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| When I go up north a lot resorts have free use of a Kayak or Canoe, I love to take part of a day paddle across the lake and if I can find river to portage to I'm a happy guy. Take a ultralight, few small Mepps, and some Rapala's, and some panfish jigs and twistertails. Wear your lifejacket and bungee everything down it's a fun time! |
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Posts: 105
Location: Alberta Canada | Slamr - 1/4/2023 12:52 PM
Kirby Budrow - 1/4/2023 12:31 PM
Slamr - 1/4/2023 10:05 AM
Not to be a jerk, but I think you guys are a little uneducated on what a "fishing kayak" is. Take out the word Kayak and say "little boat powered by your legs to go".
The only draw backs to a true "fishing kayak" are range and how large your cahones are versus the weather.
Absolutely. They look awesome and I'd love to give it a go but they are pretty spendy.
Getting my second Old Town 120PDL in a few weeks....trade trips? ;- )
I came very close to buying and old town but went with Hobie in the end. After trying the prop drives vs the fin drive and the fin drive was a better option for where we fish. Skinny water and weeds are no issues
We have used ours for targeting lakers where it’s also a long ways to each location. It’s tougher for sure but just part of the territory. I grew up fishing the west coast with a canoe as a kid so got a custom to that issue
I was born a little crazy so it takes a lot to push me off the water lol. |
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Location: Alberta Canada | Slamr
What is your opinion on canyon vs Indian Lake chain?
Edited by Pikebait 1/4/2023 5:30 PM
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| sent you a pm |
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| Seeing that you are new to muskie fishing, I thought it was worth mentioning a few things.
Make sure you bring quality release tools on your trip. Knipex hook cutter, long pliers, and a muskie sized net are a few things that I always have on my boat. You do not want to get hooked by a big muskie sized treble hook with the fish still attached...Don't ask how I know. lol
I recommend using 80 lb. braid for line and using Stealth Tackle leaders in 130-180 lb. test. I use both fluorocarbon and wire.
Good luck on your trip! |
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| I hope I don't come off the wrong way here but IMHO just the idea of a 1st time trip to LOTW, (or the Winnipeg River), for muskies, out of a kayak, with zero prior muskie fishing experience, is really kind of crazy. I truly mean no disrespect, but I think you'll find that most anglers who've put in their time and have experienced success on the larger NW Ontario waters understand the importance of mobility, especially under adverse weather conditions and prevailing wind directions, and covering water with a level of efficiency that just isn't possible out of a canoe, kayak or quite frankly even many of your average camp/rental boats.
I don't have experience on the Indian Chain or Canyon, but have heard good things about both as being quality destinations for young anglers or folks looking to catch their first muskies. Fishing from a kayak, unless you take the advice of IAJustin (e.g., do an LOTW trip at the time of the opener, be flexible in waiting for favorable weather conditions and concentrate solely on the sheltered weedy bays), I think you should definitely stick to those types of smaller, more manageable waterbodies with higher population densities for your initiation into muskie fishing. |
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Posts: 105
Location: Alberta Canada | Equipment already in order and everything listed are things I carry when targeting large pike.
Matt DeVos
I have done many crazy things in my life and successfully too lol. But as I have mentioned renting a boat is an option not just kayaks and if I chose LOTW renting a boat would happen do to covering ground learning the lake.
I am no stranger to big water both salt and big lakes. This is something I am a stranger too I grew up on the coast and have been too many many different lakes in multiple provinces
Honestly LOTW is not looking like the best option for this trip regardless
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Posts: 1196
| If you fish any large lake sometimes we made the mistake of trying to fish too much area, Take a small section and fish the heck out of it. Learn every rock, weed and current area and pound it. There's plenty of room for release tools in a small craft, net? not so sure about that! (maybe smaller then what you would use in a big boat) |
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Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Guys, you do realize the dude has like OCEAN kayaking experience. YES, big waters like LOTWs can be intimidating...but versus the ocean? |
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Location: Chisholm, MN | Slamr - 1/4/2023 12:52 PM
Kirby Budrow - 1/4/2023 12:31 PM
Slamr - 1/4/2023 10:05 AM
Not to be a jerk, but I think you guys are a little uneducated on what a "fishing kayak" is. Take out the word Kayak and say "little boat powered by your legs to go".
The only draw backs to a true "fishing kayak" are range and how large your cahones are versus the weather.
Absolutely. They look awesome and I'd love to give it a go but they are pretty spendy.
Getting my second Old Town 120PDL in a few weeks....trade trips? ;- )
I like this idea 
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| Slamr - 1/5/2023 10:24 AM
Guys, you do realize the dude has like OCEAN kayaking experience. YES, big waters like LOTWs can be intimidating...but versus the ocean?
