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Posts: 921
| Does anyone have any updates? I was up there last week and just got home.
Would like to compare notes with the school. | |
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Posts: 114
| Got back last night from the Musky Hunter LOTW school at Sandy's Blackhawk Island. When we put in last Saturday at Young's Bay, the guys we talked to coming off were all telling us they saw very few fish and boated even fewer. Several mentioned getting nothing all week, so we were a bit concerned. We really had to grind it out all week! Big storm and resulting cold front on Tuesday made the fish very slow. My partner and I really worked and averaged seeing 18-20 fish a day including the biggest fish either of us had ever seen on lotw, but they were overwhelmingly low and slow. VERY FEW hot fish. We did grind out 10 fish between the 2 of us. My partner got 6 up to a beautiful 49 and I got 4 up to 44. Most of our fish came on rock and reed combos - it seemed if there were no reeds/weeds with the rocks there were no fish. The water was 3-4 feet higher than normal which made several spots look really different than in past years and water temps were in the low 70's (except the day after the storm when the water dropped 10 degrees in some places!!) The fish we got came on Handlebarz double 10's, Double Cowgirls, glides, and rubber toss backs. Other guys got fish on Shallow Invaders and Cranes. The highlight of the week, though, was the 53" beast Steve Heiting got - one of the very few fish to hit away from the boat and it was all caught on film - should be great on the show. Overall 86 fish were caught which was a bit low but the weather was stabilizing at the end of the week and the bite should start picking up. | |
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Posts: 921
| Pretty much our experience too. My buddy was there the week before and it was super super slow. It was slow for us last week until Wednesday. Even though he got a 50.5, that was the only fish seen or caught all day.
Thursday the fish started moving more, but were low and slow. He managed a 44 and I got a 47 that day.
Friday, the big fish were moving, but we couldn't get them to bite.
Water temps pushing the mid 70s. From all the locals and guides we talked to, the lake is 2 weeks behind because of the late spring and weird cold fronts a couple weeks ago.
I'm heading back up on Aug 2, so I am hoping things are back to normal.
By the way, it is so weird having the water 3 or 4 feet high. The spots we have been fishing for almost 15 years are unrecognizable!
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Posts: 1
| We had a group of 20 Flatlanders fish the week of 7/11 thru 7/19. We also had tough conditions, high winds and rain for two days before things started settling down mid week. Most fish were being moved off of reeds and rocks. My partner and I found some success outside of spawning bays. The cabbage we found was ridiculously clean and green. We netted (4) fish in just over an hour and a half in just one spot. Water temps ranged from 66 to 72. I agree the high water was mind boggling when fishing some the normal producing spots. But all in all as a group we felt we had a successful trip under the conditions that we had. 20 fisherman 42 muskies and 4 fifty inchers largest 52.5. Two of the fifties were personal bests. Baits used spinners, double 8s and double 10s. Not your typical year on LOTW. Headed back up for the Chapter Challunge in August hope things pick up. Good luck everyone. | |
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Musky Hunter School LOTW