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Location: Des Moines IA | Headed out this Sunday, on the Fox Chain for the first time this year. Anybody got any action recently? Water temps? Probably hit the northern lakes, maybe troll Marie, or Bluff ...... |
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| Mike, I told you where to fish bluff...just keep going back and forth in those area...the rest may show some fish...buy you want to catch them...yes? sorry to hear about your goldfish...Ben |
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Location: Des Moines IA | I forgot all about that discussion, I will definately work that spot, we are due on that Lake. Might even try some of your "east coast trolling tactics". Thanks Ben you rock ........ |
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Posts: 624
Location: S.W. WI | Anyone have the latest water temp????
Thanks, -Jon |
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Posts: 405
| I was out today the water temps where between 40-42 |
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Posts: 69
Location: oak lawn IL | water temp as of 3/25/06 was 39 on channel and catherine, 40-41.5 on bluff--petite and marie was 39-40 .
no action at all / did not troll
hey ben mind sharing some hot spots with me??? |
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Posts: 3240
Location: Racine, Wi | Temps were from about 40 to 43 today. We fished Bluff, Katherine, and Channel. We lost a good fish trolling. One head shake and she was gone. Lots of weight to her, but never saw it. Ended up sticking a chunky 37, and raising 2 others to boot. Also saw 3 guys go flying into the water. Looked like they were heading towards another boat, and saw them at the last second. The other boat fished 2 of them out, and the 3rd got out on his own. Hopefully all is good with them.
Good to get on the water and get the boat slimed on the first trip though.  |
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| does anybody fish for muskies this early on the fox river by green bay? if so what do you use? |
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Posts: 7037
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Guest, in terms of this being the "Fox", they're talking about it being the Fox Chain, in N.IL. I think you're confusing this with the Fox River, near Green Bay. |
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| I was also thinking of heading out sunday, really the first time fishing the chain. All new water for me, some guys talk about logs floating around, witch makes wounder if the hazzard buoys are out yet, if any? I will be looking for muskie and crappie!!! I bought a map of the north side of the chain and been studing it. Well wish me luck!!! and good fishing!!!BP |
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Posts: 62
Location: chicago | this time of year i would stay shallow.grim reaper spinners,plastics.hit the shorelines and the channels btween lakes. |
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| The fox river in Green bay is north of Hwy 10 so the season opener is the same as eagle river (May 28??)
I have been doing fairly well on the Chain this year. Last Wed we raised a 20 and 30 pound fish in 20 casts, didnt see anything for 6 hours and raised 4 more in the evening..Thursday I boated a 35 and 36 and raised 4..Heading out tomorrow...
Ben |
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Posts: 188
Location: Chicago | I am headed out to the chain tomorrow, with this warm weather, I am sure the water temps are on the rise.
has anyone been out to report a current water temp?
Thanks!
Rob |
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| last Sunday the water was 48-49 on the north end of the chain.
you might think about throwing small cranks off the first break line.. |
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| 4/13/06 a walleye fisherman told me the water temp. was 54-55 today.i,ll be out fri.a.m. maby find a muskie or two |
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Posts: 462
Location: Antioch, IL | I'll be out Friday morning/afternoon with a first timer on the back of the boat. Guy from work wants to see what the fuss is all about. |
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Posts: 42
| fished channel for a couple hours yesterday afternoon to evening. had a nice follow from about a 40" fish and also caught a 26", had a great day of fishing.
MG5 |
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Posts: 405
| Fished the chain 4/24 got a 26" on marie and had three other follows from fish that looked to be 2 in the mid thirties and 1 pig guessing it to weigh over 25lbs |
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Posts: 197
Location: N Illinois | Was out May 17. Water temps 58 to 60 degree's. Overcast with storms moving in. My girlfriend boated her first musky, a 35 1/2 incher. I missed one. Fished about four hours. Chased off the lake by lightning and hail. |
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| what did you get her on?? any pics? |
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Posts: 197
Location: N Illinois | Top Raider in 58 degree water. This is her first musky. Pretty obvious by the picture where it was caught.
