fall trolling trip

[lambeau]

4 weeks
2 days
1 wake-up
zip, ripppp, zippp, rip!

any tips or suggestions for "must-have" items or "must do" techniques?

[dougj@wiktel.com]

I'd follow Frank around!

Also learn your runs, It's not as easy as it looks.

Jakes, and Kraves work for me.

Going to give it some time next week with the cooler temps

Doug Johnson

[dougj@wiktel.com]

Zip, Zip, Rip!

First trolling fish of the year today. Nice fat 42"er, and had another rip that didn't stick. Water temps vary from aropund 57 in the shallow water ares to close to 60 in the deep stuff. If the weather continues to cool I would expect things to improve.

Doug Johnson

[lambeau]

sweet! hoping it stays cool to get those water temps down below 50.

Saint and i will be on the road heading north 3 weeks from today...

[dpear]

Sorry,you'll be too late.I expect freeze up tomorrow.When Frankie and I came through the cribs about an hour ago the wind was 45mph plus(moved the Ranger while on plane)and the interior was slowly turning white.:(

[dougj@wiktel.com]

Another one today in the AM.

Dick, You're in. I thought you liked the wind. Gusting to around 50 right now. They should be stacked up on those "WINDY" points.

Doug J

[Frank Walsh]

Not to mention the hail slamming us in the head. Hard to believe the screaming wind turning a planing Ranger 45 degrees in the shelter of French Portage Narrows.

The only good part of the wind today is that it toppled a large Spruce tree that I had no idea how I was going to safely remove. Did minimal damage to the surrounding trees, and none to the buildings. Wind was screaming so hard we never heard the tree come down.



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[dpear]

I love the wind and I'd be catching them stacked up SOBs except my anchor won't hold on them points.On the other hand,when it snows,I prefer hunting and thats were I'm heading.
Frankie hopefully bought a lotto ticket tonight.It's been hiis lucky day in 2 respects,the tree and.....well the 2nd has to remain a secret.:)
Man a special thanks and kudos go to the power company guys.Our power went out about 3 hours ago and somehow they got to the Angle,presumably boated out here somehow in this 47 knot wind and then got us up and going in the dark.Above and beyond!THANKS!!!!!!!!

[dougj@wiktel.com]

Yes, it did get a little windy. My anchor wouldn't hold either. This from the Flag Island NOAA weather site.

21 16:34 NW 52 G 61 Mostly Cloudy and Windy SCT024 SCT043 BKN085 45 34 66% 33 NA 29.81 NA

Notice the gusts to 61, which I suspect would put us right in there with Huricane Isaac. Where is FEMA when we need it?

Good luck with the birds and the deer!

Doug J

[lambeau]

sounds like good cribbage weather...

[dpear]

This afternoon I proved ignorance is bliss.About 3:30 the wind was down a bit so decided to go troll a few hours.Ended up catching 3,yes 3.Two smallish ones and one that was a tad over 49 inches.A big,very white,fatty.All I did was bang Jakes into points and tips of reefs.Repeatedly.Caught 2 decent pike as well.
Man that was so easy it actually was fun.Barely got out of my seat the whole time-except to net the biggie.Released the other 2 just sitting behind the wheel.I didn't have my camera but Frankie had me use my phone camera-my 'smart' phone camera.(another oxymoron as applied to me)Well it worked,sort of.At least as good as my normal pics.:rolleyes:
Anyway Doug I am off hunting now but hope you and all trollers have a great Fall.If this afternoon is any indication,it sure should be.

[dpear]

A lil bird(carrier pidgeon)just told me the head guru/honcho on here is banging some numbers and nice ones.Reports?Early Fall?Temps?

[Frank Walsh]

Just got back. We were away for a few days. Not sure what's going on right now. Weather has been quite warm and stable, so the fish may have moved back shallow. Weather has been incredibly beautiful.

I was waiting to get my hands on this picture before posting. Move over Jace Loge for bragging rights for your first musky. Below is 83 year old Chuck McNeil with his first musky. A chunky 49 incher. He also got his second one, but not nearly as impressive. Nasty weather returns later this week, so there will be no decision to make.



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[lambeau]

great first fish, and a good picture too!

the forecast for the next week looks N-A-S-T-Y! cold and precip and wind?
it'll be interesting to watch the water temps this week.
can't wait to get up there, only 12 days to go...

[Fisher]

Do you think with the cool down starting there will be a good trolling bite come saturday and sunday, only weekend we can get away this year so going to go for it, just curious on your thoughts is it will kick into gear agian?
Thanks

[Frank Walsh]

With the weather forecast for the next few days, my gut feeling is yes.

However, if I am right, it would be the first time.

