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Posts: 251
| I have a question for those who have fished LOTW at least a few time. My friend and I went up to the angle last year for the first time in late July. We fished 7 straight days averaging about 10 hours on the water each day. We caught a total of 6 fish (5 in one day) and about a dozen good follows. One 46" fish, one 41", one 36" and the others were <30". Two days were with a guide (no fish boated those days). The weather was good last year but the water levels extremely high as they were most of the year.
Anyway we will be going back for the same trip in a week and was wondering what to expect. I kinda have it in my mind that last year was extra difficult fishing and would have been disappointing if not for the good 46" fish (which is my PB). How would you view my trip from last year? I am trying to adjust my expectations so as to not be disappointed since I think I might have been listening to too many people who got me believing I should expect better fishing on average. What would be an average/realistic trip be like in terms of numbers, size, and follows?
Either way, I can't wait to get my lures wet!
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | I can only speak for myself....
If we have 2 people in a boat for a week, I want about 20 fish minimum and hopefully 1-2 @ 50" or greater....should be multiples over 45" or it was a dud trip |
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Posts: 251
| Good to hear. If i have another dud this year then next year I am coming with you! |
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Location: New Hope MN | last year there were lots of reports of bad trips during the summer. I think you nailed it with the high water comment. |
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | I am basing mine off of normal weather patterns in a week, and putting in a lot of time on that lake and focusing on where I'd consider to be productive areas
big 20+ mph winds and cold fronts can ruin things in a hurry |
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Posts: 897
| With the exception of the expected 50 or two, I think Brian's numbers are fair, but understand he has put in a lot of time on that lake to find productive areas. The high water last year didn't make much of a difference for me. Gale force winds did. |
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| the angle is overfished you probably should go to Eagle lake next year  |
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Posts: 194
Location: Lake Elmo, MN | Fishing the angle (based out of the Inlet)in 2 weeks as well......... I'll post a report. |
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Location: Not far enough north! | Last year was a rough one for us as well. Most other years we put 20-25 in the net. My boat averages a little over three fish caught a day the last ten years. We usually have two or three chances at 50s. Mine always have to be convinced to eat in the 8 but partner always has them eat in the first few feet of the retrieve... |
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Posts: 581
| timhutson1 - 7/10/2015 2:57 PM
I have a question for those who have fished LOTW at least a few time. My friend and I went up to the angle last year for the first time in late July. We fished 7 straight days averaging about 10 hours on the water each day. We caught a total of 6 fish (5 in one day) and about a dozen good follows. One 46" fish, one 41", one 36" and the others were <30". Two days were with a guide (no fish boated those days). The weather was good last year but the water levels extremely high as they were most of the year.
Anyway we will be going back for the same trip in a week and was wondering what to expect. I kinda have it in my mind that last year was extra difficult fishing and would have been disappointing if not for the good 46" fish (which is my PB). How would you view my trip from last year? I am trying to adjust my expectations so as to not be disappointed since I think I might have been listening to too many people who got me believing I should expect better fishing on average. What would be an average/realistic trip be like in terms of numbers, size, and follows?
Either way, I can't wait to get my lures wet!
My first trip to NW Angle was back in the 90's and for the week we boated 6 muskies between 33-40". Second year, we boated 9 between 35-47". Next trip, we got 12 fish up to 48". And so on. Our numbers and sizes improved with successive years. It took us several trips to start figuring out the most productive areas, the best spots, and the best way to fish them.
Its probably not realistic to expect to a home run your first time up. Didn't work that way for us, anyways. Expect to improve with repeat trips and additional experience as you continue to identify the most productive spots and areas.
To answer your question about #'s and size, nowadays for us, I'd say that "a decent trip" is a minimum of 15-18 muskies on the week with at least 6-7 over 45" and at least 1 50"+. We go up in mid-late August. Of course, we always want to do better than that. But weather and other circumstances often play a role, and so, that's my ordinary, realistic expectation.
Edited by Matt DeVos 7/11/2015 1:12 PM
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Posts: 1188
Location: Iowa | IMO...any trip you can have a 5 fish day on is a good trip regardless of how the rest of the trip went...even if you don't catch a single fish (like happened to me and my dad on Eagle last year during turnover) it sure beats working...just go there and fish, have fun and make memories; we only get so much time. Catching fish is a bonus! No trip should ever be a "dud"
Edited by Big Perc 7/11/2015 4:16 PM
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Posts: 59
Location: Fifield | Well said Matt |
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Location: Not far enough north! | I agree Matt. Last year was our worst for numbers by far but one of the best trips I've been on. Actually took some time and walleye fished and went up to whitefish a couple days and played with the pike in the clear water. We had a great trip despite the fishing. |
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Location: Waukee, IA | I just got back from my first woods trip. I had 5 days to fish but my fishing partner was my girlfriend. I only seriously muskie fished for 3 days and ended up with 7 muskies boated 33, 35, 37, 40, 43, 44 and 48, along wits a 45" pike. Had another low 40's fish get off at the boat when my gf caught the bucktail on the net bag. Lost another after snapping my rod on the hook set, made it half way to the boat before my stubbed rod betrayed me. We had cool water and a cold front and high winds move through which killed fishing for the first couple days of the trip. The learning curve was steep, but I moved tons of fish after figuring out where to look. Next year will be easier just from the knowledge gained this trip.
