Posts: 28
| Well, just got back from a fun trip on Canyon. The fishing was decent as was the weather for the most part. Managed to boat 32 muskies over the course of the week. Biggest was 44" with the majority of the fish in the 35"-40" range which is typical for Canyon this time of year. Saw a number of fish every day and missed a number of opportunities/lost a number of fish over the course of the week.
Highlight of the trip for me was a window in which I boated 3 muskies, missed another and my buddy lost 2 and missed another in a half hour window before a little squall blew in. I ended up cutting my hand on the second fish pretty bad, but patched it up with baby wipes and duct tape and landed the third a few casts later. It was as hot of fishing and as intense of a feeding window that I have ever experienced. If we weren't messing around getting fish out of the net and snapping quick pics, I think we could have boated a few more. 7 strikes, five hook-ups and 3 fish landed in probably no more than 50 casts between the two of us.
Crazy/fortunate story of the week happened on Thursday night. My buddy hooks up on a fish on a jerkbait on a good size reef. He had already lost two fish in low to mid 40s during the week within feet of the net so I wasn't going to let that happen. I rip in my line as fast as I can and lean my rod on the rail/casting deck and go for the net as quickly as I can. The fish is only 36"-37" and hooked well so we net it without much drama. We are working on the fish in the net when I glance back and I don't see my rod. This is a 8'6" Legend Elite custom St. Croix with a Revo Beast on it so needless to say, my heart skipped a beat and I immediately felt sick. The joy of catching a fish and being happy for my buddy was quickly replaced by dread and despair. I marked in a waypoint but we had been drifting for a while so I wasn't sure where the rod went in, but figured we'd at least have our plot trail. It was also pretty dark and a little windy so the chances of finding it that night were slim in my mind. I was already planning in my mind to come out the next day with an underwater camera and cover our plot trail until I found it, basically taking as much time as was needed to locate it. After getting the fish unhooked (of course all 3 trebles buried, so it took some time and cutting, but fish swam off fine), we back tracked and followed out plot trail and low and behold, like the sword Excalibur shining in the dimly lit dusk, lay my rod on top of the biggest, shallowest, brightest rock on the reef. I was ready to jump in with all my clothes on, but my buddy attempted to snag it with his bucktail, missing the first time, so I grabbed the rod from him and was able to snag the rod and successfully bring it to my hands no worse for wear! Elation! Ironically, we name all our reefs and locations so we can compare notes with the other boats in our party, but we never had a name for this particular spot, even though we have fished it a lot and had success on it. Early in the week, my brother lost a Dadson on a previously unnamed island so we called that "$40 Island". It seemed fitting that this reef was now named "Thousand Dollar Reef".
Anyway, back to fishing reports. Double 8s, 9s produced the most action for us with topwater and jerkbaits also accounting for some fish. Per usual, the jointed walleye depth raider boated a number of fish and has probably been our most consistent bait on Canyon over the years. Most fish were hanging around main lake humps and points and islands in 2'-12' of water adjacent to deep water, but also caught and raised fish off the reefs as well. Shorelines with deep downed timber also held fish, but they were smaller than the reef fish so we didn't fish those as much.
Managed to get some walleye fishing in as well and that was really good two. It seems like Canyon Lake is back on the upcycle after peaking in 2008 and bottoming in 2010 so looking forward to a return trip. If you're looking for 50+" fish, Canyon is not your lake, but for numbers of nice fish and fun action, it has a lot to offer. |
) Just wondering how the fishing has been, water levels, weed growth, patterns ,etc. 