[dpear]

"However, if I am right, it would be the first time."

Second time I'd say.
I see you could get 10 inches of snow and winds to 40.That will definitely change something.

[dougj@wiktel.com]

Just remember that the wind (and snow) is your friend! Should be an interesting couple of days.

Doug Johnson

[dpear]

Just remember that the wind (and snow) is your friend! Should be an interesting couple of days.

Doug Johnson

I envy you guys,they'll be stacked on the points again.Great day for row trolling,wish I was there!

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Oak+Island&state=MN&site=FGF&textField1=49.31&textField2=-94.8497&e=0

I'll have to settle for fast and furious waterfowling.

[Frank Walsh]

I have never had a day I would not go out, but this would be it. Winds at 42 mph and driving rain. Dogs would not go out this morning. Still awaiting the snow!

[Frank Walsh]

Snow pretty much missed us, but not the winds. Down to a comfortable 30 mph.. Water temps at 53-54 degrees.

[dougj@wiktel.com]

Lots of snow from Sprague to around 525. Went back to the Angle again today, with high hopes, but found out there's no power again. A call to REA in Roseau
told me that Manitobe Hydro has major problems and the Angle will be with out power till at least late tomorrow afternoon and maybe longer. I went back to Warroad!

The fun of living in God's country!

Doug Johnson

[Frank Walsh]

Power just came back on. Hopefully for good. Nice and quiet with the generator finally resting, but I'm not complaining. Would have been horrible without it.

Took a ride to Young's Bay this morning, and what a shock. Water temperature was 48 degrees. Guess the snow and wind really took it's toll. Might just have to try fishing tomorrow.

[Frank Walsh]

Danny Gagner accidently caught a muskie while walleye fishing last fall, and it gave him the bug. Came out yesterday for his first attempt to target muskie, and oops, a super fat 53 incher caught trolling. His buddy did catch a 40 as well.

Wonder just who got hooked more?????? I'll tell you exactly where he caught the fish. It was right by....... Oops, power went out again.




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[dpear]

Wow,congrats to Danny!Perhaps he should retire now-save himself a pile of money.
Also crop his pics a bit maybe.:p

[lambeau]

5 days and a wakeup until we hit Oak Island for a week of testing out our cold weather clothing.
We'll have enough crock-pot food for the whole camp every night, so all are welcome!

[dpear]

For me too?All I can eat?

Mike don't pull a 'Go Pro' like Trevor in those temps.:)

[Fisher]

Man awesome fish, we were out Sat. and Sun. one small one on Sat. and nothing on Sunday. Way slower than we expected and tried a bit of everything, casting, trolling, jigging.

[dougj@wiktel.com]

Two today, one dandy and lost another that looked big. Cool and wet, Water temps in the high 40's

Doug Johnson

[fishwizard]

I'm going to be at Frank's this Thursday through Monday. Looking for a fall Piggy. Hopefully one that can ring bells. I just picked up a couple 12" DDD's for the trip. They are big, and so I'm a little nervous that I won't have what it takes to twitch them all day like I do the regular size ones. No pain, no gain, I guess. I love October.

Ryan

The background of Danny's photo was really trying to pull something from my memory banks, but my computer never works as well as Pearson's. Probably a corrupted hard drive.

[dpear]

"The background of Danny's photo was really trying to pull something from my memory banks, but my computer never works as well as Pearson's. Probably a corrupted hard drive."


Ryan,Your computer won't improve with age,my hard drive is now soft.
Why 'twitch'?Sit back,put your feet up,and hit a rock.

[fishwizard]

Yes, I notice that you spend a great deal of your time sitting back, with your feet up, hitting rocks. I twitch, because I'm too twitchy to sit there and let the boat catch the fish.

Ryan

[fishwizard]

I guess this was a "trolling" thread, but "fall trip" were the important words that stuck out to me. This weekend is supposed to be plenty warm to be able to keep the hands casting the entire time. I will troll if I can no longer feel my hands to cast. I hope it remains dry as well.

Despite the new DDD's I just picked up at $30 a pop, I now have Frank recommending, through another website no less, that I need to now buy plastic Suicks to go with my woodies. Mr. Pearson, I'm sure you were tearing up the muskies on a plastic prototype Suick all summer, without mentioning a word of it to me as well, weren't you. A long, long time ago I'd planned to build a hollow aluminum weedless version of a Suick, but I'm very glad to hear that I can leave that on the drawing board and get me the plastic versions.

Ryan

[musky1969]

Hey Ryan,
The big DDD works great trolling or Casting IMO it was very hard to get it hung up on the rocks trolling and thats a bonus but the there was a day when Carol got 4 on the normal DDD and I blanked on the big one soooooo.
Good luck up there!
Darren

[tompellant]

That is a beauty, hope we can get some when we arrive next week !!:)

[Pikebob]

Heading up your way Friday, will be on the lake Saturday. What are the water temps looking like lately?

