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Posts: 2865
Location: Brookfield, WI | Starting to think about a possible Canadian adventure for next year. There's been discussions I've noticed in a few places about Sabaskong Bay. I'm also wondering about the NW Angle. Are there great differences between the two in the type of water to be fished? More numbers or bigger fish in one or the other? One place easier to fish than the other?
Or do both areas offer a ton of options simply due to the amount of water available? I'm sure these questions have all been asked before, but I'm bored and just got back from a really bad kids movie with the family.
I want to start assembling some info before I ask the little lady about a trip for next season. Eagle remains a possibility, also, as I still think of the one that got away on a daily basis. The 'Goon outing also an option.
Kevin
The Plan II, The Muskies Strike Back |
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Posts: 2024
| Kevin,
Drop me an email and I'd be MORE than happy to share with you my thoughts on LOTW. Matter of fact, we may have some room open in our cabin this year in July.
Sean |
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Posts: 484
Location: St. Louis, MO., Marco Is., FL, Nestor Falls, ON | One of the nice things about fishing out of Nestor Falls, ON for muskies is the ability to fish Sabaskong, Stony, Stevens, Gohere, Burrow and many other bays for muskies. The pressure last year on this part of the lake was down quite a bit. I believe partly because more fishermen were heading for the Monument Bay area. Other factors were the low water last year, poor exchange rate for the American Dollar and concerns about border crossings. An additional benefit of fishing the Nestor Falls area is Crow Lake. This gin clear, lake trout lake produces large muskies, especially in the early part of the season. It is just a short drive to either Crow or Whitefish Bay.
I have been fishing this area exclusively for muskies the past 53 years. I have found the muskie population to be the best I have seen it since the 50's. I don't fish the 15 hour days that I used to; but I get to spend 4 months doing it. A normal season of more relaxed fishing for me usually mean somewhere between 150- 200 muskies. Many of those caught are over 40" with a fair number of 50" class fish. The town of Nestor Falls has all the necessities for making a memorable fishing experience, with several family oriented camps for those bring their wives and children.
If you want more specific information drop me an email and I'll get back with you. Good luck! |
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Posts: 2024
| rpieske - 12/9/2006 9:50 AM
The pressure last year on this part of the lake was down quite a bit. I believe partly because more fishermen were heading for the Monument Bay area. Other factors were the low water last year, poor exchange rate for the American Dollar and concerns about border crossings.
Ditto. |
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | Myself, I do not like fishing out of Nestor Falls. You have to keep in mind that if you stay at one of those resorts right off the main highway, you are in areas that receive a lot of traffic. Plus, while you don't have to drive far, a lot of the "better" spots are quite a drive aways from the main resort section of Nestor Falls. There are some island resorts located more on the Main Lake that seemed to have better location.. |
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Posts: 2024
| ...Lots of great complexes in the Nestor Falls region. You just need to spend more time with a map and dissect the area, or try fishing "non-typical" structure.
However, I will agree that Nestor Falls is not very centralized. Morson, Miles Bay, or resorts in/near Basil Channel and Painted Rock have the best access to prime fishing spots in all directions. |
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Posts: 2089
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I've been fishing the Nestor Falls area for 20 years. For many years, I wrestled with the idea of going elsewhere, but decided to stay and learn instead of run. Now , I can spend days on a milkrun within 15 minutes of the Falls. Seems to me that most folks staying in Nestor Falls run West.Cool. The milkrun always includes some 50's and upper 40's. Honestly, we don't even go back on smaller fish up there. Weeds and rock, together in paradise. The first time we stayed at a particular resort on 71, I recognized a couple of guys in the pics and remember seeing the pics somewhere.Hmmmm.Tom Gelb, who just caught a 50#er in 'Sconnie and his diminutive partner( Bucher) were the ones in the pics.My Happy Place, right Dude? Steve |
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Posts: 484
Location: St. Louis, MO., Marco Is., FL, Nestor Falls, ON | I agree with Jonesi's analysis. Depending on your boat speed, 15 minutes from the Falls can cover a lot of water. Some of my biggest muskies have come right from Gohere Bay. I have seen numerous 50+" fish within that 15 minute run. If you like island resorts, there is Sabaskong Bay Lodge which will put you right in the heart of some tremendous muskie fishing. I prefer to stay in Nestor Falls. I don't know about the high traffic comment. In 50+ years I really have not observed that. I have a number of "after supper" spots within 5 minutes of my cottage close to the falls. Again, don't forget about the Crow Lake fishing as an added bonus. Plus....if you want to do a short fly-in, you can contact Nestor Falls Fly-In for some great locations.
All in all, I think Nestor Falls will meet the needs of most muskie fishermen. And then there is always Green's BBQ.... |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Bob, what do you know about Dryberry? I saw an article in a magazine recently. I guess it's a drive-in lake since the only resort closed, not far from you?
Mr. Jonesi sure made my day with his milk run. If I get to Sabaskong again, I'd not pass up the area Mauser calls "ten casts bay". |
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Posts: 1996
Location: Pelican Lake/Three Lakes Chain | Hopefull,
If you wish, I can clue you in on the Angle area a bit. I am no expert on the area but I do have several years of time invested in it and I can't imagine a better fishery! Send me an email and I will be more than willing to share the little I know.
