Update July 17

[Jratthelake]

Weather remains an issue. Strong NW winds and drizzle have made fishing uncomfortable but the fish continue to bite. I have been anchoring just off the weeds and pitching jigs with great success, with the winds the way they have been there are limited calm spots to fish so the anchor opens up some other options and some of the windier bays have the more active fish.

I have spent a few hrs over the last couple of days casting for Musky and have had only one follow, again I am sure the low water temps are making things challenging, along with the nasty winds, boat control has been an issue. This morning I casted 5 spots and never saw a fish but picked up a half dozen Pike on a double bladed spinner burned just under the surface.

At some point summer will kick in and things will turn around, its just the way she goes sometimes, keeps things challenging. Keep on casting and please, let those big girls go, we have a great fishery here and we can keep it that way ,harvest selectivly, eat the more abundant 15 and 16 inch walleyes and turn the rest loose,

[john mahr]

hey wayne, john jr and i will be up end of the month. what is the weed situation and the water temps

[Jratthelake]

Hey John, lookin forward to seein you and John Jr, the weeds are good but the water temps are a little low. We are expecting more seasonable weather soon so that should bring up the water temps. See you guys soon.

[CARL]

Hey Wayne, any pictures of the Muskies caught last week, i would love to see a picture of that 51". If not i'm sure we'll see it in the 2010 book! Keep the wildlife pictures coming, they are awsome. Carl

[Jratthelake]

Carl, I am trying to gather up some pics to post, we have had a couple of really nice fish caught in the past couple of days and I can get those photos and I will see if Ed can hook me up with a picture of his fish. A 45 and a 47 inch fish were caught yesterday afternoon and both came from openings in thick slop with spinnerbaits. I should be able to put something up in a day or 2 so keep checkin back.

[Ed Petro]

Hi Wayne,
I had tried to attach a picture of my 51 to this thread, but the file is too large for this format. Therefore, I had sent a copy to Gail with a cc to your gmail address. Hopefully, you can perform some of your magic. As you mentioned, the conditions during the first two weeks of July were far from superior for Muskie fishing. High skies and the lack of wind made it tough in the beginning and when the winds finally turned on so did the fishing. During one of the windiest days (30-50Kph) I took a trip down south of the Barrier Islands and spent the morning casting big crank baits on the reefs. The walleyes were very active as I managed to boat around 20 between 17-and 25 inches. The following day I focused on muskie fishing as we were met by a predominant weather front. After casting a double bladed buck tail I decided to size down a bit to a silver single blade dressed with black marabou. The 51 came off a rocky point in 3 feet of water. In addition during my 10 day trip I also managed to boat two other muskies both measuring 45 inches as well as two nice pike that came in a 40, and 41 inches. During the first part of the trip my wife and I went out with our dear friend Russ where we had a great time pitching plastics onto the shoreline, which yielded a mixed bag 129 fish mainly bass. Don’t over look top water baits as we also found many quality smallies feeding on Mayflies.

Thanks to the staff at WBC for their terrific hospitality and accomodations.

[Dave B]

Ed -- congrats on the 51 and the other 2 fish as well. I like the sound of a picture being so big it can't be attached -- that's a big fish. Thanks for the update. But, could you fill in some of the blanks for me? What were the water temps? How about the weeds? You said the 51 came off the rocks, what about the other 2 fish? Anything else you can think of that might help us solve the muskie riddle? My buddies and I will be up there in a week and a half. Can't wait. Thanks.

[Ed Petro]

Hopefully the picture is attached

[Ed Petro]

Hi Dave,
We had temp readings as high as 70 degrees in WB, and as low as 63 south. One of the 45's came off a reef, and the other was off a rock face. The only decent weeds that I could find were in WB. I went up to Moore Bay and found very few weeds in the areas that are normally abundant. I even made one trip down to Sunset Channel and found it also to be thin. Water was up for a while and the unusually cold spring has weed growth down this year not to mention the appetite of those nasty Rusties. Wherever I found decent weeds I did work them with a grinder but found only a few inactive fish. By the time you get up there the muskies should be established in a summer pattern (I hope). You should work all of the standard places you normally do and not overlook the reefs and humps. We had one muskie chase one of our walleyes up from 20 feet over a deep hump. I did raise one nice fish in the Hades but unfortunately did not have the chance to get back to her during the magical window.

[Jratthelake]

Here it is again only I hope its a little bigger, its a great fish and a great pic.

[Dave B]

Ed -- Thanks for the insight. It's always appreciated. We're 9 days away from our trip, and since I missed last year on LOTW, the excitement level is just about maxed out. The long range forecast doesn't show any big warm up, but we take what we can get. Can't wait to get to camp and start hunting. See you in a little over a week.

[Ed Petro]

Have a great trip up there Dave. May they all be waiting with open mouths. I'll be back up in September and hope to crack a bottle of bubbly on a newer rig. Yep, that's right folks my current Ranger may have seen its last days on the Woods. Time to upsize.