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Posts: 439
Location: Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario | Hard to believe it's already August 1. Not surprisingly with the way things have been going, August "announced it's presence with authority" (If you don't mind me paraphrasing a line from the classic baseball flick "Bull Durham") by putting out a 48" personal best fatty on an early morning session for a boat of anglers that had to bring someone back to mainland to head back to the Twin Cities. They were gassing up before 9am and had pictures of the beast that hit a goofy looking Storm spinner bait with one of those pugdy minnows. Ugh, another big fish option to consider.
Windy today and it will shift a couple times before settling this evening if the forecast holds. Another 48" yesterday as well as the 51" and 47". Getting hard to keep up with the pictures on facebook and twitter but i'm doing my best.
Looking forward to some GREAT fishing action through the month of August. The Gill Hamm Chapter Challunge is in our area again the week of August 25 so August is bound to give July a run for it's money in terms of big fish landed.
If it looks good, fish it!! It worked on the 4 footer yesterday to close out July. You have got to love finding a new big fish spot!
Edited by MyliesPlace(Justin) 8/1/2012 1:22 PM
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Posts: 439
Location: Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario | Still some good fish activity...cloud cover has been key to seeing more fish. GOing from ranges of not seeing too many to a single a first time visitor to the area having a 5 fish day on Wed, Aug 1 with 41 and 43 chunkers being the largest.
Another biggie caught last night after dark, with a nice 51" (pics on facebook page) being the number for that one on a double 8 bucktail. The fish came from island/shoreline rock structure.
Another boat had great action when switching over to a shallow running giant tube a couple nights ago. Bucktails and topwaters have still produced the most action this week.
Water clarity has been good with some wind to keep the small amount of algae present from floating to the surface. Water temps 76 last night after dark.
Great week of action coming to a close. Lots more walleye anglers in camp next week so may not be as many boats reporting in.
Edited by MyliesPlace(Justin) 8/3/2012 12:17 PM
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Posts: 439
Location: Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario | We are on post cold front conditions after a significant drop in temps and wind/rain Saturday all day. More wind Sunday and Monday as well, but weather looks otherwise stable with mid 70s highs the rest of the week.
Water temps were 73 at the dock this morning.
Fewer muskie anglers in camp this week, but action seems to have slowed down a bit. |
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Posts: 439
Location: Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario | Not nealy as many muskie boats in camp this week, but seems to be one common thing among them. Points. Points with rocks, rocks/weeds, rocks..did i mention points with rocks.
Some boats seeing some fish, other's not so much. Some biggies seen and lost though so they are still out there.
Bucktails the most reported tool.
J-Man |
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Location: Not far enough north! | Just returned home from my annual week in sabaskong. The wind was the main factor this week as there were a couple of days where there were three footers pushing around in the open areas of the bay making it impossible to fish some areas. The problem was this really concentrated the boats into small areas of the bay and made it feel a little like minnesota. We saw two good feeding windows this week; on the night of the full moon when the wind laid down and on saturday right before the monster cold front came in and really shut things down bad. Went from seeing about 20 fish a day to seeing only about 7 after the front. Generally the fish were really lazy all week except for one or two a day. Most would not even go into the eight but the ones that did I was able to get them to bite after a few turns. I had my worst week ever up there but my boat partner had his best so that averaged things out a little bit. We put ninteen fish in the net, lost a couple, and the only one I will remember was the 50" class fish that I got to hit an about the fourth turn of the eight and then felt the bait grind all the way out of her mouth while setting the hook... Average size was good this year though over half the fish were bigger than 43" with four 45's and a 47 being the biggest. Man if we would have got some better feeding windows we would have murdered them! I think the longevity of the warm water had them pretty sluggish. It was 78 when we got there and 73 when we left. I would guess the fishing only to get better later this week...
Rick |
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Posts: 122
| Rick, thanks for the post. I am heading up there in 2 days and spending a week. Any lures stand out as being better than the rest? Last year was my first trip and it seemed all they wanted was a silver and black cowgirl. That miss of a giant on the figure 8 is a heartbreaker. |
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Location: Not far enough north! | There was really no preference on baits. Bucktails got half the fish but we emptied the boxes to get the others. We went old school for a couple of the fish on baits that had not seen action in years. I think the fish will turn into a more positive mood with the cooler water. I just wish the cool down would not have happened right in the middle of our trip cause it really shut em down hard |
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Posts: 122
| Interesting, thanks. I'll let you know how we do. |
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Posts: 439
Location: Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario | Action has been reasonably good to start the new groups of anglers this week Fish being seen and landed. Good average size for most boats. Bucktails and rocks are the biggest producers.
