Posts: 2753
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Well, its been hot up here- hot weather, not hot fishing. Have only seen one good muskie so far, I'm not even going to hazard putting a length to her here on MF, lets just say very big fish, on a very pressured lake- 4 resorts. Castle Rock has less pressure.
Water temps are 74-76 on west arm, 80-85 on lower east arm.
Cold front w/ thunder storm's tonight & tomorrow, hoping the big girl will have her feed bag on! Heading out now to give her another go!
Have fun!
Al |
Posts: 2753
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | That was the only fish in the net! Found out I have a leaking livewell drain hose connection under the gas tank after I got home. Monday morning - Bill went down & checked the boat, saw the water and turned on the bilge pump, took quite a while to pump it all out. Figured it was coming from a crack in the hull- we found an pretty large unmarked hazard while shoreline trolling in choppy water (no buoy, not on any map), the hard way. Had to get my duck bill push pole w/us standing on the bow to get us off of it.... Here's a satellite shot of where its at- notice the GPS coords in the address.
http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=50.205191&lon=-93.173786&z=17.6&r=0&...
PS- Good tool for exploring new lakes.
Now the bad part: I didn't know the water level was over top the oil tank cap - yup! Monday afternoon ~ headed back to camp off muskie narrows on the east section I get an engine alarm and shutdown - no cell service, so we limp back to camp.
On the way back we get stopped by MNR ~ where the shore lunch site is on the little island past Times Square, one of them asked me why I'm shaking. I have a condition called an essential tremor that I've had since my teens.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001768/
I was taking meds for it, but my doctor took me off them 2 weeks before the trip because my blood pressure was to low ( Now have to figure out new medication). I was very temped to offer the MNR officer up a bit of sarcasm, but decided that it was in our best interest not to do that. I respond that I had an engine alarm and we are trying to make it back to camp. He's asks if the engine will start if I shut it off. I say: "I don't know". Him - "Well shut it off, we'll make sure you get back to camp". Anyway they search the entire boat, I mean every nook & cranny and tackle boxes, etc. Of course we have nothing to hide, no beer, no drugs, etc. The only thing they didn't do was give me a proctology examine.
Well, the engine restarts, but will only run at idle w/o an alarm, we make it back to camp But, guess what? They didn't follow us, so I don't really have to much respect for that MNR officer and his associate. I tell Bill, I want to take the boat out for a test run, if something happens come & get me w/ a camp boat - bring it up on plane - engine alarm & shutdown, restart it & idle/limp back to dock while really listening to the engine, I can hear a clicking that's unusual. Shut it off & pull the motor cover, restart it, clack-clack-clack. Obviously a rod, motor seizes up. Rod gone all in ~10 seconds. Bill tells me the water was up to the oil camp in the morning. Crap, water in the oil, said a bunch of very bad words, fortunately Jazzy was in the cabin. It wasn't his fault, I should have asked how much water when he came back up to the cabin.
We fished the remainder of the trip in a 16' camp boat w/ 20HP Yamaha, no depth finder or trolling motor (Jerry did offer them). But I said no, "We're going to fish old school". It wasn't a money issue, I just figured it would be a good experience for Jazzy, i.e., that you can actually fish without any of the gadgets that we take for granted.
She got to get up close & personal with a mid-fifty fish. Bill was throwing to the point & I was casting to the deeper water, Jazzy was covering in between, she and Bill had been joking about me falling into the lake, because I was standing on the bow seat while casting. She starts giggling, and then laughing. I ask what's so funny? without turning around, she keeps giggling, then stops, I get my lure (hot pink 9" Alien") back to the boat & jig it around a few times because we have been seeing muskies on this spot. I turn around and ask her what's so funny, she says, "that big fish that jsut followed my lure to the boat, it was so funny watching it open & close its jaw's while it was looking at my lure."
I ask which way did it go, she points, and I toss the Alien out there, here she comes - very honest mid-fifty fish, opening her yap & shutting it, but won't eat it. She glides off to deep water, Jazzy watches her and says that's the fish. I tell her to change up her retrieve, by stopping the lure (16cm Zam) & twitching it a little as it get's closer to the boat. About 4-5 cast's later I hear a large splash behind me, turn to see a huge ~8' boil, and Jazzy's grinning from ear to ear and laughing. The stupid fish missed, and I knew then that she was having a great trip.
I'd recommend Jerry & Ellie's Cedar Lake Camp to anyone who want's to fish Cedar Lake. First class operation, no TV's, no radio, you have to bring your own. Jazzy decided we didn't need a radio before we left home. Even though I have one in the boat we never turned it on. They do have wireless Internet, which was great for watching local weather, including radar.
http://www.accuweather.com/en/ca/perrault-falls/p0v/daily-weather-f...
Needless to say, none of us really wanted to leave on Saturday. If you notice, that's a camp boat fish!
oops- had wrong satellite shot - all good now.
Have fun!
Al
Edited by ESOX Maniac 7/30/2012 12:03 PM
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Misc 7-2012 Cedar Lake Trip 013A.jpg (112KB - 125 downloads)
