Fishing 12/16

[R Findlan]

Went fishing after work for about the last 45 minutes of light and about 30 minutes into dark last night. On the third cast caught a 35.5" muskie, then 5 casts later caught a 38" muskie, then 5 casts later had something hit about half way in then about 7ft from me this musky grabbed the swamp donkee I was using and came out of the water and got off. I got a perfect look at the fish and it was a tiger muskie about 36". This is the first tiger I have ever encountered out of the river, but I saw a guy get one about 25 inches last spring. Red, I was just curious, do you see many tigers out of the river? If you do are they stocked or is there some natural reproduction taking place? After that I expected to get 2 or 3 more musky but instead I didn't see anything except a beaver that wasn't too happy that I was near his den. I was half afraid I was going to snag him after dark because he was swimming laps back and forth in front of me. Just wanted to say again how nice that 48.5" muskie was you guys caught on Saturday. I keep waiting to run into one of those down here.

Reed

[Red Childress]

I think I have seen 1 maybe 2 tigers on this end of the river. They are not stocked in this section of the river. They are the natural happening when a male musky and late-spawning female pike cross paths (as you probably already know). Unless your fish got released into the river somehow, it was a natural tiger. I would love to actually catch one up here. Both of the ones I mentioned were "followers" from years ago.

Yea, that 48.5 was just beautiful. No marks or anything on her. My clients were finesse trolling (rod in hand) around current edges/breaks when the water was cranked up and she ate at 4:15 or so....The follow Stuart had an hour or so earlier was as big or bigger than the 48.5. There was a good feeding window on Saturday for sure.

It was hard to girth her because there was not that pronounced area of fat/egg development area that could easily be seen. She was just thick from head to tail. Hopefully it was a young fish and will become a 50 someday soon.


BTW......Reed, I keep waiting to "run into" a big fish like I saw you holding in the Franklin newspaper. It is on the wall at Wiegel Brothers.:) That fish was over 50, right???

[Red Childress]

Reed,

What is your river temp down there????

[R Findlan]

Red,
I'm not sure what the water temp is here. I need to get a thermometer to start checking. Usually during the week I just fish from shore due to the lack of time and daylight so I don't have a graph to rely on. Do you fish many areas where smaller streams are flowing into the river? I know Howard Wagner targets these spots frequently. I've fished a few just south of Franklin, but haven't had any luck. I tried to fish one Sunday but it was almost completely frozen over right where it was flowing into the river with the river not having any ice. Do you think these spots might not be productive at this time due to the cooler water temps as compared to the river? These spots to me just look amazing when the river is running higher and they seem back up with slack water for a couple of hundred yards.

Reed

[Red Childress]

I really only have 2 creeks large enough to influence the river up here and they both can hold fish at certain times. I don't have to deal with too much muddy water up here like the areas in the SW portion of the river do. The creek mouths can provide warmer water during Spring and cooler water in late summer, which the muskies and pike will seek at times.

Currently, all river fish would enjoy being in warmer water warmer than the current colder river temps. I think the muskies down your way crawl up into those larger tributaries (WHEN THE RIVER IS RUNNING HIGH AND MUDDY) to find cleaner water and less current which, in turn, brings in bait fish. There could be slight temperature differences between the creek water vs. river water.

If you have a limestone tributary with yearly temps in the 55-58 degree range, those areas will be red hot in summer and winter no matter what the river level is.


How big was that musky you were holding in the Franklin paper??? I saw it at Wiegel's.........

[R Findlan]

The fish in the paper was 55" x 23" from June of 2007 out of Georgian Bay. I caught that casting an eagletail the day before the full moon, on the last day of a week trip.

[Red Childress]

That is what I am looking for from the river. Beautiful fish!!!!!

[jah1317]

I hit the waters too in the evening on cussewago and I nailed a fat 14" on a 8" suick... hungry little fella. Forgot to get a girth on him.... I also had a mid 30's fish come up after the same suick a while later but other than a big swirl and a HUGE swing and a miss by me no other action. I gotta tell you I really love fishing in December it's quiet and they are hungry 20+ years of living directly on French Creek and I have never fished in the winter, I feel like a bit of an A$$.

Jacob

[R Findlan]

Red,
I fished last night with no luck but I took a surface temp. It was right around 37 degrees. The water had come up about 1.5ft since the night before with quite a bit more color in the water.

Reed

[Red Childress]

Kinzua increased the outflow last nite to about double of what it was in the AM....1700 cfs to 4100 cfs....I am assuming as the run-off settles down in the Southern waters, Kinzua will begin dumping more.