Last week ended with several nice fish located, but not eating. Looking to turn some of those followers into hitters this week. Weather has cooled some and water temps are low to middle 70s.
Two weeks til the Gil Hamm week is here. Seems to be more boats in the area this year compared to last year. Based on our gas guys observations, the Morson area is having a busy season in general. We've certainly been seeing a lot of traffic in and around the lake here at the resort. It's been a great year so far and we're looking forward to a strong finish to the "summer" season.
Good luck on the water. Let us know how you did.
J-Man |
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Posts: 439
Location: Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario | Couple of our groups doing the best with cranks/twitchers over the rocks. Jointed Depth Raider and Crane bait being their two best options so far.
Young angler with a personal best 45" using that presentation.
Fish are pretty active and more reports of a good average size this year continue to come in. Water clarity good for this time of year, especially with all the heat.
NW 20 Knot wind forecasted tomorrow with rain/storm activity expected. Today could be the best day of the week.
Cheers. |
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Posts: 439
Location: Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario | Wind coming up to NW 25 Knots overnight before "diminishing" to 15 tomorrow afternoon.
UGH! |
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Posts: 439
Location: Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario | Fishing was a bit up and down the past week. Seemed to be some feeding windows where multiple fish would be found for short periods of time between long dry spells. Those that spent more time on the water did much better than others this week.
Rocks and rock combinations were still the ticket. Cranks/twitchers earlier in the week, with bucktails bring up fish later in the week.
Several mid 40 inch fish caught and multiple big girls seen, but not hooked.
Water clarity is still reasonable and water temps in the lows 70s in the mornings.
One week til the Gil Hamm is in the area and things in the long range forecast look stable at this point. Should be another great event.
More walleye anglers in camp this week than muskie hunters. I will report what I can.
J-Man |
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Posts: 103
| Thanks for the regular reports Justin. Many of us really enjoy them. |
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Posts: 439
Location: Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario | Slower week here at the resort so have not been able to talk to as many anglers..however those that are here having been having some decent action.
A rubber minnow bait made by Storm, doctored up with a treble under the bait to go with the single hook up the top of the back has been producing some follows and a firs muskie ever for one of our guests during their first visit ever to LOTW. A fat 43" was landed on the treble that was added to the bait after losing a couple previously with the single hook only. I wasn't quite sure why someone would ask for a "large sewing needle" during a fishing trip, but now I know. HA!
Another angler landed a nice 49.5" at boatside, but it was brought up by his wife and then hit his lure at boatside. Hopefully we can get the pic up soon on the facebook page so the booing and hissing can commence. HA!
Rock structure has again produced most of the action. Stable weather this week should make for a good lead up to Gil Hamm pre-fishing.
Keep your baits in the water! |
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Posts: 172
| Heading up to Sabaskong Bay tomorrow, can't wait to introduce my fiance to quality musky fishing! Been looking forward to this week since the day I left last September. If this year can come anywhere close to last year, it will be a blast for her and the rest of my group! |
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Posts: 439
Location: Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario | Travel safe and good luck on the water in the coming week.
It sounds like the fish activity is increasing with lots of follows reported from some a few more boats that I have been able to talk to. Theme seems to be: rocks, rocks, rocks. Don't hesitate to downsize as one boat has got 43, 45 and 48 inchers on consecutive days with small baits.
Weather has been stable and storm front moved through well north last night.
Bloom is present when winds are calm, but has still been reasonable clean for the time of year when there is some wind to move it around.
Water temps have crept up the last few days with some sun and heat. It's again time to be extra careful with the fish you get to hit.
J-Man
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Posts: 172
| Well we made it safely, in about a little over 2 hours a fishing last night my dad managed to get a 39" musky, a 27" northern and see another...he was the only one among us that saw anything, although my fiance may have had a follow behind her surface bait but it was hard to tell being after sunset. Not a bad "first day." |
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Posts: 291
Location: Madison, WI | Was up from Thursday, 8/16 through Friday, 8/24. Fished mostly NW/west of Sabas. Heavy NW winds and cold nights dropped temps into the upper 60's. Contacted a few fish after the front in shallower areas on Thursday. After that, what fish were on structure were few and far between. Most fish seen were of the upper 30" class. Not many larger fish (larger than 42" were seen all week). Between two boats, fishing all day, 2 guys in each boat, we boated 7 total fish which is about a quarter of what we get each year. We went 2 days without seeing a fish. Fish rocks, rocks, rock/weed, weeds, weeds, beaches, bays, slop, deeper rock points.....nada. It was by far the worst week we had up there in the 15 years we have been going up and it wasnt even close. We found ZERO large fish moving after the first day of the front and that did not change during 7 days of stable weather. We thought that once the cold front had moved through it would improve as the week went on and water temps slowly went up....it did not. We were able to contact a few fish in the very last moments on light per usual up there. The issue was, we couldnt move any fish during the day so we had no fish to go back on and get, we just had to fish a known spot and hoped something showed up late. We threw 13s, 10s, 8s......tubes, surface baits, cranks.....you name it. Just no fish on the structure and what fish were there, were smaller.