Edited by musky99 5/19/2006 6:47 PM
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Posts: 106
Location: Des Plaines, IL | Was out all day yesterday and saw a couple but no takers. At least the steady wind kept the Jet skiers and most of the boaters at home. |
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| hey mike nice to see you guys got one, had 3 going Sunday didn't land any
see you out there..
Ben
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Posts: 197
Location: N Illinois | Out on may 24th. Saw 7, lost 2, boated none.
Out on may25. Saw 5, lost 1, boated 2.
A 35" and 34".
Stormy both days. water temps up to 65. |
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Posts: 56
| Heading out to the Chain this weekend. Heard the bloom had the water in bad shape on almost all northern lakes. Can anybody give a general report on conditions? Is the bloom really that bad? |
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Posts: 23
| I'm hearing the same thing. The Bloom and weeds are already bad. I will be hitting it on Saturday AM and let you know. |
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| Out today from around 6 to 1. Water temps at 65 -66 main lake 68 -69 before I left in some back bays and channels. Bloom is in effect worst on Channel and Catherine with the floating slime in some shallower areas. |
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Location: Windy City | Got this fish on Friday around noon. It went 45 and had a real beer belly. I missed her twice with the net and was lucky enough to get a third shot that i didnt miss.
www.Muskiessob.com
Edited by one last cast 5/30/2006 7:17 PM
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Location: Windy City | Have tried repeatedly to downsize photo to less than 200 kb. Cant do it without cutting the picture to where you only see half the fish. Anty tips or tricks would be appreciated.
Edited by one last cast 5/30/2006 8:47 PM
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Location: Windy City | Here it is !
WWW.MUSKIESSOB.COM
Edited by one last cast 6/2/2006 12:03 PM
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Posts: 197
Location: N Illinois | Out 5/31/06...water temps at 76. Rainy morning, sunny afternoon. Slow day. Caught 28" pike and saw no muskies most of the day. Casted, trolled, nothing. Finally had a strike at 8:30 PM. Only fish we seen all day. 36 incher in the boat. |
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Location: Windy City | Out on Thursday had a fish blow up on a topwater . I couldnt tell how big. Missed two fish and caught two low thirties muskie along with a nice chain catfish. The catfish buried himself in the weeds and I thought I had a good muskie and up from the depths came Mr. Whiskers. Finally loaded the pics of the fish I got last week. Surface water 76 to 78 throughout the day. Bloom either went away a little on Catherine and Channel or the yahoos last weeekend chopped it all up.
Edited by one last cast 6/2/2006 10:20 AM
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Posts: 120
| Nice fish man. Finaly a spotted caught. one of the first i'v seen from the Chain.
on the way out with my boys
Keith |
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Location: Windy City | Out today from 11 to 8 was absolutely amazed at the amount of pleasure boaters on a Monday. They were everywhere. Wish I could say the same for the fish. Was a very tough day today one fish seen on Catherine and that was it. Water temps at 78 to 80 throughout the day. Some very nice weeds in the 8-9 foot depths on Channel and Catherine. Going out tomorrow to see if they might be moving with a front coming in later in the day. Will post a report after tomorrow |
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| Guys, DO NOT overlook Fox Lake itself for Muskies. The "accidental" catches during the Walleye Tournaments were amazing. Fox and Pistakee always produced a heck of a lot more than the North end. |
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| Fished Saturday with action a good part of the day we ended up catching a 32",36",36"and a 43" Musky + 2 35" Northern pike and a bonus 18" Catfish. I also got out Monday and caught a 36" musky.
water clarity has stayed the same temps 75 to 77 degrees.
Good Luck
Ben
www.muskyfix.com |
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| fished today for 6 hours and got two follows and one Bass. it was a tuff day
Mike |
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| Fished from 9 to 1 pm ended up with a 38 1/2 incher and had one other strike. water still green in color, the water temps are 78 to 80 if you really don't need a picture water release is the way to go I have seen a few muskies killed this time of year in the past with these warm water temps. please take caution.
good Luck
www.muskyfix.com |
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| Water temps are in the mid 70's. fishing seems to be productive 16 ft and in.