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Posts: 484
Location: St. Louis, MO., Marco Is., FL, Nestor Falls, ON | Mikie:
I haven't heard a great deal about Dryberry in recent years. I have read the article you are probably referring to and it certainly looks interesting. Dryberry is about 55 miles from my cottage. It sounds like it is probably a lake like Crow, Kay and Kish. I wonder if I could get my boat in there and launch it. I'd hate to make that trip and then have to turn around and leave. Maybe I'll just take a ride up there in my 4 wheeler and see the conditions. Here is a link to the article I was referring to.
http://www.walleyes.org/muskies/dryberry.htm
If it stays dry this spring, so the road doesn't get to rutted, I think I may take a trek up to Dryberry. If it looks like a possibility, I'll let you know. Sometimes you just get the wanderlust and need to try something different. I used to fish Kay Lake for a week at a time back in the mid 70's and early '80s. That's another lake with some HUGE muskies. Everyone would go in there for the Lake Trout, but I went for the muskies. Saw some really monster fish. In those days there was virtually no pressure on the muskies. I don't know about now. Dave Beauschene has a couple cottages on the lake and said he'd fly me in for an overnighter sometime when it's not booked. Maybe this summer when my son comes up.
I'll nose around this spring and see if anyone has any more recent information on Dryberry. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! |
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Posts: 720
| Hi Mikie,
Give me an e-mail I might be able to answer some of your questions about Dryberry. I spend some time up there. Very finicky lake and Bob is right about the road. I've also heard some very good things about Kay lake. Anyway give me a hollar and I'll see what I can help you with.
Dave |
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Posts: 2015
| Kevin,
LOTW is a truely spectacular fishery for the combination of numbers and size of fish probably the best. - and you can't go "wrong" fishing Sab or NW angle.
NW Angle is a huge area. Will you have your own boat? Make sure you have a good GPS lakechip -If you go to NW Angle get out on the lake (an island resort). If you can swing the finances I would go to Wiley's or Big narrows resort - You will be in the heart great water.
Justin |
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| I don't know much about the NW Agle section but do know the Nester falls area. The cool thing is that if you stay in Nestor it is a little cheaper to get gas than on the islands out there. The hotel stay is not pretty but the cost is right. Lots of good fishing close to Nestor falls. Bring lots of Suicks!
Ty |
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Posts: 2024
| Ty Sennett - 12/10/2006 7:41 PM
Bring lots of Suicks!
Ty
LOTS!!!!! Didn't believe they were worth a hoot 'till this year. Now I got 51 reasons why they've stood the test of time!! |
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Posts: 484
Location: St. Louis, MO., Marco Is., FL, Nestor Falls, ON | Sean:
When I see you I'll tell you a story about fishing suicks when they first came out in the 50's. I've been fishing them for over 50 years and still have several from the original production. I had a buddy come up, look into my tackle box and say, "Do you have any idea how much some of these lures are worth? They are antiques!" I told him they were worth exactly what their value was for catching fish. I still fish them. |
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Posts: 519
Location: Bloomington, IL | I haven't fished Sab bay, but have fished the other side of the highway - Crow Lake. There are a handful of camps to choose from. I've stayed at a couple of different ones, and the one that I think is the best is Muskie Bay Resort. Paul and Chris will treat you right (very reasonable prices) you can rent cabins by the week, or they have 4 hotel units by the night. Also, their guide Brian is great - he knows both waters (Crow and Sab Bay) like the back of his hand. The other alternative is to stay in Nestor Falls like Ty and others have said. I like the town of Nestor Falls. It has all the amenities you'll need.
I am no expert on Crow at all. Being Trout water, it will humble you when the conditions are tough, but some of the biggest fish I have ever seen have been in Crow. This is by far the clearest lake I have ever been on. It's beautiful - crystal clear. There are very little weeds, but lots of islands and reefs, therefore rock structure will be your ticket. I'd be happy share my info on Crow.
Nupe |
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Posts: 7039
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | For those of you interested in learning more about fishing on LOTWs, make sure to tune in to Frank Walsh of Bay Store Camp (http://www.baystorecamp.com) doing an on-line live chat Wed. January 24th at 8PM Central. Frank has done chats in the past and anyone thinking of fishing LOTWs in the future, or has been going there for years, will sure to gain new fish catching info from this chat.
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Posts: 1996
Location: Pelican Lake/Three Lakes Chain | Frank is the man on the Angle. I try to sponge as much info as I can from him, he knows the water. He also runs a top notch muskie camp that I would recommend to anyone. |
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Posts: 2865
Location: Brookfield, WI | Wow, guys, thanks for all the great responses. I'll be in touch with a couple of you guys when I decide what I'm going to do. Sounds like the Nestor Falls area is a bit more manageable.
