week of 16-22nd

[RJT]

Steve,

we are heading up saturday the 16th and staying at a friends cabin. I heard musky fishing has been pretty bad the last week or two with this indian summer. looks like temperatures will be dropping this week and closer to average temperatures next week. we have the option to come up the last week in october and are debating. what would your advice be? will you guys still be open through end of october? whenever we do make it up this year, would like to come by and check out your camp as we have never stayed there. Thanks.

[Steve Herbeck]

in 17 yrs i have never seen the lake flat,sunny and 70's+ for close to a week this time of the season,same weather patterns as rest of the mid west and canada,and from all reports i get pretty much the same as far as the fishing goes.if 2-3 weeks ago anyone would have told me this i would have laughed as it was cold avgs in the 40's daytime with nightly frosts ,windy,water temps dropping steadily,etc.
regardless of the time of the season the weather patterns we have seen the past week or so would not have been what i would call anywhere close to ideal musky fishing conditions. weather is everything.
as far as the fishing at least muskies i seen it better for sure but we have still been catching some fish,we only had 3 50's in camp last week fri thru this sat. pm where we're used to typically 1-4 daily at this time even seen 8 boated over 50 in a day one year so ya it's tougher but there were also 40-49" fish boated daily,some big pike to 44",lots of big bass 16-21",several big lakers that attacked musky baits and those fishing walleyes here and there caught plenty of eaters.
bottom line is they don't crawl up into the woods and any cast the fish of a lifetime could happen. just yesterday a fish was lost at the boat ,well lets just say it would have made the whole season,many seasons actually so you can't catch em' unless you got your bait in the water.
to predict what is going to transpire in the next couple weeks is just a crap shoot. you wait to long and mother nature could get ugly or it could stay unseasonably warm who knows at this point. next few days are cooler with a bit of wind,today cloudy with a chance of rain so we'll see how they respond. i guess if you have the option with water temps back up into the mid to high 50's i would wait and cross my fingers i don't get snowed in.

[RJT]

Steve,

Thanks for the response. does it usually take some time for the fish to recover from a warm spell like the one that just past? or will the declining temps get them moving...?

how much do you think the water temps will drop by week’s end with 50's as predicted high and 30's and 40's as overnight lows all week this week? looks like some rain and a little more wind too. we are hoping water temps to be under 50 F as that seems to be the trigger pt for the fish.

thanks again, RJT

[Steve Herbeck]

water temps are 56-58,14 day forecast is a bit cooler after this week with lows at mid 30's and highs 40's-50's but it would still take some time for water temps to drop alot. not sure it really has to once we have now got off flat sunny high pressure weather and water temps just slowly start to drop again like they are. personally i have always liked and done well at the 48-54 degree range casting.
we've just got a few groups in this our last real week (we always closed end of last week previously)but just with a bit of wind yesterday they were moving better than the last 2-3 flat days.the wind will also help stir things up,mix up the surface temps and lower water temps a bit.
so far 3 days this week with really only yesterday having any changes in weather leo's have boated 4 to 46" and lost a big fish yesterday,spano has boated 2 40-42" lost a good fish at boatside with scott j that was 52" range and was fishing with scott m when he had a super fish hit at boatside and got off,koeshalls a 45,46,51 and also lost 2 good fish,paul was trolling with scott m and lost a big fish they never saw but had on for several minutes with 2 big runs and alot of head shakes.
so as you can see take the fish caught last couple days by just a few in camp,add a couple more big fish that got off and it's not a bad start wherever you go.
there's is alot of short hits and nipping going on but fish hard and you get a crack or 2 a day,just got to make em' count

[RJT]

thanks for the responses Steve.

[Steve Herbeck]

wind nw 25 gusting to 35-40 and colder today,water temps 52-54,yesterday koeshalls boated a 50.5,i got out today for the first time this week with sol,we boated 4 ,42,44,47,49 lost or missed 4 more,all basically within site of camp,so you see it's all the weather right now

[RJT]

thanks, keep em coming! decided to head up this weekend. thanks for the great report and boost of confidence. can't wait to get up there.