7/27/2009 The musky bite continues! We've been on a holy terror catching 11 fish in the past two nights! Openings here in the schedule... I do my best to fit everybody in so give me a call.
Monday night was a blast. I was really sad that the Beard family got in a car accident on the way up to fish with me. Car was totalled, but as far as I know, these guys are ok and will be fishing with me again soon. I teamed up with some friends and we put a good old fashioned whooping on the muskies. Fish ate throughout the night, and these hard core guys drove home in the wee hours of the morning to change clothes and go directly to work. We DO NOT quit when the fish are biting!
Fun thing was, everybody caught fish. Most caught two and some even caught three (you're a potlicker Matt). Water is getting warm so we didn't net most of the fish but just took a quick look, popped the hooks and watched them swim away. We like to not stress the fish too much when the water is warm like this as they have a harder time recovering, BUT, we did get some good pictures of a few of them.
Steve, aka "Mr. Muskie" poses with his first fish of the night. As usual, it was a blast fishing with Steve, who is always busy in the boat talking smart or cooking pizzas and keeping us well fed and happy. Steve... I want one of those shirts dang it!
Troy came up to catch his first musky ever, and his sleepless night did not go unrewarded. Troy was the pike and bass king, and got this beautiful spotted musky too which makes him the species king for the night I guess. I met Troy last year at Matt's wedding, had a good time partying with he and his wife Lisa (game warden haha), and had an equally good time fishing with him for the first time. Congrats Troy on your first Mooskie!
Cool thing was, EVERYBODY caught fish, and we were doing so in order. It was Matt's turn, so I ordered him to catch a fish - and while I was staring at him, suddenly his rod loaded up! I'll bet it wasn't even 30 seconds. Matt got big fish of the night award. This thing had a HUGE noggin on it and a dang big fish to boot. Matt knows how to pose with a fish - Damn I wish I could have a photo like this with the 40 pounder I caught last week! Nice job hoover. That fish's head is twice as big as yours... you are a smart fisherman, but just think of what you could do if you had a noggin like that!
Me releasing one...
Happiness is a big fish in the net...
and releasing the big one...
so that You can catch it another day!
Happiness is having good friends to fish and share life with, and of course make memories. Thanks guys for a really cool and fun time!
Sunday night I had the Beard family out. Father Dan, Dan Jr. and Jay. These guys fished numerous days with me last year, and we had a blast. They are back for more this year. It was a busy night with lots of action in the moonlight. It was really fun to see the fish come in following your bait... you could see them plain as day in the moonlite. With the right presentation, they'd eat your bait up right beside the boat. And of course, there are always those that eat out on the cast. Jay got this one on the first cast just after we had moved. Sorta caught me with my pants down if ya know what I mean. But as usual I was ready to spring into action and we got this good looking fish in the net. Jays got the glove on the wrong hand... my fault, and he got bit and gill-raked too. Brother Dan is in the background trying hard to double up.
7/21/2010 Big fish are on the chew. I've got some openings, so call if you want to get out with me.
Muskyin' has been going good lately. Actually, I'd say great. Have been feeling the need to have the "big fish itch" satisfied, so I've been chasing around the countryside fishing some of the great 'big fish' water our state of Minnesota has to offer. Last night did not disappoint. My friend Jeff and I were hard at it after work, and I hooked into a huge fish around sunset - way out at the end of my cast. I use a 9 foot Bulldawg Rod with a heavy action, and it was bowed up big time. I was pulling for all I had, and all this thing was doing was circling the boat out at the end of my cast. It came around 180 degrees, and then went "stiff" on me, and I began dragging it to the boat sideways. The fish was just a little hard to see with the glare on the water, and when I asked if he was ready, Jeff says "I can't see it...", which didn't leave me feeling real confident (haha), but as the fish came within reach, I saw him begin to scoop, and his timing was right on. The big girl was in the net, and then she was mad, realizing that she had been "had" again. Jeff was remarking that "this is a really, really big fish... and it's still green" while I was getting the boat cleaned up, measuring stuff out, tools and cameras ready, and mentally preparing myself for handling the beast. Then I leaned over the side of the boat for a look. HOLY CRAP! Had no idea before it was THAT big! I girthed it at 24 inches, then said nuts to the glove and grabbed her bare handed and hoisted her in. Had a momentary pause there at the gunwale... this fish was heavy! Got her on the bump board... 53 x 24, and lots of girth through much of the length of the fish. Next was trying to "strike the pose", and honestly, this is just not my strong point. My arms are very weak with arthritis, and with the strain of fishing day after day. I simply just am not strong enough to hold a 40 pound fish for very long, which is a good thing for the musky I guess. I am most grateful that I am strong enough to catch them, and that's the main thing anyway!
We got two shots of me holding the fish up high.
Then tried to photograph it sideways, but the best I could do was lay the head up on my left shoulder and hold the tail out toward Jeff. No strength left in that arm!