Edited by tkuntz 7/11/2015 11:05 PM
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Location: The desert | tkuntz - 7/11/2015 11:03 PM
I just got back from my first woods trip. I had 5 days to fish but my fishing partner was my girlfriend. I only seriously muskie fished for 3 days and ended up with 7 muskies boated 33, 35, 37, 40, 43, 44 and 48, along wits a 45" pike. Had another low 40's fish get off at the boat when my gf caught the bucktail on the net bag. Lost another after snapping my rod on the hook set, made it half way to the boat before my stubbed rod betrayed me. We had cool water and a cold front and high winds move through which killed fishing for the first couple days of the trip. The learning curve was steep, but I moved tons of fish after figuring out where to look. Next year will be easier just from the knowledge gained this trip.
What area were you in? You did better than I did! |
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Location: Waukee, IA | Miles bay. Didn't see another muskie guy til we left |
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Posts: 512
| tkuntz - 7/12/2015 3:32 AM
Miles bay. Didn't see another muskie guy til we left
Care to share what you learned?
Sounds like its tough up there now..
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Posts: 815
Location: Waukee, IA | I mostly learned to not fish marginal water. I found most of my skis on rock piles, points, saddles and weedy bays. All classic spots, I simply learned to not spend as much time fishing between spots or marginal structure lIke weedless bays, smooth rock shorelines etc. I found a few pieces of complex structure that payed dividends. A weedy bay with a point and saddle leading to a rocky island, reefs extending into a sandy weed bay etc. Early morning also seemed to be a waste of time unless a weather front was moving through. If a cold front moves past like it did to me on Monday, bucktails are a waste of time, try rubber or my personal favorite, weighted suicks in the same structure areas but deeper. I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, just relaying what worked.
Edited by tkuntz 7/12/2015 9:17 AM
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Location: oconomowoc, wi | tkuntz - 7/12/2015 9:14 AM
I mostly learned to not fish marginal water. I found most of my skis on rock piles, points, saddles and weedy bays. All classic spots, I simply learned to not spend as much time fishing between spots or marginal structure lIke weedless bays, smooth rock shorelines etc. I found a few pieces of complex structure that payed dividends. A weedy bay with a point and saddle leading to a rocky island, reefs extending into a sandy weed bay etc. Early morning also seemed to be a waste of time unless a weather front was moving through. If a cold front moves past like it did to me on Monday, bucktails are a waste of time, try rubber or my personal favorite, weighted suicks in the same structure areas but deeper. I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, just relaying what worked.
thats a pretty darn good relay! |
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Location: The desert | tkuntz - 7/12/2015 9:14 AM
I mostly learned to not fish marginal water. I found most of my skis on rock piles, points, saddles and weedy bays. All classic spots, I simply learned to not spend as much time fishing between spots or marginal structure lIke weedless bays, smooth rock shorelines etc. I found a few pieces of complex structure that payed dividends. A weedy bay with a point and saddle leading to a rocky island, reefs extending into a sandy weed bay etc. Early morning also seemed to be a waste of time unless a weather front was moving through. If a cold front moves past like it did to me on Monday, bucktails are a waste of time, try rubber or my personal favorite, weighted suicks in the same structure areas but deeper. I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, just relaying what worked.
Good thoughts, I'd echo a lot of what you said as we saw very similar results, but we put less fish in the boat. Suicks seemed to move the most during post frontal conditions.
This was my first trip up there, a learning experience to say the least! |
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Location: Waukee, IA | I was very satisfied with my first trip. My gf mostly tanned and complained so I caught all of the fish. The only gray cloud was that I lost my Spanky's $9 bass dub-8 on the last cast of the trip due to rock fray on the line above the leader. It lies with the honored dead now as a reminder to the muskies that for a short time in July of '15 a newb from Iowa got some good jabs in. |
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Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | tkuntz - 7/12/2015 9:14 AM
I mostly learned to not fish marginal water. I found most of my skis on rock piles, points, saddles and weedy bays. All classic spots, I simply learned to not spend as much time fishing between spots or marginal structure lIke weedless bays, smooth rock shorelines etc. I found a few pieces of complex structure that payed dividends. A weedy bay with a point and saddle leading to a rocky island, reefs extending into a sandy weed bay etc. Early morning also seemed to be a waste of time unless a weather front was moving through. If a cold front moves past like it did to me on Monday, bucktails are a waste of time, try rubber or my personal favorite, weighted suicks in the same structure areas but deeper. I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, just relaying what worked.
Sounds like you made some solid observations, and I agree with everything you said ( especially the complexes and the bucktails after a big cold front). I really really dislike having to fish a spot slowly with slow moving baits, but sometimes out there it's what you need to do or as Justin said, your doing nothing but burning calories by reeling in bucktails at fish that aren't there.
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Location: Contrarian Island | I've only made 4 trips and one was cut short to a family illness but I'd agree with others... having done Lac Seul 3 or 4 x and now LOTW, learn as much as you can each trip and your trips should get better ... my 1st trip we put 22 in the net in 4 days...but I was with someone that had been going there 10 yrs... last year in a week we had 40 hits..but only could get 18 in the net ...a bit cursed losing fish that trip... we definitely shoot for at least 3 per day... so in a week we expect minimum 21 or more... the only big curveball is the weather...a nasty cold front, or bad/crazy wind, or sunny/hot/flat calm can all hamper the fishing... |
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Posts: 309
| I think a better gauge of your success last year, will be your success this year. It's hard to set a bar for a first trip on a lake.
Having said that, I think you did just fine and should expect better results this year considering your lessons learned (which I 100% agree with) and no flooding. I was up there last year around that time, too. Back up there in 2 weeks, again, as well. |
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