Yes, guys catch sail fish from kayaks in the open ocean. And he did say if LOTW is the choice they may stick with a boat rental or just have the kayaks as option. Would not be a viable option for most of us, but there are folks that can do it. Plus, he won't have to worry about losing his lower unit on an unmarked rock. |
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Posts: 296
| I’ve spent a lot of time on the Winnipeg River and LOTW. I don’t think a kayak trip would be that great out of Minaki. I mean there are plenty Muskies right by town but you need to get away to get Canada feel. And depending on water levels/current you could have enjoyable peddling or down right not fun heavy current.
LOTW out of Morson there are fish everywhere but big water to the west. You might enjoy an island camp like Sabaskong Bay Lodge. I’m sure the resort can boat your stuff in and you could just pedal/fish your way to camp. Fish everywhere and Sab fish respond to small baits in my experience.
But my number 1 trip with kayaks would be to get on the Ontario Fish-Online site and do a search for Musky lakes near Vermilion bay or Kenora. Then go explore the ones that look kayak friendly. You can do searches on some lakes and get all sorts of tidbits from this site. Smaller lakes off bigger lakes and all sorts of neat stuff. That’s a trip I dream about doing when I’m at the final stage of musky fishing and don’t care about big fish. |
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| Slamr - 1/5/2023 10:24 AM
Guys, you do realize the dude has like OCEAN kayaking experience. YES, big waters like LOTWs can be intimidating...but versus the ocean?
Big water kayaking acumen aside, my main point was just that on larger waterbodies like LOTW, Eagle, Lac Seul, Minaki, etc., there are vast stretches of, frankly, unproductive water in between the prime spots. Out of a canoe or kayak (or even most 14-16' camp boats--often equipped with a 15-25HP motor), you become very limited in how many prime spots you can reasonably get to and fish in any given day....which is definitely a factor that correlates with overall success or lack thereof.
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| Pikebait - 1/4/2023 11:40 PM
Equipment already in order and everything listed are things I carry when targeting large pike.
Matt DeVos
I have done many crazy things in my life and successfully too lol. But as I have mentioned renting a boat is an option not just kayaks and if I chose LOTW renting a boat would happen do to covering ground learning the lake.
I am no stranger to big water both salt and big lakes. This is something I am a stranger too I grew up on the coast and have been too many many different lakes in multiple provinces
Honestly LOTW is not looking like the best option for this trip regardless
I don't doubt you. Just saying that for first-time muskie trip where your mobility is (relatively) limited, a smaller waterbody with a higher density of muskies might be a better choice. Good luck to you, sounds like a fun adventure! |
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Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Matt DeVos - 1/5/2023 1:39 PM
Slamr - 1/5/2023 10:24 AM
Guys, you do realize the dude has like OCEAN kayaking experience. YES, big waters like LOTWs can be intimidating...but versus the ocean?
Big water kayaking acumen aside, my main point was just that on larger waterbodies like LOTW, Eagle, Lac Seul, Minaki, etc., there are vast stretches of, frankly, unproductive water in between the prime spots. Out of a canoe or kayak (or even most 14-16' camp boats--often equipped with a 15-25HP motor ), you become very limited in how many prime spots you can reasonably get to and fish in any given day....which is definitely a factor that correlates with overall success or lack thereof.
I agree on that one! But, he did mention they don't mind a hike!
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Location: Selkirk, Manitoba | LOTW and Winnipeg River are my home waters as it were, and I pretty much eliminated them for the reasons mentioned by Matt and NickD. Having been on all these waters (Indian and Canyon) and fished other allopatric muskie waters on the Jones Road side and really fished up towards Sioux Lookout (some allopatric, some with pike/tigers), if I was fishing out of kayak, any of these would be preferable to the other two. I have a strong preference to some up the Sioux Lookout way but am biased by having spent a fair bit of time there and getting into some exceptional smallmouth fishing.
Edited by Angling Oracle 1/5/2023 3:10 PM
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Location: Alberta Canada | Ok guys let’s not dwell on the kayak part I got that part figured out and know my limitations. We also work as a pair well targeting bigger fish as it helps improve on landing success rate. When it comes to gear you would be surprised how well adapted quality fishing kayaks are to theses issues. I am good at keeping to what I need but some guys look like floating gear barges lol
One advantage you have on lakes with lots of road access we don’t need a launch we just need shore access. A very common tactic we use big water with good shoreline access is drive to different areas, launch our kayaks and work that area for 1/2 a day or day. It’s very easy to load up and jump locations in this situation. At times we can jump locations better this way than those restricted to boat launches
We have our way to get things done. There is both advantages and disadvantages to kayaks
If I take kayaks lots of research about the body of water is done before I create game plans
You guys are really making me consider doing this a 100% kayak musky trip just to add to the experience lol
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Location: Alberta Canada | Angling Oracle - 1/5/2023 3:06 PM
LOTW and Winnipeg River are my home waters as it were, and I pretty much eliminated them for the reasons mentioned by Matt and NickD. Having been on all these waters (Indian and Canyon) and fished other allopatric muskie waters on the Jones Road side and really fished up towards Sioux Lookout (some allopatric, some with pike/tigers), if I was fishing out of kayak, any of these would be preferable to the other two. I have a strong preference to some up the Sioux Lookout way but am biased by having spent a fair bit of time there and getting into some exceptional smallmouth fishing.