Overall a weird year. There were spots teeming with minnows and baitfish, completely loaded.......and zero predators....no pike, no muskies....nothing, this is over long periods of warmer water temps and stable weather. We only caught a few pike throughout the week as well. The water temps were in the 72-75 range when we left and still no fish moved onto structure. I spoke with other guys who were up there in mid to late July and they said the same thing, lots of smaller fish on the normal stuff. Not many large fish and overall a much lower catch rate (even for guys who have been going up 20/30 years...)
The overall consensus is, when the water got warm, really warm up there in early July, the fish got the heck out of dodge and went to deeper open water structure, over 8' and went and lived with the big pike and smallies the rest of the year. If we had to do it over again, we probably would have fished bulldogs over the deep humps and/or trolled them. In the end, we dont go up to LOTW to troll all day long. If your headed up there, dont wait for the fish to show up where they "should be", we waited and waited and they never showed up. Im sure some guys got fish and did well, we did not.
A humbling experience on LOTW this year. But we learned alot and are better for it. As always, looking forward to next year. |
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Posts: 897
| I was in the angle the 12th-21st and had we not figured out the pull pause bite the second morning would have had a similar trip. A few times during the week we would fish a spot 15 minutes after another boat in our group. They saw none throwing tails and topwater, we would see 4 on pull/pause baits. Saw plenty, caught a bunch, lost a bunch, and had a bunch of swings and misses. Average size was way up, too. Really fun week actually. Threw a lot of baits that hadn't seen the water in 5-10 years! |
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Posts: 171
| Chris, now if only you would have figured out the bucktail bite on the last day! Glad you guys had a good week. |
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Posts: 439
Location: Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario | Action was good off and on for our guests this past week. Several nice fish seen and a few boated. All rock or rock combinations. Some of the nicer fish included: 45", 46", 48" and 49.5" for our guests. Most fish were very shallow.
Bucktails, topwater and rubber swim baits all caught fish this week. One boat was really hot with the Parrot colour patterm small soft minnow swim bait (blue, green, greyish.)
Storm front moved through last night, but temps did not drop much. Water temps 72ish last night.
Anglers have started to arrive to pre-fish the Gil Hamm CC. We've got multiple groups from different chapters fishing this week so should be able to get some reports on the activity.
Looking forward to meeting several MuskieFirst members as well as others new to the area and resort.
Good luck to all this week.
J-Man |
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| How big is the Gil Hamm tournament? I have plans of camping up there during the same week. Wondering if I should reschedule? I would imagine it will be much more crowded than usual. |
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Posts: 439
Location: Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario | This is second or third hand, but heard that registration was a little over 100 for this year. Was told numbers are way down this year compared to last year. Don't quote me on any of that.
Plenty of room on Lake of the Woods of course, but yes there will be MUCH more muskie boat traffic than otherwise would be the case, particularly Tuesday through Friday.
If you are muskie fishing and NOT planning to fish the event, I would change your plans if possible.
J-Man
Edited by MyliesPlace(Justin) 8/25/2012 10:48 AM
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Posts: 172
| Great true first day today with my dad boating 3 today (40", 41" and 34"), I landed a 43" and my fiance caught her first musky ever, a 44". Not a lot of action besides those 5 fish, seeing another dozen or so. I did lose 2 in the morning, but we finished strong. |
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| Thanks for your help Justin. We are going to wait until Friday to go up. I hope there are still some left after the tournament.... |
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Posts: 103
| Just got back from Sabaskong and did well for the week (other than yesterday - post front). Caught fish on a bunch of different baits, mostly on rocks but some weed fish too. We have seen some muskies chasing our walleyes on reefs this year and may do more walleye reef muskie fishing next summer. We have never seen this before. I brought some muskie rookies with me this time. One guy got so fired up and flustered when a fish hit in the 8 that he dropped his rod in the water. He immediately jumped in for it, got it, tried fighting the fish while in the water, and was almost snagged by our buddy in the boat with him. He swam to the back of the boat, climbed in, but the fish was gone. Lots of laughs.
