Esox Quest 2019

[Musky hunter]

Total of 20 man hours this weekend spent chasing muskies. Only 1 strike, hooked and lost a 40" class fish. Had her to the boat when she rolled up in the line and the leader got behind and below the gill cover. I dropped the rod tip to free the flourocarbon leader and that was all the slack she needed.
Perhaps going barbless is costing me some fish, but I'd rather lose a fish than increase the chance of killing one.
Did also catch and release 1 LMB.

[Musky hunter]

20+/- hours Thursday and Friday. Caught 2 nice pike. Had a 24"-30" er follow to the boat 3 successive retrieves.
We are wondering where the big ones are. Perhaps the cool water (78 F.) has them still staging up away the weed beds. I really don't know.

[Musky hunter]

Son and nephew up this weekend. 33 manhours expended. Nephew had a strike and a follow, I had a cool surface follow last nite but no bite. On the way back to camp a good sized musky broke water in front of the boat, but showed no interest in the bombardment we then rained down on the area. Back this AM and she was there and ready to eat my son's topwater. She's a chubby 45- 48 incher.
After cutting 3 hooks she was returned to fight another day.
Water temp. a comfy79-80 degrees F.

[Musky hunter]

It was a guest weekend with a total of 5 fishing fools, probably 50 total manhours expended.
Only 2 muskies sighted and one was smallish. only fish landed was a northern pike. Of note though, the smallmouths are aggressively hitting large surface plugs. Also of note, our bite may be affected by the schools of fallfish on the rocky bottoms.
The water temp is in the high 70s which seems low for late August.

[Musky hunter]

38 manhours on the 76 degree, wind whipped water produced one nice 45"+musky, a follow by a larger girl sporting a 12" or so lamprey on her head and a somewhat indignant garter snake hiding in my outboard motor housing.

[Musky hunter]

Closing up The MuskyLodge for the year.
Only fished 4 hours. No muskies encountered. Caught 1 SMB on a large plug.Too hot to fish. Water temp dropping.

[Phil]

Hard to believe Summer has slipped by, especially with these warm temos, lately.
Hope you consider the season to have been a good one.

[Musky hunter]

We will be up for a few more weekends of fishing and packing. Lots to do. We have our place thru mid October if the weather holds. We boated 4 muskies which is about average for the 4 of us. I also lost a nice one possibly due to barbless hooks.
We still have some fishing to do but our fall record is dismal. I just don't seem to be able to find what it takes to interest the fish this time of year. We see them on the surface often, but I'm not sure if they're feeding or just sight seeing.

[Musky hunter]

It was the traditional pulling of the boats and docks Columbus Day observance. We got to fish on Monday in the COLD wind and early Tuesday AM. Total time turned out to be about 16 manhours on the 55 degree water.
As every year we could find no muskies where they were all summer, so this year, we fished where they never are and my son nailed his 3rd of the year. Now I wish my boat was still in the water. Oh well, next year......
Phil, please float the pic I sent you this morning.

Nice Fish - here you go.

[Musky hunter]

Memorial Day Weekend brought high water. high winds and low expectations. Saturday was opening day and 3 brave souls did record 2 strong follows, (same fish).
That was about it. We need the rain to stop and the wind to shift from the North.
We also need a new battery for my Merc and several new parts for my trolling motor and a new depth raider to replace the one I left on the bottom.
I believe the fish are feeding just behind the trees that used to be on the edge of the water.

[Musky hunter]

20 manhours fishing. One strike at the boat. 36-40"er. Caught some pike and a couple of bass that thought muskie lures looked good to eat.
They aren't.
Back in a couple of weeks. Need lower. warmer water and NO RAIN.