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Posts: 72
| chuckski - 4/9/2023 11:31 AM
The Manitou's have giant thick fish and I think they are fly in only?
We've boated in each time we stayed at the Manitou. Its 20 miles on a gravel road to get to Esox Landing, but its actually not that bad. |
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| BNelson - 1/2/2023 9:28 AM
Bob...did you actually measure them?.lol. I see some tv show hosts are calling fish 51 and 52 without even measuring them
Sorry couldnt resist.
Just can't help yourself eh Brad... |
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| ColdLabatts - 4/9/2023 12:25 PM
chuckski - 4/9/2023 11:31 AM
The Manitou's have giant thick fish and I think they are fly in only?
We've boated in each time we stayed at the Manitou. Its 20 miles on a gravel road to get to Esox Landing, but its actually not that bad.
That's good to know, I meet someone who's fished there and caught a number heavy fish. And I know somehow he made arrangements with a resort to keep a boat there.
Now I know how he done it. |
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Posts: 34
| Barker Bay Resort is on Lower Manitou and is a boat-in camp. It is a good place to stay. Our group used to go there in the early to mid 2000's. We took a lot of really nice fish out of there but nothing over 50. Lots of 47-49 inch fish - heavy and thick. We had a year or two where fish seemed non-existent however, and we would go several (sometimes more than that) days without seeing a fish. That's muskie fishing, but you don't expect that in Canada either I guess, especially on a week-long trip. This is very close to the area where Gene Borucki caught his big muskie which I think his was like 57 lbs. or something like that. So definitely big fish water but can be difficult. I definitely believe it is a lower density area compared to some of the other places mentioned. |
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| Good fish in Esox itself.Many lakes in that area not mentioned and not often fished,even one that used to be discussed frequently.Heck 25-30 years ago some lakes in that area were fished a lot with 'big' results.Anyone remember the Burger Bros?Recall the big fish they caught?(one fly in Lake then-very popular and now never mentioned even though I have a Colorado friend that does well there)
Few will put forth the effort to be honest.I get the 'my boat' thing and even I no longer want to fish out of a 'regular' boat but sure would if younger.Sadly most are trapped by 'gear and chips'.Aah chips(GPS),another wonder that...well I'll quit. |
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Location: north central wisconsin | Anyone spend time on Shoal for Musky? |
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Posts: 304
| Which one?Assume you mean the one attached to the 'Woods' but the one up the Seine river is a muskie haunt as well.Actually has quite a storied muskie history.
As to the Woods attached one,back in my exploring days only the entrance part was open but clearly muskies there.Lotsa muskies in that part of the Woods.(Labyrinth,Cul D Sac etc)The last time I was there a nice 48 incher was on the last reef,center channel,just before entry to Shoal:-)
I have no current info except heard there is a nice Resort in there now which caters to pike/smallmouth guys.Not sure.
Lotsa big fish in/from the other Shoal. |
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Posts: 72
| dickP - 4/12/2023 5:54 AM
Good fish in Esox itself.Many lakes in that area not mentioned and not often fished,even one that used to be discussed frequently.Heck 25-30 years ago some lakes in that area were fished a lot with 'big' results.Anyone remember the Burger Bros?Recall the big fish they caught?(one fly in Lake then-very popular and now never mentioned even though I have a Colorado friend that does well there)
Few will put forth the effort to be honest.I get the 'my boat' thing and even I no longer want to fish out of a 'regular' boat but sure would if younger.Sadly most are trapped by 'gear and chips'.Aah chips(GPS),another wonder that...well I'll quit.
I've never fished Esox but always drool over some of the structure I've seen boating up to the stretch, but then again I guess I can say that about every classic trout water lake I've fished. The Manitou is arguably my favorite lake I've fished as we always seem to raise some tanks. I don't remember where it's at exactly, but I've always wanted to fish Kay Lake for a fly in. My girlfriend is all about doing the remote rustic fishing adventure(lucky me), and I know the bass would keep her busy at least.