Fished today Saturday with some Luck. boated a 36" and a 38" Musky + a 32" Pike and lost 2 other muskies. trolling and casting being productive.
www.muskyfix.com
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| Sunday: 7.2.2006
I was fishing channel and landed a 35" Musky on a bucktail, that was the only fish I seen
Bob |
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| "7.08.06 Fox Chain Report"
Fishing report for the Fox Chain (half day).
Fishing was very Slow today Started out fishing Channel Lake,lures of choice top raider, lungen Tails, spinner Baits and big joe's off the deeper weed edges. also trolled marie with hookers and swimwiz crank baits, it was a very slow. water temps 77 degrees 79, water clarity is stained (Bloom) northern lakes.
Full Moon soon Big fish time, I hope its a morning bite.
Good Luck.
www.muskyfix.com
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| Was out on the chain this morning gill fishing with my 3 boys. Water temps are getting up there. When we left, the shallow areas were up to 83 the main lakes were around 79-80. These next few days will probably put the lakes into bathwater mode. |
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| There was a fish brought into the Fire Station yesterday. The guys came in & told me they caught a Northern over 50", a told them that it was probably a Musky. When I looked into the 128qt. cooler in their truck. WOW. 52" Musky. My question is, What is the State of Illinois record musky? The fish was huge. One of our dispatchers took a photo of me holding it, so I will post it soon. |
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Posts: 284
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The Illinois State record musky is 39 pounds 9 ounces I believe. |
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Posts: 405
| The fish was long but super skinny probably 25lbs or something no girth on the fish although it was a nice fish just not a fat one!! |
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| You saw it too. Good. I held it up for a while, and I'm usually pretty good with weights. I was thinking 30-36 lbs. She would be a monster in the spring. I hope they weighed it. |
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Posts: 405
| I dont think there is anyway that fish weighed 30lbs I dunno though it was a nice fish we could leave it at that but its to bad it didnt get released!! MUSKIES SHOULD BE CATCH AN RELEASE ONLY save a fish get a replica!! |
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Posts: 405
| heres a link to the picture
http://www.fishingwaters.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=311&... |
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Posts: 62
Location: chicago | Was on chain today from 830 to 2. 37.25 around 11 on Marie on topraider. Also lost a big girl last friday on catherine. Very surprising the depth I am encountering these fish considering the water temps. |
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| Hot Hot Hot, water temps 83º on channel lake, 85º on some parts of Marie. whats up with the weed kill. found some green weeds down deep, water clarity is pour. caught one Musky on a bull dawg.
(water released) had no other action fished a few hours AM.
take caution hot water.
Ben
www.muskyfix.com |
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| HIT THE CHAIN ON SUN , HAD SOME GOOD ACTION FINALLY , WEED KILL EVERYWHERE ENDED UP MISSING 4 ON TOP WATER AND MY BUDDY STUCK A LITTLE GUY ON A CRANKBAIT... |
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| Last couple of weeks have been a tuff bite on the chain, but we have managed to boat at least one muskie 75 Percent of the time. the water temps are going back down and the weeds are comming back. the water clarity remains to be pour. there have been a few good windows with some nice fish still being caught. both casting and trolling have been working. finding the bait fish has been the key.
Good luck.