Justin I stopped by a couple of times to bs with you but you were busy. You have to stop working so much and fish more.
Jason
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Posts: 439
Location: Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario | Was good to see some hustle & bustle over at your place, Jason.
Thanks for the report.
Will talk next time you're up for sure!
Work less and fish more sounds good.
Is it October yet? |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | RBC - 8/26/2012 8:35 PM
One guy got so fired up and flustered when a fish hit in the 8 that he dropped his rod in the water. He immediately jumped in for it, got it, tried fighting the fish while in the water,
This would have been great to see. And would have won the $10K in Funniest Home Videos if you got it on film. I could never do that, not because I can't swim, its because I have $3K worth of hearings aid bling in my ears and wouldn't like to replace them.
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Posts: 439
Location: Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario | Fish haven't been super hot, but there has been some action and some of the fish seen and lost have been big! One of our guests bagged a 50.25" on a 10" weagle last night before tourney fishing started this morning. Pictures will be on facebook as soon as we get a few more "likes" for my "big fish alert" status update. I like to build suspense a little. HAHA Several other boats have biggies they are going back to try and put on the board for points today.
Common theme is rocks. Heard some shallow rocks and towaters and deeper rocks with bucktails.
Should be an interesting evening of muskie talk after all fish are registered.
Looking forward to stories and pictures!
Best of luck to all muskies inc members, but even more so to teams from Capital City, Headwaters, Shawnee, Fargo/Moorehead, Bemidji Cass/Lake, Brainerd Lakes and First Wisconsin that have members staying with us here for the Challenge.
J-Man |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | J-man, I got to see the fish by Luke Beyer on a weagle on the Cap City messaging board posted by Lamboo. What a tank!1. |
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| Wasn't the fish posted by Luke caught at Potato Lake lmao! Didn't know LOTW went by two different names |
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Posts: 439
Location: Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario | muskie! nut - 8/30/2012 7:24 AM
J-man, I got to see the fish by Luke Beyer on a weagle on the Cap City messaging board posted by Lamboo. What a tank!1.
Hey G,
Wait til you see the 48" that was caught yesterday. All I can say is HOLY MOLY!! Hope to have it in facebook before the end of the week, but may be a few days. |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | Guest - 8/30/2012 10:19 AM
Wasn't the fish posted by Luke caught at Potato Lake lmao! Didn't know LOTW went by two different names
???????????. |
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| Look at the big fish board Muskie nut. |
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Posts: 172
| Well I can't beat the 50.25" but I did manage to catch a 49" which is the biggest fish caught out of King Island Lodge so far this year. Our group is doing pretty well, my dad has 11 (biggest 44"), me at 10 (biggest 49"), my mom has 2 (biggest 46") and my fiance Lisa caught her first 2 muskies ever, a 44" and 36". We caught 6 of our fish during the Gil Hamm fishing hours the last 2 days...not sure how the scoring works but I think we'd be doing pretty well if we were participating. I'll post some pictures once I get home.
One day left to see if the 4 of us can get to 30 fish.
Edited by VonBraun 8/31/2012 4:41 PM
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Posts: 439
Location: Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario | Sounds like a great trip, VB. Hope you guys break through the 30 fish mark. Looking forward to photos.
Your 6 fish during tourney hours would score will if they were good average size!! |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | Scoring for the Hamm goes 4 points for each 30 inch fish and 1 point for each inch past.
Example
36 (4 + 6) is 10 points
44 (4+14) is 18 points
You can do the math on others.
Soon I will be on my way to score some "points" |
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Posts: 172
| I see the guys staying here at King Island won the Gil Hamm, congrats to the CHICAGOLAND MUSKIE HUNTERS on their win. Got to see the trophy and celebrate with them. It looks like we would have had 97 points in tournament for just the 4 of us, no luck today so far...30 will be tough with my parents fishless since wednesday and my fiance and I fishless this morning...just this evening left to fish. |
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Posts: 172
| Well we fell short of 30 with 26 fish for the 4 of us, overall not a bad week with the higher than normal pressure. |
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Posts: 172
| Well here are some pictures.
1) My Fiancee's first musky, 44"
2) Her 2nd musky, first time she held one
3) Dad's biggest, 45"
4) Mom's biggest, 46"
5) Biggest of the trip, 49"
Edited by VonBraun 9/3/2012 11:56 AM
Attachments
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 lisa.jpg (63KB - 108 downloads)
lisa2.jpg (51KB - 102 downloads)
dad.jpg (119KB - 117 downloads)
mom.jpg (78KB - 108 downloads)
tim.jpg (83KB - 119 downloads)
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