I've also always wanted to try throwing for muskie in Peak Lake. It's a portage at the very bottom of Dinorwic that's also a trout water lake. My buddy and I fish it for bass, but last time we were there he actually raised a muskie on a spinnerbait. The lodge owners tell us no way and that it had to be a pike, but we know what we saw. |
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Posts: 304
| Which one?Assume you mean the one attached to the 'Woods' but the one up the Seine river is a muskie haunt as well.Actually has quite a storied muskie history.
A
Lotsa big fish in/from the other Shoal.
ColdLabatts I'm sure u know what U saw.Had the same comments made to me many times.Many lakes near classic 'trout water' have muskies.Some connected,some not.In fact I can't offhand think of one that doesn't have a 'portage' lake with muskies nearby.Some like Pipestone with multiples.One that i've walked into 4 times and never failed to catch at least one decent muskie out of a small rowboat.And today with GPS... good god what I'd do now.
Couple comments for u:hang onto that girlfriend!!Finally as to Dinorwic,not only good nearby lakes without even considering the 'Goon' but big fish.Big!!
One of my 'giants' seen was in the mouth of Dinorwic/Goon channel.A 'net' story my wife and I still avoid discussing after 43 years.
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| Sorry,not sure how I managed that 'combo' post. |
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| Heheh... I've got one of those. Eagle lake, maybe 10 years ago... First trip with my now wife. I put her through the paces all summer long, told her everything I could think of, spent many days with her casting lures in places with no muskies, bought her all the gear, clothes, you name it. Few days into the trip, she's good. 45" under her belt, getting the hang of figure 8's, keeping up with the boys. I'm up front, fishing one of the many reefs out East, clear day light chop. I throw a cast, here comes a blondie. To date the largest fish I have ever seen. Wider than my boots. Coming in hot, gills flaring, this one's gonna eat. I speed up, she's right on it. I speed up again she's still on it, into my first turn... Wife sees what's going on and freaks out. "OH MY GOD!! YOU GOT HER, YOU GOT HER!!!" jumping up and down in the boat... That fish shot off like a firecracker. Left a poop cloud in the water right next to the boat. Scared the crap out of it she did.
She still cries when I bring it up, so I don't. But yeah, who knows if that fish woulda made it to the net or not, but that fish was coming to eat, and I've only seen one that came close to that size and that one was 53.5" |
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| Yeh,never knowing hurts. |
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| Muskies swim in water and sometimes there's water in places that didn't have water, then get hooked other water and before you know it and after the water retreats we have Muskies living in a place they didn't live before. then you have man and buckets. And the same thing happens with Northerns except you'll never get rid of them once that happens. |
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Location: north central wisconsin | dickP - 4/23/2023 4:00 PM
Which one?Assume you mean the one attached to the 'Woods' but the one up the Seine river is a muskie haunt as well.Actually has quite a storied muskie history.
As to the Woods attached one,back in my exploring days only the entrance part was open but clearly muskies there.Lotsa muskies in that part of the Woods.(Labyrinth,Cul D Sac etc)The last time I was there a nice 48 incher was on the last reef,center channel,just before entry to Shoal:-)
I have no current info except heard there is a nice Resort in there now which caters to pike/smallmouth guys.Not sure.
Lotsa big fish in/from the other Shoal.
Yes, the 'Woods' one. Thought with some of the crazy high water years all stacked together past decade, could be a 'thing'. Fished with a friend of friend on LOTW this winter that lives on Seinne, cool stories so on radar-ish. |
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| Just dawned on me,assuming this is Jason,I'd try both and 'hi' to Monica and the girls. |
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Location: north central wisconsin | dickP - 4/24/2023 10:12 AM
Just dawned on me,assuming this is Jason,I'd try both and 'hi' to Monica and the girls.