Bob

[Frank Walsh]

Who is this???? We have no openings this week.
Probably dropping like crazy today with the weather, but 46 around here, and 48 up north yesterday.

[bozo]

Sweet! So it's still speedo weather. Now, which one pack...camo or blaze orange?

[Frank Walsh]

With your crack, blaze orange is camo.

[lambeau]

What a great week!

It was good to meet some of the other fall die-hards in camp, a few of whom were die-harder than us even. Casting? When you could be sitting down? Weird.

Between me and Saint we managed 12 fish with his 46" our biggest release. Between a few days with Doug a couple years ago, a couple days with Frank this week, and the balance of this trip on our own, we got a good education on trolling the Woods...and managed only one ding in the skeg.
And just ask Frank...my "fish calling" mojo still works, using either one of the point-at-the-rod or pee-off-the-boat techniques.

[lambeau]

some pics...

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[dpear]

Very nice pics.Especially liked the last one,plastic surgury sure can do wonders nowadays.

[Frank Walsh]

Timing is everythig. Fish have really turned on. Some guy we won't mention went out on Saturday at noon, and got seven. Jeff's friend Tom got a super fat 47". And quite a few, and I mean quite a few between 45"-50" between Saturday and Sunday for everyone else. Not a skunk ( a Ruhmannism) in the place. Not a one in Pearson's place I might add. Me.... I had to make an unscheduled trip to town yesterday.

[JBlanck]

Timing is everythig. Fish have really turned on. Some guy we won't mention went out on Saturday at noon, and got seven. Jeff's friend Tom got a super fat 47". And quite a few, and I mean quite a few between 45"-50" between Saturday and Sunday for everyone else. Not a skunk ( a Ruhmannism) in the place. Not a one in Pearson's place I might add. Me.... I had to make an unscheduled trip to town yesterday.


Nice to hear the fish are moving and Tom and Duane are getting into some. Tell them to throw a photo or two up for us! Is Tom kickin Duane's butt again this year?!!!

Jeff

[Frank Walsh]

They got 5 yesterday up to 49". Only one today.

[fishwizard]

I'm finally getting to my late trip report. Big Thanks to Frank and Laura for another great trip. Overall the weather was great for casting as that's what we spent the entire time doing. We ended up with 10 fish over 4.5 days, and unfortunately the biggest we managed to put it in the net was only 45". My experience with the 12" DDD's was very similar to what Darren described. Put a lot of time with them in the water with only a follow or two for results. At the same time several fish were caught on the regular sized DD's. Actually, I should say that throwing the 12"ers as DDD's was as difficult as I'd expected and they were very easy to over-work. Meaning if you over twitched them they'd roll over too far and often porpoise out of the water. After a day and a half of them kicking my butt and the issues with over-working them I decided to cut the lips down and make them DD's. I was very happy with the results. Much easier to twitch and the action was great. I really couldn't understand why they weren't getting more attention. I'm sure they're fish catchers, but I'll have to wait until next season to prove it.

Good luck to those who still have fishing days ahead of them.

Ryan

[Frank Walsh]

All in all you had a pretty good season Ryan.

Here are Duane's and Tom's fish.............




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[JBlanck]

All in all you had a pretty good season Ryan.

Here are Duane's and Tom's fish.............




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Very nice. Couldn't happen to better guys. Hopefully, the bite keeps going for all of you.

Thanks for the reports.

[DSmith]

Just returned last night from another excursion from LOTW. This time we fished with Frank for 4 days of trolling up Muskies and Matt totaled 8, with the biggest being 49", and I only managed 4 Muskies with the biggest being in the low 40's. Frank did not get a Muskie but had fun catching a couple of Walleye. I really got my but kicked this time for Muskies but did manage to get $5.00 from a bet with Matt. Numerous Pike were caught but only one was measured at 38", Matts, because Frank would not bring mine on board to measure them. Something about the smell. Matt and I did get about 2.5 days in of Walleye fishing where I did manage to save face with a 29.5". Time was spent with Minnows both using Jigs and Spinners. The weather was more than we ever had during all the trips I have made. Cold, Wind, Rain, Snow, Sleet, Sun, Fog and lastly Thunder/Lightning. It was bad enough to put the Ranger to dock and wait out the storm. It lasted totally for over 2 hours. Totally wierd. We had to return to Omaha and wait for a few months until we return for ice fishing in January.

Thanks to Laura and Frank for another week to remember. I think that we have another Muskie Fisherman to carry on the tradition.

Dick