hitting a regular hump I was discouraged to see the weeds or lack there of but decided to give it a good trolling over but after 2 hrs (it's a big hump) I moved just off the hump to see if any fish were holding just off in the deeper water. It wasn't long before I bailed to another spot certain to have plenty of vegetation. Now at this point I was keeping it in mind that full moon rising was at 7:30pm and I was on a troll that had netted me plenty of big fish over the years and I was....well...excited at the least. On return from the first pass my reel started screaming and at the end of my line was a 36" muskie. Was this to be a good couple hours??? Playing around with the underwater camera and this time having some sunlight I snapped off a decent pic of the 'skie in the net. Another pic with the camera propped up on the dash as I was fishing solo and then a great sunset pic that the Ottawa river never fails to deliver with awe. Another successful evening on the Ottawa, a fish to show for the efforts but not the size I was hoping for...oh ....I had hoped to stay out longer but my trailblazer was needed to pick up 7 screaming teenage girls from a concert!!!!!!

Damn you Justin Beiber...LOL