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Posts: 15
| Anyone on LOTW last week with anything to report? I go next week and am curious about water temp and what happened after last week's cold front. |
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Location: SE, WI. | The last week cold front effected water temps. Last Sunday, temps were 72-74. After the cold fronts, and 4 inches of rain, water temps dropped to 66-68.
But, the bite has rebounded, but water temps are still short of what they were. About 69-70 depending where you are.
My wife and I raised over 60 fish the last 3 days. My suggestion would be to try and get away from the highly pressured areas.
JD |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | 60 fish raised in 3 days! Wow that's a lot of action. Sounds fun. Not sure if it's my style or what it is but in my 3 trips to LOTW I never seem to have the number of follows that many others do. Getting off the beaten path may be a good tip in that regard.
Sorry - I've got nothing to add right now but getting excited for my August trip in a few weeks. |
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Posts: 15
| Thanks for the info JD. I appreciate it. |
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| Just got back Saturday from a week in the NW Angle. I ended up putting nine fish in the boat up to 49.75". We had to grind for every fish we got with the best day being 19 Muskie contacts with 3 of those ending up in the net. The last day we put four in the net and lost another three but nearly all that action came in a 30 minute flurry with the rest of the day being really slow. I wish I could tell you there is a magic bullet right now but in reality locations would produce one day and be terrible the next. The majority of our fish came on spinnerbaits with bucktails coming in second and Suicks third. The fish in the Angle are out on the mid lake reefs. We saw most fish on reefs that topped out in the 0-2 foot range. I made the observation that if the exposed rock on the reef had a tree it was useless and though it sounds silly it was true. I only caught two fish that hit away from the boat and the rest came on the figure eight. |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | Steve Heiting just posted that two and a half days into their Musky Hunter school on the Angle they have caught 50 fish up to 53" |
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| Impressive and not the least bit surprising stable and badly needed warming weather tends to help immensely. The fish were going better last Thursday and Friday after the cold front went through and with several more warm days I would have predicted exactly what is happening at the school. |
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | 50 fish sounds pretty amazing, but keep in mind they usually have 20-25 guys plus instructors. So that could very well be about an average of 1 fish per day per angler. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | yah it would be impressive if it was about 4 or 5 boats..  not 15...
Facebook can make it seem like they are lighting them up... in reality it sounds pretty slow overall... water temps up there are below avg from what I hear
Edited by BNelson 7/18/2017 11:01 AM
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| Musky Brian hit it right on the nose. Sounds simply awesome but when you do the math its well, sort of average for the NW Angle. |
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Location: Alex or Alek? | Leaving for Sab bay in 11.5 hours for my first time. I may be more excited then the first time I had a follow! |
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Posts: 197
Location: N Illinois | Just got back from the angle. We fished from July 12-22. We put 32 in the boat with half as many lost. Fish were nipping at baits until last 2 days. All fish came on smaller tails and crane baits. No real pattern. Found fish in weeds, cabbage, points , rock...kept hitting all areas of every spot we fished. Fish were wolf packing. we were catching 2, 3 and even 4 in small windows from small structures. Seen maybe 10 to 15 fish daily. Water temps started out at 68 on arrival. Up to 72 when we left. Different wind direction daily. |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | jdsplasher - 7/16/2017 10:53 PM
The last week cold front effected water temps. Last Sunday, temps were 72-74. After the cold fronts, and 4 inches of rain, water temps dropped to 66-68.
But, the bite has rebounded, but water temps are still short of what they were. About 69-70 depending where you are.
My wife and I raised over 60 fish the last 3 days. My suggestion would be to try and get away from the highly pressured areas.
JD
JD, we just got back from camping at Spruce Island Camp. We met up with Dick Pearson on Friday and he showed us a picture of the 52 your wife caught. Holy moly what a big beautiful fish. Congratulations |
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Posts: 368
Location: On the River | Just got back Saturday caught 11 including a fat 53 a personal best 7 of 11 fish I caught were on figure eights 8 of 11 were on bucktails |
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Location: SE, WI. | Propster - 7/25/2017 9:15 PM
jdsplasher - 7/16/2017 10:53 PM
The last week cold front effected water temps. Last Sunday, temps were 72-74. After the cold fronts, and 4 inches of rain, water temps dropped to 66-68.
But, the bite has rebounded, but water temps are still short of what they were. About 69-70 depending where you are.
My wife and I raised over 60 fish the last 3 days. My suggestion would be to try and get away from the highly pressured areas.
