Boreal Bay - Fishing Report - Sept 27th

[Kevin Nelson]

It looks like Fall is about to arrive in Nestor Falls in the coming week. Kakagi (Crow) Lake starting to drop it's surface temperatures but holding on to 67 degrees yesterday in the main lake area's. Smaller lakes were showing mid 70's, but they should also fall quickly.

Walleye action on Cedartree was great fun and the Walleye's were found in 4-6 foot water just off weed edges.

Northern Pike action on Cedartree also still going strong with a couple big fish sightings, not 100% certain if they were big Pike or Muskies.

Big Bass on Cedartree also biting in the late summer type of weather with a 3 pound Bass being the average size caught.

Today a Lake Trout fisherman found our first 50" Muskie of the year in 110' waters. They actually were able to see the fish hit the lure on the depth finder - very fun. For the longest time they were not sure if it was a big Lake Trout or a Muskie and they did not have a camera in the boat.

Unfortunately, today the Lake Trout were a little too big and ended up costing the guests a healthy fine from the Game Warden. No more then 1 person licensed angler over the 22.1 inch size during the month of September - please remember the September size restrictions to save yourselves from dealing with a fine of roughly $200 per fish.

The Lake Trout are biting very well as our Lake Trout season comes near it's end. I even managed to get in on the Lake Trout action with a 41" monster on Saturday that weighed over 30 pounds. The big trout had a girth of about 24" and it was truly the fish of a lifetime. Posted several pictures of the fish the last couple days. Looks like I have a chance at the biggest Lake Trout for this season - and honestly hoping I come in 2nd place.

Regards,

[Rob Nielsen]

Kevin, in your last Fishing Report you mentioned that a couple of Lake Trout Fishermen nailed a 50" Muskie in 110' of water. Did they get the fish in the boat and did it hit that deep or while they were bringing the bait up to the surface? You would think that because of the thermal cline at about 40'-60' on Crow that the big Ski's would stay above the Lake Trout holes waiting for the smaller Trout to come off the bottom to feed on the Cisco clouds which you can see on your Depth Finders around the thermal cline. What are your thoughts on this matter? Also, if they brought this big Ski up quickly from 110' did the bends kill that fish? Lastly, have you ever seen or heard of big Muskies being in Cedartree? Thanx Rob

[Kevin Nelson]

Hello Rob,

This group of trout guys were jigging and are really good with the high end depth finders - they can watch the lures and the fish coming after them. They were fishing in about 130' waters with bait fish, trout and probably whitefish along the bottom. They saw the fish come up to hit the lure at 110'. Plenty of people tell me the Muskies won't go down that deep, but we have had quite a few guests report Muskie hitting down at 90' or deeper and experienced trolling groups running down riggers with the bait below 90' who find Muskies. If I was targeting Muskies, I would suggest fishing near the thermal cline (around 35-40 feet this summer) as think more fish are near it with some going deep after whitefish and trout and others coming shallow periodically.

The Muskie was caught on 12 pound test monofilament on medium heavy rod. No horsing the 40ish pound fish up with this rig, so the fish came up on it's own terms. They never put the fish in the boat and it swam off slowly. The didn't see it go belly up, so assuming it is fine for another day and I'm sure the fish is going to need some rest before feeling like itself again.

Cedartree has some Muskies. A 44" tiger was caught this summer and a 47" tiger caught a few years ago - we have pictures of some of these Muskies. I have seen some really big fish in Cedartree, they came in low enough to not be certain if Muskie or Northern Pike. Plenty of big Pike in Cedartree also and think a guest caught a 50" Pike in Cedartree a few years back. For targeting Muskies on a week or less time, I would spend my time on Crow or LOTW and if they aren't showing up good on Crow try LOTW. Most of our hardcore Muskie groups will work LOTW of if they aren't seeing the right fish on Crow.

Hope that helps.