www.muskyfix.com |
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Posts: 3
| Not looking to take someones spot , but where are you finding these fish .... weed edges , deep ??? I know , somewhere in between eh !?!? just looking for advice is all . Are you running/casting small baits ???? I'm sorta waitng for the recreational guys too die off , then I'll work it , but it's closer than where we've been going so a half day thing wouldn't suck !! |
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Location: Windy City | After not being up to the Chain in a week I went out on Tuesday morning solo for a half day of fishing. I launched at CJ'S and headed to a spot where i had raised a big fish a couple of weeks ago. I started throwing a Jackpot and had a fish blow up behind it . After getting it in I threw a bucktail back beyond where all of the commotion occured . As soon as I started burning it it was stopped cold. I'm really hoping its the fish I saw before and when I saw the water erupt I was pretty confident it was. After a series of powerful runs first out to open water and then to the weeds I finally get her close to the boat and my knees started knocking.She was close enough to net twice as my net is stuck on a crankbait. After finally landing her I now realize that I 've finally got the 50 incher I've been looking for and no way to photograph her. I looked around for nearby boats and couldnt spot any. I thought about taking off to find someone but I knew that my want for a picture would no doubt spell death for this fish. I 've used my cell phone before to take video clips of much smaller fish before and I decided this was my only option.I positioned my phone on the pedestal seat and held the fish in the back. After hoisting her out for a 15 second clip of me holding her I decided to take another clip of her in the water as insurance in case the other one didn't turn out. Now its time for a measurement and after getting out the tape and sizing up the situation I see this is going to be no easy feat. I had the tape at the front of her mouth and started backward and got 49 with some slack in the fish and an inch or two of tail still unmeasured which puts her at 51-52 .I wanted to put her in the floor of the boat for a perfect measurement but that would have been extremely detrimental to her health as she wouldve lost alot of slime and probably wouldv'e thrashed around. I started again to bring the tape back again and she kicked as I got halfway back and I realized it was time. As she swam away I couldnt help but stand there in amazement and think about going after her next year. After examining the footage I can't deny that I'm a tad upset about not having a big frameable picture. However the picture wouldnt have meant much to me if that fish wouldve died. The resoultion in a cell phone is nowhere near a picture and stills taken from a cellphone video are worse but i think you can still get a very good look at this fish. if anyone knows how to fix these images for clarity please let me know.
Tim Wallies
SOB Muskie Inc Member
Edited by one last cast 8/25/2006 11:56 PM
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| Tim
Very nice fish I'm sure the memory will last you a life time. Shoot me an e-mail, Graphic arts is my Profession.
Ben
www.muskyfix.com
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| PolyFlake
I have caught some fish lately with Bull Dawgs and Spinner Baits casting 7 to 13 Fow on weed points and inside turns, and if I'm trolling Finding the schools of bait fish has been productive. I have seen the bait fish in 7 to 23 Fow, it all depends on the day.
Hope this helps
Ben
www.muskyfix.com |
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Location: Windy City | Fished twice in the past two weeks with Fox Chain musky guide and fellow SOB member Ben Modica. We went out last Wednesday at about six in the morning and weren't out long before I hooked into a nice 38.5 er. As we continued to work the area Ben was working a topwater and stopped it mid ways while we were discussing something. As he started again the water erupted and after a quick fight he got the second fish of the day a nice 40 incher. As we continued along working my bait was stopped cold. After setting the hook I noticed this fish coming at me very quickly. I reeled as fast as possible and watched a 42 43 inch class fish go airborn and throw the bait. I hate when this happens but thats why they call it fishing.The rest of the day I had a follow by a 33-34 er and Ben raised a nice 45er. Ben fished Friday morning and lost a 43 at the boat. We joked to each other that the first guy to the 45er he raised on Wednesday at a feeding window was going to get her.He waited till moonrise on Monday to pay her a visit as she ate a Llungen Tale .This was a nice healthy looking fish.I managed to get today off work as I was itching to get back out as I was hearing good things about the fishing but couldn't get time to get out.This is that awesome time of the year when the pleasure boaters become smaller and smaller in number.Once again it didn't take long this morning for us get into the fish, as Ben stuck a fat 45er on a Reef Hawg. This was a very, very strong fish who made the drag work as well as the fishermen . Well we've been out twice and have seen and hooked a number of quality fish. I like the fact that the water is clearing up as it bodes well for a good fall fishing season. I've attached pics of my 38.5er and Ben's two 45er's. Good luck out there and remember Catch ,Photo, Release, and repeat as needed.
Tim Wallies
South of the Border Muskies Inc
Edited by one last cast 9/6/2006 9:22 PM
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| O. L .C . great lookin fish , i fish the chain often and noticed alot of fish startin to come out of the warm transition
fishin should start to heat up in the next couple of weeks |
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