JD
JD, we just got back from camping at Spruce Island Camp. We met up with Dick Pearson on Friday and he showed us a picture of the 52 your wife caught. Holy moly what a big beautiful fish. Congratulations
Thanks , Propster, 52 1/4", yes a beautiful weed fish.
Weather was mostly down, but water temps did rebound the second half of our 12 days. Mrs and I boated 30 Ski's.... Fish were on all structures. We had water temps drop from 72-74 to 67-68 after 2 days of rain, and NE winds.But they did rebound back to about 69-71 by the end of our trip. I also had my on board charger fail on us....probably cost us a day of fishing. Can't complain too much, it lasted me 19 years;)
Like others said, seemed like they were packed up. Would move 2-6 fish on one piece of structure. Had one reef show us 2 fish that I felt were 53-55" After returning 4/5 times, never raised them again:(
Threw very little topwater, after the drop in temps, but still did get a couple on them.
We caught fish on almost ever style of baits....cranks, jerks, bucktail, rubber. The Hellkat , large model cork was money also!!!
JD
Edited by jdsplasher 7/26/2017 6:15 AM
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | First couple days the water struggled to hit 70 degrees. North end of Tug and Skeet/Kennedy area colder yet. And lots of boats there and west, probably from the Musky Hunter school. We spent most our time south after that. We got 15 to 49.5. Lost a big one Monday night, over 50. Dick thought that the water being up over a foot from ten days earlier had the fish "off". |
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Posts: 705
Location: Alex or Alek? | I was up there for 3.5 days and between 6 guys we boated 13 with the largest being 47. Most were caught on sand/weeds and also most were on smaller bucktails and spinners. Neighbor showed us a picture of a 53 he caught during the same time we were up. We fished the sab bay area. |
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Posts: 901
| We got there Saturday 22nd and left Saturday 29th. First cast of the trip my buddy had a good follow. We saw 3 fish on the first 2 spots. He caught a little on Saturday night. Sunday was what I would call average with each of us catching 41's and several follows. But the fish were doing weird things in the 8 like mentioned above.
Monday all the way until Friday morning was the dead sea. We had some follows here and there but it was tough. Really tough.
My buddy didn't have a follow until after 9 pm on Tuesday. And we rotate between the front and the back of the boat. We thought that was impossible on LOTW, but I can tell you it's surely possible.
Friday morning out of the blue I popped a 50 and he caught 4 muskies on Friday with the largest being 43. Mind you I had about 50 hours on fishing between my 41 on Sunday and the 50 on Friday morning!!!
Saturday morning before we left we moved 2 giants a couple times, but no bites.
A very weird week on LOTW, that is for sure. Even though we caught our fish on a bucktails, it was slow slow slow, I wouldn't call it a buck tail bite. I consider a buck tail bite when every fish you see comes charging in hard in the front of the boat. As silly as that sounds the back of the boat with slow moving top waters and cranks, moved more fish that bucktails in the front, but no eaters. |
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Posts: 300
| Anyone else have some reports for Sab Bay? Arriving Saturday (5th) and staying through Thursday(10th). Rocks? Depth? |
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Posts: 17
| I will be up there on the 5th too. White and Green Ranger 692. Can't wait! |
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Location: Chippewa Falls, WI | I'll be up in a burgundy and tan ranger reata, staying a mylies. Forecast is for low 70's for highs and getting down to low 50's at night. no need to worry about too warm of water temps or the algae getting bad during our week... |
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Posts: 24
| Fishing has been slow. I have been at mylies for two weeks and seen water temps climb ten degrees in three days and now drop 5. People are catching fish here and there but nobody is hammering them that I have talked to. The algae started to bloom when water temps were around 80 but has seemed to slow. I haven't been able to stay on much of a pattern but have been getting some fish. You really have to grind it out and try everything. Which has been tough on me fishing solo 90% of the time. |
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Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | I've had multiple people tell me yesterday was on fire up there...it can't be that slow. |
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| The buddy that I was with last week is still there this week. He said it had picked up but definitely not on fire. |
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Posts: 1970
| 3-4 fish days casting are always doable on LOTW June, July and August....To me when it on fire you are consistenly getting 7+ fish a day between two guys.. If you don't like your results switch it up, LOTW muskies rarely have lockjaw. |
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Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | Well...I won't speak for Brad, and let him write his own report, but they are having a pretty darn good week on big fish from the sounds of it
Edited by Musky Brian 8/4/2017 9:31 AM
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Location: Contrarian Island | Good week. Lots of big ones and 4 over 50. Fish fast. Fish smart. Got fish on every type of spot in the lake. Justin. Have you even been there this year???
