11/29, 11/30, 12/1

[Red Childress]

Friday and Saturday's musky hunt went pretty well considering how tough the bite has been this Fall. We lost 2 fish on Friday with 1 of them being very big plus we netted a really nice pike. Saturday was a similar day with a big fish in the net and 2 others coming unbuttoned before we had a chance to see them. During the last 10 minutes on Saturday, I managed to net a 33" to close out the day. The big fish was 49" in the photo below.

Sunday was a crap shoot chasing walleye and trout with some crazy weather to fight through. We landed 1 nice trout (20") and 1 barely legal walleye before my crew tapped out at 11. Water temps range between 41 and 43.5.

This past weekend may have been the final trip for 2019. I might chase muskies 1 more time next weekend depending on the weather and if I feel like braving the elements 1 more time. High school basketball tips off this weekend for our household and I hate missing any games.


Here is Tom's personal best from Friday. She ate a Musky Bomb and all the other muskies we lost were on Bombs too.


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[gfishes]

Nice job Red! Looks like you had some luck recently. I've never really jigged the river. I'm assuming you fish the Musky Bomb as you would a Bondy?

I spent last Wednesday through Saturday AM (had to get home for the Buckeye Game!)at the cabin. I put in on Wednesday afternoon and battled the Wind! It might have been one of the least fun fishing experiences I had. It took full thrust down river just to maintain position and at times that still wasn't enough. I gave up after an hr or so and took the boat out. I got a new to me trolling motor from craigslist and decided to install it with my remaining daylight. On Thursday the winds died but the temp also dropped around 20-25 degrees. It seemed to really shut everything down. No fish were seen in about 6 hrs on the river in between turkey fillings.

Friday I spent the first half of the day taking down and cleaning up a several trees on the property. I went back out in the afternoon from about 3 till dark. At 4pm a chunky 38 smashed a raptor on a pause. Always, chaos landing a fish of any size when solo, especially when I leave my net in the stowed up position. Short fish, but made all of the effort worth it and it broke me out of a musky slump. At dark on the ride back to camp I stopped at a walleye spot and caught a 26" eye on a j13 Rapala. All in all, a fun few days, even for just a couple of fish. Still waiting on a fish of any significant size from the river. Been a long minute or two.
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[Red Childress]

Yes, on the Bondy comparison. I have been fishing them at all depths and techniques. Great for burning like a bucktail plus any rubber application can be mimicked with them too. I love casting the open water basins with them because you can throw them a mile and the tail spinner makes some nice noise.

Sound like you have been grinding out a few fish too. Nothing has been easy!

[gfishes]

Cool, I messed around with jigging last summer on LSC. No luck that time, but I will definitely try it again next summer. The deepest stretches in my area are 8-12 ft. I wonder if that is too shallow to try. I feel like I would be seeing the lure at the top of my pulls.

[Red Childress]

You will likely be seeing the bait (in clear water) at the top at that depth but do not be scared. They will smack it if hungry. I think of it as converting a deep fig-8 fish that hasn't been spooked by you or the boat yet. You could jig off the front or back (or middle if you have some wind or current) of boat which would increase the length of your hypotenuse therefore keeping the bait out and away from the boat. Some creative trolling motor techniques can be incorporated to ensure your bait is seen by the fish before the boat ever drifts overhead. These guys are like sharks and a hungry fish will have no problem eating something from 8-12 feet away.

[gfishes]

Very cool, maybe I can give it a try sometime when the conditions are ideal.