I do agree Indian and canyon seem more suited to the kayak option especially with this being a one week trip vs a local who can slowly pick apart something like LOTW. I am definitely leaning towards this direction as I believe I could make better use of my time frame on bodies of water like this
As for Smallmouth southern BC actually has amazing smallmouth and largemouth fishing. I was spoiled by experiencing the years of BC bass fishing where it was basically unknown when big bass were very common. They are fun in short bursts but I much prefer large predators
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| You have a great attitude and sound like someone who will figure it out. Please post after you trip, so we can know how you did. |
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Location: Alberta Canada | North of 8 - 1/5/2023 4:11 PM
You have a great attitude and sound like someone who will figure it out. Please post after you trip, so we can know how you did.
Thanks if I fail it won’t be from a lack of effort I will do a report after. Right now I just need the wife to iron out her days of so I can pic a location and book |
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Location: Selkirk, Manitoba | You're going to do just fine I think.
A few pics will be great. Smaller but beautiful fish - hopefully a tiger will show.
Remember, you caught them in Lake X, Lake Y and Lake Z....
And no railroad tracks or tunnels in the background. LOL. |
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Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Angling Oracle - 1/5/2023 4:46 PM
And no railroad tracks or tunnels in the background. LOL.
No idea what you're talking about....;-) |
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Location: Alberta Canada | Ok I see, hear, say, and know nothing lol |
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| Pikebait - 1/6/2023 3:00 PM
Ok I see, hear, say, and know nothing lol
Don't worry about it. 99% of the musky pics I see have a bunch of water & trees in the background and are about as generic as 2% milk.
The other 1% tend to be from Green Bay and have less trees.
Edited by North of 8 1/6/2023 4:26 PM
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| If you want to be quiet about your spot keep out the landmarks. I've seen movies of fish with the background is blurred out. |
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Location: Selkirk, Manitoba | Pikebait - 1/6/2023 3:00 PM
Ok I see, hear, say, and know nothing lol
Sgt. Schultz is a good way to go.
Just sort of a courtesy to the folks whose home waters it might be, regulars at the lodges, and in some cases cabin owners who could probably do without people pounding their dock because someone caught a big one out front and plastered it on Instagram. Folks will find these spots on their own - no need for free pizzas.
Edited by Angling Oracle 1/7/2023 6:08 PM
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Location: Alberta Canada | I will keep it in mind not to have obvious land marks. Often I just take the picture with open water in the background to make things less obvious
I am not a big picture guy and a lot of times it’s a pic of the fish in the water or held low anyway. Usually I only take the odd classic hero picture if it’s something special(a first musky would count). A lot of fish I just pop hooks without pulling them out of the water or even take a picture. Often it’s my wife who makes me take a picture lol
It drives some of my friends nuts but I fish for me and personal goals
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Location: Ames, Iowa | I have been away from MF since probably last March. This is an interesting discussion. Pikebait have you considered smaller rivers that are known to be loaded with smallies and muskies? I do not know about any in Canada, but I cannot imagine they aren't there connecting great waters. In Minnesota there are a couple gorgeous ones: The Little Fork River and the Big Fork River. My son and I did an 18 mile overnight float in our solos. Big smallies and a lot of very aggressive smaller and medium sized muskies. We saw some larger muskies as well. These kinds of rivers eliminate guesswork because it's so easy to recognize habitat. |
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Location: Alberta Canada | djwilliams - 2/6/2023 9:03 PM
I have been away from MF since probably last March. This is an interesting discussion. Pikebait have you considered smaller rivers that are known to be loaded with smallies and muskies? I do not know about any in Canada, but I cannot imagine they aren't there connecting great waters. In Minnesota there are a couple gorgeous ones: The Little Fork River and the Big Fork River. My son and I did an 18 mile overnight float in our solos. Big smallies and a lot of very aggressive smaller and medium sized muskies. We saw some larger muskies as well. These kinds of rivers eliminate guesswork because it's so easy to recognize habitat.
I have been looking at maps and tributaries to known musky lakes that could potentially hold musky. I have not had the best luck finding information fishing musky in NW Ontario rivers as google searches always lean towards well known lakes in the area.
Any trip we bring the kayaks on some jumping into different water bodies seems to happen. We pretty much pick a base location and talk to locals when we arrive to see what other potential places there are within a reasonable drive. We are always looking for locations that lack good launches and possibly see less pressure. It has caused us to experience some great unplanned fishing at times
The biggest thing right now is waiting to see if my wife gets approved for holidays and where still has vacancy for that time frame. It seems a lot of places being able to book a cabin during our time off might be an issue. So we may need to be flexible on the location
Edited by Pikebait 2/7/2023 9:58 AM
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Posts: 1196
| More water + less people = a fun time. Poking around looking for good places to fish is like riding the rainbow almost as fun as the pot of gold. |
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