Edited by BNelson 8/6/2017 4:38 PM
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Posts: 1970
| Nope, been catching 50's north of there  |
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Location: Contrarian Island | So you havent been there this year but are telling people 7 + fish days can be consistently done. Huh. Interesting. Every year and week is different. Maybe you should go and crank out 35 or more in 7 days and tell us about it. ??
Edited by BNelson 8/6/2017 7:05 PM
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Posts: 1970
| Read Mr Nelson.. when its on fire we get 7 a day and its doable -since 2 of the last 4 trips we did that, 35+ in a week (one was in August during a high water year everyone complaining how tough it was), worst trip of my last seven was 21 with a rookie first timer...every year is different... Didn't realize that?? .. LOL .... I'll give $1000 if I cant go catch 3 a day by myself next week... You pay for all my food, lodging and gas if I do
Edited by IAJustin 8/6/2017 7:14 PM
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Location: Contrarian Island | I read just fine. Just sayin this year many guides and very good fishermen are not doing great. You might have a tough year if you went. You haven't gone this year so it's funny you comment how you think you can light them up... just sayin'...
Anything IS possible....weather trumps all.. anyone can get their ass handed to them if they hit the wrong week weather wise... good luck north.
Edited by BNelson 8/7/2017 1:00 PM
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Location: Bloomington, IL | Couldn't agree more with...
BNelson - 8/6/2017 7:29 PM
Weather trumps all... anyone can get their ass handed to them if they hit the wrong week weather wise.
Edited by Nupe 8/7/2017 12:52 PM
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Posts: 300
| Got back Saturday from a week at Walsh's Bay Store. My wife and I had 80-90 fish to the boat, but only one made it to the net had 4 others hooked up, but most would just follow deep, and go round the 8 forever. That was the story of everyone at camp, no matter how close or far we'd run. Saw 4 or 5 over 50", and plenty in the mid 40's. For whatever reason, they simply just wouldn't eat. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | we were up last week. My boat got 29..
4 over 50" to 52. 11 over 48. Not IAJustin 35+ numbers but not all bad we had very short feeding windows... some were like 30 minutes and then done.... key for us was to be on the spot on the spot when we thought one would fire... run and gun, cover water. burn gas, (600 +miles on the boat) and fish smart.. it worked for the most part... fish were finicky in the 8 for sure..but we got some big ones to eat in the 8. lost more 50s than I care to think about.. 
Edited by BNelson 8/7/2017 2:32 PM
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Posts: 470
Location: Blaine, MN | Every year when I get the privilege to go up for a week my numbers goal is 21. Sometimes I do better, and sometimes worse. Heading up Thursday Morning (8-10)... anyone having success with numbers or bigger fish in the Sab bay area? (Seems like the numbers of fish are there the last few years, but overall size is down). Plan to head West if the bigger fish just don't want to play in Sab. I will trade #'s for size any day. |
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| I was really hoping BNelson would take up Justin on his bet. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | if I knew the weather for his week I would... if he got socked with a nasty azz cold front dropping water temps for a week I imagine I might win the bet....
Edited by BNelson 8/7/2017 3:39 PM
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Posts: 214
| Well I will be at Baystore on the 11th and this is our 17th year there and 24th on the lake hope wife and I figure it out early in the trip but it always seems like a run and gun approach this time of year !
Darren |
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Posts: 153
| BNelson - 8/7/2017 2:20 PM
we were up last week. My boat got 29..
4 over 50" to 52. 11 over 48. Not IAJustin 35+ numbers but not all bad we had very short feeding windows... some were like 30 minutes and then done.... key for us was to be on the spot on the spot when we thought one would fire... run and gun, cover water. burn gas, (600 +miles on the boat ) and fish smart.. it worked for the most part... fish were finicky in the 8 for sure..but we got some big ones to eat in the 8. lost more 50s than I care to think about..