Kevin
The Plan II. |
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Posts: 136
| Dryberry is like Whitefish Bay. Gin clear water so kind of tough. It's a trout lake that is 400 feet deep. The fish are bigger than those from LOTW. Best bet is to hire Neal Larson of Shingwak Resort on Whitefish bay south of Souix Narrows. Neal caught a 59.75 by 28 6 years ago and the fish is still alive. Although now it's bigger. Shingwak is a good place for a trip. Also I stayed at Yellow Bird which is part of Totem Resorts and it's probably then nicest place on the lake.
If you want some intell on the water I can be reached at [email protected] |
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| Though I'd hate to see more pressure on the Angle side of the lake, I think Bay Store should be the first choice for anyone relatively new to the lake. Frank was a huge help. |
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Posts: 69
| Kevin,I like Bob have been fishing Sabaskong for a lot of years out of Nestor,and it just keeps getting better as far as Musky population.Within 15 minutes of Nestor there is a lot of great Musky fishing,with really not much pressure.Personally,I prefer staying in town vs an island for convenience, gas prices,and they have Greens for food/drinks/socializing. |
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Posts: 86
| Guest - 12/11/2006 4:11 PM
Though I'd hate to see more pressure on the Angle side of the lake, I think Bay Store should be the first choice for anyone relatively new to the lake. Frank was a huge help.
One way to avoid the pressure is to go up in September. You have to deal with the bloom of course but you don't have any boats to compete with. Six of us made our first trip to the Angle, Monument Bay Lodge, this past Labor Day week. Bloom went from nothing to speak of to pea soup thick. All we had to to was find clearer water and we could see the follows, which helped the confidence. We were in lodge rental boats, 16' alum. utility boats with 25hp mercs. 18mph with three guys in each. We had gps's with chips and paper charts just to be safe. We got to know the area very quickly and thanks to the help of some guys like Richard Novak here on the forum and Steve Heiting we did pretty good......great in fact. Two personal bests, 50" for my Nephew and 48" for myself. Two others boated muskie and everybody boated pike. Nobody doubled up on muskie. The fishing was somewhat slow, yes, but being able to boat two monsters, and see several more in the same class made our trip. To share the trip with my 80 year old Father, three brothers and a nephew meant even more. The camp was great, really great.
We were concerned about being overwhelmed by the BIG water. We marked up a map with a game plan to locate fish, develop our milk run and work it until it paid off. First full day of fishing was Sunday, 50 was caught Tues. morn and 48 on Wed. morn. The plan paid off. Sorry so long but I just wanted to let "newbies" to LOTW know you can be successful despite tough conditions if you prepare and stick to your plan. Good luck and enjoy one of the most beautiful wildlife sanctuaryies on the planet!!!!!! |
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Posts: 785
| I am going to fish out of Nester Falls this upcomming season for the first time and was thinking of making a day or two trip to Crow Lake while there. I'm not sure this is a good idea as both lakes are new to me and I should probably stay on the Woods and learn what I can. If I do though were would a decent launch be on Crow were one could park. It doesn't have to be much, just public. Do you alter your fishing style much on the clear water of Crow lake, I've never actually fished a truly clear lake with visibility at more than 8' or so.
P.S. I'm glad to see how this conversation has gone, it really gives me confidence in going there for the 07 season.
Thanks |
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | I spent my week there in August...I definetely noticed a transition to more main lake areas. The shallower, weedy, secluded bays were generally ghost towns for Muskies. I guess that wasn't a huge surprise for the time of year, but there are so many GREAT looking weed beds it was so hard to pass a lot of them up. I had some of my best luck in small patches of bullrush or the obvious wind blown shorelines of islands or main lake broken rock structures.
One note about Crow. It is not a lake where you can just hop in your boat and take off. There are some awful rocks out there, I wouldn't venture out there for one second without a great map or someone else telling you the no no zones. I have heard of many an angler ruining the lower unit out there, so just be careful if you choose that route.... |
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Posts: 484
Location: St. Louis, MO., Marco Is., FL, Nestor Falls, ON | Musky-Skunk:
There is a group of camp owners who have a launch site on Crow close to town. If the camp you are staying in is part of that group you can launch and park there. If not, there is a Goverment launch site a couple of miles north of there. Either way it's decent launching.
Drop me an email and I'll try to fill in the gaps for you. Maybe we can get together in Nestor Falls and I'll mark up maps for you. Let me know a couple of weeks before you come up and I'll fill you in on patterns. I'll give you my phone number in Nestor Falls when you drop me an email. Good luck.
P.S.
Both Crow and LOTW have many, many rocks you can hit. The maps for Crow are not very good, but at least the water is clear. On LOTW you'll never see the rock till you hit it. But both are managable. |
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Posts: 785
| THANKS, I left a message in your muskyfirst inbox. It has my email, phone and such. I am going to get a Crow map from Thornes, but like you said it probably won't be anything special.
thanks again. |
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Posts: 484
Location: St. Louis, MO., Marco Is., FL, Nestor Falls, ON | Since you are staying at Arrowhead, you can launch at the closer spot on Crow. Several of the summer long residents at Arrowhead fish Crow on a regular basis for Lake Trout. They can show you the way. |
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Posts: 785
| Good deal, maybe I will have to see if I can't chalk up a couple of goose eggs overthere in that beautiful clear water. Wow only 7 months away, I'm ready to go! |
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