Indeed. Girls all say hi, all looking forward to first whole family Canada trip this year. Lauren(middle daughter) is quite the angler/bait maker/tinkerer and has Betsy's old spinnerbait, afraid to use it, but always along(the one with the blade attached to bottom). |
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Posts: 72
| dickP - 4/23/2023 7:18 PM
Which one?Assume you mean the one attached to the 'Woods' but the one up the Seine river is a muskie haunt as well.Actually has quite a storied muskie history.
A
Lotsa big fish in/from the other Shoal.
ColdLabatts I'm sure u know what U saw.Had the same comments made to me many times.Many lakes near classic 'trout water' have muskies.Some connected,some not.In fact I can't offhand think of one that doesn't have a 'portage' lake with muskies nearby.Some like Pipestone with multiples.One that i've walked into 4 times and never failed to catch at least one decent muskie out of a small rowboat.And today with GPS... good god what I'd do now.
Couple comments for u:hang onto that girlfriend!!Finally as to Dinorwic,not only good nearby lakes without even considering the 'Goon' but big fish.Big!!
One of my 'giants' seen was in the mouth of Dinorwic/Goon channel.A 'net' story my wife and I still avoid discussing after 43 years.
I've always wondered about all those portage lakes off Pipestone. So many are connected d by small channels(that Stonedam rock is tricky) that always makes me want to sling muskie baits. The Seine Bay area on Rainy always intrigued me too, but hard to commit to a trip there.
Nice advice on the girlfriend, she'd be happy to hear that lol. Actually Wabigoon/Dinorwic is the first place I took her to a couple years ago. She didn't catch a muskie, but she lost 1 and had another completely jump out of the water trying to eat her fat bastard. She actually cried after that...I felt bad for her. I love Dinorwic though, my personal best is from there....a beautiful leopard pattern one. I don't think we've ever seen a fish where the river dumps in, but did find a stump/tree with the outboard(Oi!). Now that I think of it I haven't seen a muskie in that whole narrows area, but have caught some nice pike. |
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Location: Selkirk, Manitoba | Reef Hawg - 4/24/2023 9:43 AM
dickP - 4/23/2023 4:00 PM
Which one?Assume you mean the one attached to the 'Woods' but the one up the Seine river is a muskie haunt as well.Actually has quite a storied muskie history.
As to the Woods attached one,back in my exploring days only the entrance part was open but clearly muskies there.Lotsa muskies in that part of the Woods.(Labyrinth,Cul D Sac etc)The last time I was there a nice 48 incher was on the last reef,center channel,just before entry to Shoal:-)
I have no current info except heard there is a nice Resort in there now which caters to pike/smallmouth guys.Not sure.
Lotsa big fish in/from the other Shoal.
Yes, the 'Woods' one. Thought with some of the crazy high water years all stacked together past decade, could be a 'thing'. Fished with a friend of friend on LOTW this winter that lives on Seinne, cool stories so on radar-ish.
High water probably didn't change anything as far as musky distribution - probably benefitted the pike more from a reproduction point of view than musky and only increased the pike/musky ratio, but hopefully musky did benefit in real numbers gained. Shoal I would say you would be just taking yourself further away from prime musky waters. If say you were bass fishing, could be worth a few casts on reefs close to the outlet, but low probability. They are basically distributed in the areas DickP alluded to a bit more to the Ptarmigan side - with this area being a low density but bigger average size for musky boated (note: Cul de Sac barbless all species; single hook for LT - check regs thoroughly before fishing any of this area). I would classify it as great place to go for scenery/low cottage development, multi-species: smallies, crappies, pike, lake trout (Shoal itself has some good largemouth too - of interest to us as we don't have easy access to largemouth). I have friend who rents a cabin in the area: Turtle Bay Camp - Clearwater Bay, good for a family or group, bring your own boat.
For musky though the high pike numbers, clear water, low density makes it relatively tough musky fishing compared to a boat ride out of the channel east and down Crow Rock way and south. In relation to the OP - this is one of the areas that probably has a high ratio of 50s per musky boated (the time/effort though relatively high as expected for lake trout waters)
Edited by Angling Oracle 4/29/2023 7:10 PM
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