Congrats on a great week. Makes me think there is still hope for the lake. Numbers like yours remind me of 15 to 20 years ago. This year for me has been so so..... |
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Posts: 309
Location: Elgin IL | You can't compare numbers with Nelson/Waldera team. Nelson's run and gun and cherry picking only the best part of each structure and Waldera knowledge of the the lake is hard to beat. I will spend many hours on the lake more than most but these guys are insane. I was up the same week 20 in the boat 4 48-49s. I couldn't cut those guys off if I tried ....they're never in the same spot for more than 10min...lol
Edited by msky3 8/7/2017 7:30 PM
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Location: Contrarian Island | Believe it or not we even fished a lot of new spots to us both. Had 3 or 4 over 50 hit on new spots. But yah. Run n gun was the tactic. Why fish dead water!?
Congrats on a great week as well.
Edited by BNelson 8/7/2017 7:39 PM
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | short STRIKE - 8/7/2017 3:15 PM
Every year when I get the privilege to go up for a week my numbers goal is 21. Sometimes I do better, and sometimes worse. Heading up Thursday Morning (8-10)... anyone having success with numbers or bigger fish in the Sab bay area? (Seems like the numbers of fish are there the last few years, but overall size is down). Plan to head West if the bigger fish just don't want to play in Sab. I will trade #'s for size any day.
They're still here Geno. I'm up here with Billy Buechner right now. We've struggled for sure but Bill got a 51 today and pulled the bait away from another 50. We're at Tamarack Island. |
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Location: Elk River, Minnesota | BNelson,
What part of the lake were you targeting? |
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Location: Contrarian Island | we put on 650+ miles.. wasn't much of the lake we didn't fish except whitefish bay!
we moved fish everywhere... on every type of structure out there...
Edited by BNelson 8/8/2017 7:34 AM
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Posts: 52
Location: Bemidji | I agree - weather can certainly shut it all down. I've had weeks with as little as 2 fish on nasty cold fronts.
However, the more time and experience you have up there and using the run & gun approach, you will put more & more fish in the net during your milkrun. Don't even think about the gas!
I always have a reasonable goal of 2 fish/day average for me personally over the week. Some days you get skunked, other days you get 5. I fish alone a lot, so I maybe work the spots a little slower than I would with a boat partner & several baits in the water. So I have to pick key locations during prime times. But, I'm not afraid to burn gas. The last two years have been my personal best number weeks with 21 last year & 23 this year during a July trip. They'd be a little higher if I had a net man those weeks! Lost some nice fish trying to get them into the bag or getting a hook caught outside the bag. Oh well - you win some & lose some...
Looking forward to 2 full weeks coming up the end of the month!!
Edited by cluelessfisherman 8/8/2017 5:01 PM
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Posts: 512
| BNelson - 8/8/2017 7:06 AM
we put on 650+ miles.. wasn't much of the lake we didn't fish except whitefish bay!
we moved fish everywhere... on every type of structure out there...
well that doesnt help us amateurs at all!
we need gps coordinates and baits used man!
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Location: Contrarian Island | bucktails and topwaters got 95% of the hits as always...but we threw them the most too! |
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Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Dave,
It sounds like the lake is our coordinates... somewhere over by that rock..
I've never travelled anywhere near that much, but am considering a try a day or two...
Steve |
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Location: MN | BNelson, do you bring your own gas or purchase at the lake?
Just curious because we brought our own gas on a past trip (most of what we needed anyway) and the resort owner told us we can't bring it next year and must buy his. I thought that was pretty odd. Is that common up there? The lodging rates were very reasonable but the gas, not so much. Seemed like they were trying to make their money on the gas instead of lodging costs.
We ran a fair amount during the trip (nothing compared to you). The fuel cost would be outrageous if we didn't bring our own. My pockets aren't that deep. |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | You need to stay at a different resort. Tamarack has no problem with you bringing your own gas. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | I would agree, stay at a resort that doesn't mind. We spent about $550 each for gas for the week... which wasn't all bad for the miles we ran.
Edited by BNelson 8/9/2017 8:34 AM
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Location: Elgin IL | It cost money to get the fuel to the resort and that would explain the higher cost |
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Location: MN | BNelson - 8/9/2017 8:29 AM
I would agree, stay at a resort that doesn't mind. We spent about $550 each for gas for the week... which wasn't all bad for the miles we ran.
are you bring all your fuel up with you? |
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Location: Contrarian Island | No, we fill boat in morson a time or 2 and any resort that has it... gotta pay to play We are there a week a year... gas cost is the least of my worries.
