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Posts: 23
| Myself and three friends are looking at Cranes lodge on the French River. Two questions, How's the musky fishing on the French River.. I've seen reports that say that the French is "fished out". And if any of you have been to Cranes, how is it?
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| french is not a multiple fish per day body of water,even for good anglers.but you will got a very good chANCE TO LANd a monster of 40 pound
good luck |
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Posts: 203
Location: Germantown, WI | I've only fished the French one time so take that for what it's worth. I would echo what supertollr said in that it Is not a place you go to for a lot of action, but you could definitely catch the fish of a lifetime. The only musky we landed in a week of hard fishing was a small one about 24" that my brother landed while Bass fishing. We did see several muskies while casting, but only had one strike that was on for a couple of seconds then it was gone.
We spent more time casting than trolling, but did some of both each day. By the end of the week we had figured out how to catch some Bass, Walleyes and Northerns, but nothing to write home about. We did catch enough for a couple of dinners.
The thrill of the trip was the giant Musky that I hooked and lost while fishing for dinner below Five Finger Rapids one day. I was using a jig and half a nightcrawler on spinning tackle with 8 lb line when I had an absolute giant Musky eat a small Bass that I was reeling in right next to the boat. I fought that Musky for over 45 minutes and got a good look at it several times. My brother and I have been Musky fishing for over 35 years together and have landed over 400 muskies between us. That Musky that ate my Bass was way bigger than anything we had ever hooked before. We estimated that it was in the mid 50" class and well over 40 lbs. It was something I will never forget. That fish was so strong. I nearly had her beaten, but after 45 minutes she made final run at an angle away from the boat and finally cut the 8lb mono I was using.
We stayed in Wolseley Bay which is pretty close to Cranes Lodge. The French River in that area is very deep on average. There is not really a lot of shallow water to cast and very few substantial weed beds. The available cover is mainly rock and boulders. The amount of bait in terms of Ciscoes is truly incredible. You will see your depth finder lit up with bait in the evenings and you will see the Ciscoes dimpling the surface over the deeper basins in depths greater than 50'. We trolled those areas with good lures that we have caught Muskies on before and never had a strike. One piece of advice is to definitely fish the current areas like Five Finger Rapids.
The weather was pretty unstable while we were there and there was a lot of rain so water levels were up. It may have been a particularly slow week. We have discussed going back to the French, but next time we will probably try the Upper French. I still see that big Musky in my dreams.
Edited by MUSKYLUND1 5/22/2018 1:05 PM
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Posts: 612
| Bear in mind that the French river has (or least used too) have ample walleye, bass and pike. Could provide some action and table fare if the musky's are hard to come by. |
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| sometimes i even wondering if the problem don't came from the fact that there is too many potential places where they can hide.when you fish the usual water you can easily forget 50 to 75 % of the place you will have to cover because it's too deep,too shallow,or absence of structures that could attract musky .but french is loaded of nice places that you could't forget.you will always find a spot that look better than the previous one |
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