Edited by BNelson 8/9/2017 9:14 AM
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Posts: 512
| BNelson - 8/8/2017 3:51 PM
bucktails and topwaters got 95% of the hits as always...but we threw them the most too! ;)
ha ya, i always wonder if thats why most fish are caught on them, because thats all people throw up there!
def will try some other baits this trip.. |
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Posts: 512
| VMS - 8/8/2017 10:38 PM
Dave,
It sounds like the lake is our coordinates... somewhere over by that rock..
I've never travelled anywhere near that much, but am considering a try a day or two...
Steve
ya i know, im still a little scared traveling too far, but i did the most traveling i ever have last year, and will do so again this year.. its fun, and it never looks far on the map, but it is!!
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Location: Elk River, Minnesota | I'll travel a bit, but I always feel that I'm passing up good spots.. I usually try to pick an area and learn it well and expand from there..
And yes... doesn't seem far on the map but once going it can take a while...
4 days to go!!
Steve |
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Posts: 901
| Frankly, I am embarrassed to admit this ... but I just got home today and was skunked on LOTW this past week for the first time in 17 years. It was my "bonus" trip this year with the girlfriend and her two kids. I was there on my normal trip 2 weeks ago.
I didn't spend nearly the amount of hours on this trip with her and the kids, but we did some serious fishing over the week and didn't put a musky in the boat. I fished the hour before and after moon rise and set all week (when it was during daylight hours) and literally had almost no activity. I was dumbfounded. Completely baffled. When I got there last Sunday night we saw fish at 3 out of 5 spots. I was so pumped that the fish were moving. Then it's like a switch was flipped. I bet we saw 10 fish or less all week. I didn't see a fish yesterday in 7 hours of fishing. I thought that was impossible. Although, the algae did get really bad on Friday, so the clarity had something to do with our potential of seeing fish Friday and Saturday.
The only fish we saw yesterday was my girlfriend's 10 year old had her first follow of her life.
I am not an early morning fisherman, and everyone we talked to in camp kept saying "you're missing out" by not going out by 7 am. I don't get up to go to work at 7 am, let alone to go fishing while on vacation
Edited by MuskyMidget 8/13/2017 9:57 PM
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Location: MN | What part of the lake did you fish MM? |
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Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | Keith, how'd you guys end up doing ? |
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Location: Contrarian Island | some guys I know said last week was slow for them. 9 or so in boat to 49.5. weren't moving a ton of fish per day... but I'm sure someone coulda got 35+ last week. ha.
Edited by BNelson 8/14/2017 8:50 AM
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Posts: 214
| Last week was some of the slowest fishing I have ever seen on LOTW. Few follows and fewer fish in the boat. I doubt anyone could have put 20 in the boat for the week, and 35 would have been the work of a superman. Slow is a huge understatement.
There were some nice fish caught but they were few and far between.Today, grass cutting is looking better than fishing to me. |
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Posts: 214
| double post...
Edited by Abu7000 8/14/2017 9:45 AM
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Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | Nelson and Waldera either caught, lost, or raised 90% of the musky population the week prior...still recovering I bet |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | Group of guys at Tamarack recently had great fishing
Edited by Propster 8/14/2017 10:52 AM
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Posts: 214
| Group of 3 boats, 8 guys in ten days at Tamarack ending Sat the 12th got 87 fish, including 7 at 50 or better.
The size is far better than what I have been getting, and one fish a day for each guy is about double what I am doing. Seven hours a day for two in the boat and one fish is about it for me. |
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| I was fishing around Wiley Point. |
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| I was fishing around Wiley Point. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | a fish per guy per day.. well... that is not bad, but not lighting them up by any means...? .... 7 over 50 is def above par... in 10 days you're going to have a few killer days and probably a couple days you might as well stayed in the cabin and drank.. from the reports I have seen LOTW was fairly slow this summer... compared to other years...water in the basins never really warmed up to peak temps imo. late spawn and wacky weather.
Edited by BNelson 8/14/2017 1:05 PM
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Posts: 901
| I've been fishing LOTW for 17 years, at least one week and sometimes two weeks per year.
No question without a doubt, that last week 8/6 to 8/12 was my slowest ever. Of course I must note that Wednesday (when the weather changed and the fish probably moved) I spent all day driving from Sioux Narrows to Leech Lake and back since my ETEC blew up and I had to go get a back up boat.
Probably missed the best day of the week
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Posts: 28
| It seems like it's been an inconsistent bite up there most of the summer, makes sense with the up and down weather. When we were up, we had everything from highs in the upper 70s and flat calm to a high of 62 and heavy NE winds for two days. Water temps were all over the place. But for the most part, the fish cooperated. Except for Walleyes. |
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| "it's been a weird (or inconsistent, slow, or any other undesirable adjective) summer" has been the story I've heard every year since I've been paying attention. Just sayin. |
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Posts: 28
| jaultman - 8/14/2017 3:05 PM
"it's been a weird (or inconsistent, slow, or any other undesirable adjective) summer" has been the story I've heard every year since I've been paying attention. Just sayin.
Yea I hear ya. There's still fish to be caught, but water going from 68 to 72, then down to 65, and back up to 69 in six days is just that, inconsistent. No way around it, ya just gotta keep fishing. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | I've watched reports up there for say 5 yrs or more... my 1st trip was 2011.. we got 22 in 4.5 days. We avg. 3-3.25 fish per day over the other 5 trips. This trip we avg'd 3.62 fish per day in the boat.. our size avg tho for 29 fish was 44.9", way more over 48 than normal.... if you look at groups like the MHunter school and there were at least 2 other 'outings' where the avg per boat per week was about 8 per week... like golf, take 100 golfers and put them on the same course the same week, some will shoot 10 under par, and some will shoot 20 over par... it's the same in musky fishing... a 3 fish per day, per boat on LOTW to me is par. for some that might be 10 below par. It's still one of the best places on earth to fish muskies... realistic shots at 50s each week... not crazy boats like LSC or GB, and more spots than you can fish in 2 lifetimes....go into it with with realistic expectations....
Edited by BNelson 8/14/2017 3:18 PM
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Location: Not far enough north! | I agree with you 100% Nelson I had been up there the last 10 years. Lots of guys go with unrealistic expectations on how hard you have to work to put good numbers in the boat in any given week. The place we stayed at always had "musky guys"in camp but they were never serious about it like we were and were often disappointed with their results. Over those years we have averaged right around 3.5 fish a day. We usually have one day a week with 0 fish but one with 6+. I'm disappointed if we don't get 3. Worst trip was 9 fish best was 32. These were all 6.5 day trips.
I went to Rowan this year first week of August for 5 days and had a super tough trip. Put 4 in the net and lost one. Never in the week had a single fish even make the first turn boat side. They were super slow and late the whole week...
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Posts: 13
Location: Billings, MT | The golf analogy is great. Due to other obligations, Ive had to plan my 2 LOTW trips in June, which is obviously not ideal time. First year, we boated 5 in 4 days of fishing, this year we boated 17 in 6 days. While at camp this year, there were two other groups of musky fisherman, one group boated one fish, the other hadn't caught one by the time we left. I tried to be as helpful as I could, but they still couldn't get on fish.
I live in Montana and only get to fish muskies when I make a trip. I think that helps me to focus a little more. More research, more planning, more preparation, long days on the water, remind myself to be adaptable constantly. Pay attention to the details. IDK. I've had tough trips too (first trip to LOTW for example). Gotta leave it all on the table though...they still never just jump in the boat!
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Posts: 214
| Well up here right now this is my 22 nd year with 2- 3 trips a year some trips are great others poor weather trumps all, 3 days so far with blue bird sky's and no wind. Saturday 1/2 day seen about 15 fish got hooks in too one and lost seen 1 around 50", yesterday seen 23 fish 16 of them where between 9 am and 9:30 am and we fish from 6 am to 9 p.m with a 2 hour break around 3 pm. Hooks into 2 of them non boated all fish eat on figure 8 on Grannys had 3 over 50 ish swipe at lure at boat. Today seen 8 fish boated 3 up to 47" on blades all ate way out from the boat !! Talk about confusing there is NO pattern going on now and fished from Basil to Deadbrook channel and staying on Oak !
Darren |
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Location: Contrarian Island | Abu7000, you said you fished 7 hrs a day.. well, the 8 guys that got 87 in 10 days I'm guessing fished a lot more hours...
if you only fish half the hours some do, well, you are more than likely only going to catch half as many..simple math
I calculated we fish about 10.5 to 11 hrs per day when we go.. with walleye jerking, napping, eating, and run time taken out
Edited by BNelson 8/15/2017 8:34 AM
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Posts: 214
| No doubt, about it, more hours and more casts will get you more fish. I only posted to say that those numbers as well as the Muskie Hunter sound great. However, if you look at the fish per hour/per person, it looks a lot less impressive. Fished 8 hours today with three of us in the boat, got two nice muskies, and saw five other muskies. It was slow. Seventy miles over the water with few fish following, but we got lucky. If you fish long hours and throw many casts, you will catch more fish. I am old and fish just about every day so my level of motivation is diminished.
Brad's numbers are darn good!!!
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Posts: 3469
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hi Everyone,
Got back Saturday from a 5 day trip with a little fishing the first night and an hour on the day leaving. Arrived on Sunday the 13th and left morning of the 19th.
I fished more than my wife over the 5 days, managed to get 9 in the boat, lost a high 40" and found most fish to be in the mid 40" range. Smallest was 33, largest 52-1/4. I blanked on Friday, but wife hooked up with her second fish of the trip. Total between us we had 11 fish come to the boat and lost 2.
Spinners and top water was our ticket...
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | Good job on the big girl Steve! Angle? |
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Posts: 18
| Anyone have any water temps from the Little T/angle areas? |
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Posts: 897
| 69-71 as of yesterday. They were 72-74 before the cool down. We had a decent bite. Moved a bunch of big fish also. Got 12 in 4.5 days, biggest was 50.5. We had a 52+ to the boat...but I royally screwed up the net job. |
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Posts: 3469
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | We were not far from the angle... out of Morson north and west a bit.
( 52.25 edited for size.jpg)
(Minerva's 40 on the 8 edited for web.jpg)
(Steve 43%22 topwater edited for web.jpg)
(MInerva's 40 casting edited for web.jpg)
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 52.25 edited for size.jpg (195KB - 341 downloads)
Minerva's 40 on the 8 edited for web.jpg (195KB - 341 downloads)
Steve 43%22 topwater edited for web.jpg (185KB - 385 downloads)
MInerva's 40 casting edited for web.jpg (183KB - 336 downloads)
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Posts: 394
Location: WI | Just got back from a week at Tamarack. Water temps dropped 3.5 degrees in a week and 6 of us only put 9 in the net. 1 of our guys had a brief encounter with a 55ish and I had what would've been my PB nip at blades. Caught a few pike up to upper 30's. Can't remember a week with more strong winds and multiple direction changes daily. |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | My daughter and I just got back from a short 3 day trip to Tamarack. Great time as always, Todd and his family are top shelf. Water temps dropped from 70 to 65 overnight Friday night when we got there. Saturday was slow for us with big east winds but the two of us ended up with 9 fish in 3 days up to 50". Ate walleyes every day and took it a little easy on her. Blades and topwater caught most fish. Morning bite nearly non existent but evening major showed some action. After being flat calm and Africa hot yesterday temps climbed back up to 68. Stable weather next few days folks should do well. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | sounds fun Propster. How did you do a few weeks ago at Tamarack? |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | We did 4 trips to Tamarack totaling 15 days and got 60 fish I think. Like 25, 11, 15, and 9. 4 over 50. Two trips in July and two in August. The first trip in early July the water was just warming up well and lot of fish were on the rocks. They were all good trips. |
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Posts: 56
Location: Land of 10,000 Lakes | Fished out of Spruce Island Camp Aug 26-Sept 2nd. Landed a baker's dozen including 44, 47 and a giant 50.25 for my wife. Her first 50! Fishing was sporadic but good overall...definitely should have had another half dozen or so including a 50+ that I had eat a Depthraider at boatside and not get hooks in her. Fish caught on blades and gliders primarily and on all different types of structure from shallow back bay weeds to mid-lake reefs.
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ann2.jpg (114KB - 312 downloads)
Ann50.25.jpg (136KB - 351 downloads)
AnnsFish.jpg (124KB - 362 downloads)
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Posts: 4269
Location: Ashland WI | Very nice fish. Congrats!!
I really like that pic from the bottom of the fish. Lets you see just how big its head is. |
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Posts: 512
| nice fish! i like that bottom pic too, but it looks like she has one of the gills in her hand maybe?
not criticizing, just wondered looking at that picture.. just want to make sure shes still swimming so i have a shot at her!
again, awesome fish! |
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Posts: 56
Location: Land of 10,000 Lakes | No bleeding and swam away like a champ...I will agree it does look like one of the gills may have been in her grip. |
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Posts: 512
| good to know! ill be looking for her next week! |
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Posts: 291
Location: Madison, WI | Fished out of Tamarack Fri - Sun. Friday and Saturday were lame with big winds and we were stuck fishing were we could. Only managed a 36 and 45 with a few light bites on the 8 in 2 days. Got out early Sun morning and from 6:30 -12:30 we got a 43, 45, 50, 52, 53.5. It was during a period when the wind was shifing from the south to the north and the lake laid down Once the wind shift was complete the fishing fell off a cliff for us and we picked up a few smaller fish. Saw fish on both rocks and weeds, top water and bucktails shallow. |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | That's a great day! |
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Posts: 20179
Location: oswego, il | Yesterday was a good day out there. No giants though, 6 for 11, 5 more tried to eat and missed, 5 pike over 30. Biggest ski was 44. This was my 4th day on this body of water and my first full day of going wherever i wanted. I hope the next 3 days are as good. |
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Posts: 214
| Todd, where are your bump board pics?
Edited by Abu7000 9/7/2017 3:35 PM
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Posts: 20179
Location: oswego, il | Lol, we only bump boarded two fish just to see and they were what we guessed, 42 and 44. Not seen a big one yet..... |
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Posts: 425
Location: Roseau | how did the trip end up?
Thanks |
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Posts: 20179
Location: oswego, il | After wednesday the wind switched east and then southeast. Was alot more than forecast and never let up not even at dusk. We lost two friday evening, a nice pike a day and no more than 3 follows a day. A far cry from wednesday. There are few weed spots that were not stirred up, muddy and heavy algae mixed in. The few that we found that were cleaner showed fish. We trolled off some spots saturday just to change. No fish but we marked quite a few hooks suspened 5-8ft down between islands and well off reefs. Alot of rock areas had heavier algae mix too again the cleaner areas seemed to be better. Beaches were bad. The lake cooled off 4 degrees, 63 when we left. |
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Posts: 13
| Tough day on LOTW.....white caps, rain, mist, cold front ....fish didn't appear to be very active but managed a 43" in the boat. 8" Jake bait casting submerged rocks. If tomorrow doesn't bring 20+ MPH wind I'm heading back out. |
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Posts: 13
| Managed to get a 43" ski with the cold front, 15-20 MPH wind at the Northwest Angle,LOTW. Tough fishing |
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Posts: 6
| Been fishing Sab. bay since Saturday. Boated a 39 on Saturday and a 43 on Sunday. Since then had a few swing at surface baits and miss but other than that it's tough. Been a rough week so far. We are fishing 8 - 10 hours day... |
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Posts: 13
| I'll be out in full force tomorrow and will update when I return, this will be a bit more interesting as my wife says you can go but your bringing the boy with you ........4 years old. If I recall I remember doing this when I was a that age but I remember getting a Bucktail hook in my arm. Let's hope it goes better with now my son and if the apple falls far from the tree haha. Any one around the Angle this weekend and see a Kawasaki green Larson that's us.
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Posts: 166
| Last week me and another guy caught 17. Biggest was 45. Had 2-3 larger ones hooked temporarily at boatside, no go. Sabaskong. |
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Posts: 13
| 9 fish total 3 caught nothing big 43,40,39. Saw a couple mid 40's fish but no luck. Having big thunderstorms right now and high winds 50+ gusts so I Guess it will be a adventure tomorrow. Northwest Angle area
Edited by Bcarsella 9/22/2017 10:33 PM
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Posts: 13
| Got a 50.25" musky on Saturday and a 39.5". Totals for the weekend were 5 fish caught and total fish saw was 15. Just me fishing with my 4 year old! Great weekend will be back up in a week or two. |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | Two on Sat and three on Sunday? Good on ya! How is he as a net man? |
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Posts: 12
Location: SWEDEN | Did my first muskie trip to Youngs Wildernes Camp last week.
I went with a group from sweden that has been here almost every year and this was trip nr 10
I landed 6 muskie (top 37) missed a big one around 50 and several nice followers .
We were 6 guys fishing for 9 days and we got 41 muskies , top fishes were 49 , 48,5 , 44 , 44 . We saw one that where closer to 55 then 50 missed one around 50 and several around 45 .
Best baits
Smaller bucktail with 6 or 8 regular colorado blades or singel with indiana fluted blades a swedish musky bait called Musky Thumper
Allso crank , Big Game size 6 or 8 , specially 8 inch was extra hot last 2 days
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Posts: 13
| Lol all I had to tell him was get the red net......"the big one dad "....yes that one bud. He helped me get a 50.25" last Saturday and I'll tell you he was just about as excited as I was. Will never replace that moment with my son and hopefully he remembers as well!!!!!
Edited by Bcarsella 9/30/2017 11:39 PM
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