Finally, I wound up with it on my lap, which really didn't do the fish justice either. Then a couple of release shots, and she was on her way. Thanks to Jeff for the good company, and for being a good net man. We celebrated with the Lakemaid beer I had on ice in the cooler. "Miss Musky" was saved for me. Jeff had to settle for "Miss Salmon."
Also, the night before, my good friend Brent came up with his first ever figure 8 fish, caught right at boatside around first dark. This fish was a nice healthy one too, and Brent was well deserving as he had certainly paid his dues for this one. Congrats Brent.
7/15/2010 After returning from Manitoba, we got right down to business and started catching muskies in some of our Brainerd area lakes. We've had a pretty good night bite going, and caught fish on two of the last three trips. Have also been having some fun catching bass with a couple of groups over the past week or so. The largemouth have been eating up the spinnerbaits and DT series Rapalas, as well as my favorite, the scum frog... and we've been catching some nice bonus pike. Got caught in some severe weather yesterday... sort of on purpose. Haven't been that drenched-to-the-bone in awhile, which always makes for good adventure. There were power lines down and trees all over the road on the way home, and though some think I'm crazy, I am always left amazed when I am out in this sort of weather as it happens. I'm just the kind of guy who would rather be out in it getting the full experience, than be indoors warm and dry watching it out the window.
Eric with a well earned musky caught in the wee hours of the morning.
Jimmy poses with a nice night fish too. He'll have a good story about the "lure licker" for a long, long time I think.
John and Marcus got a great bass double on the scum frogs...
Lauren and Mick enjoyed a good day on the water.
Uncle Bob caught his first ever pike.
And then had his first ever shore lunch.
Lauren and Aaron posed with a couple of big bass right before the big storm hit!
6/30/2010 I had the pleasure of being in northwestern Manitoba for the past 10 days, camping remotely with a group of 9 guys. It was a strange trip as there was a massive forest fire that swept by the east end of our lake. We later learned that the fire had come within about 5 miles of our position, and that it had burned over 60,000 acres. For about five days, we were "smoked in" with visibilities around 100 yards and a white sky as if it was super foggy, but our lungs were ingesting the smoke and you could feel it. The fish bit though, and we ate walleye, pike, and lake trout to our hearts content. We released walleyes up to 30 inches, and pike up to 42 inches. Some of the lakers we released were 10-15 pounders, which we caught trolling tail-dancers with 6/2 Fireline Crystal. The walleyes bit live bait as well as plastics, and as usual, the pike ate anything you threw at them. It was a fun vacation with some good fishing and some great fellowship.
It was interesting to watch the fire the first day or two, as the smoke rose and seemed to look like a towering thunderhead that created it's own weather systems. In the first two days, we went from this:
to this. Smoked in with about a hundred yard visitility. Having to make sure of where we were at at all times because most landmarks were obscured. Lungs were feeling strange from breathing so much smoke, and on about the fifth day, we had an ash storm before a rain storm came in, the wind switched, and things cleared up again.
But it didn't stop us from catching fish. Here's me with one of my better pike.
PJ getting what he came for... big eyes!
Dave got up early in the morning and was rewarded with this nice walleye.
Charlie went on a walleye rampage catching three hogs one morning.
Luke enjoyed some success whilst the old timers were taking a nap!
John stuck a good one right after Luke...
Lake Trout were a nice diversion. Here's me with the best one I caught.
Dave endured the rain and got a really nice one too...
Bob got some really nice fish, but I was never in the same boat to photograph them. Finally at the end, he caught this big walleye while we were fishing together, and I got his picture without the trademark stogie.
Do walleyes eat plastic? The answer... Uh Huh!
On the last evening, PJ and I brought a load over to the truck, and stopped for a little fishing on the way back to camp. We got back to back 30 inchers... a nice way to end the trip.
We caught 100's of pike, and occasionally caught these interesting "silver pike". They look more like a musky than a pike - and are missing the light spots on a dark background that are typical for a northern pike. This was one of my better ones - sort of a long lanky fish.
Though Dan caught some nice fish, the only photo I got of him was when he was climbing a pine tree trying to retrieve a brand new Rapala. Pastor Randy, aka Hercules, got some nice fish too, but the only photo of him was a "Hogger shot" with a big stringer of walleyes and pike to take home on his last day. Guys, you're gonna have to do a better job of modeling fish for me next year!
6/6/10 It has been really busy lately, with some good success fishing, and lots of events going on. I just returned home from the first musky outing of the season, and it was a success. Would you believe that I boated a fat 44 inch musky on my second cast of the season? And, I caught it the way I enjoy most - right beside the boat on an oval. We enjoyed some quick action as soon as we hit the water, with several other follows, and a 36 inch pike to boot. The fish were hanging in 10-20 feet of water near some balls of baitfish that we located. There was lots of change in lighting today with some heavy cloud cover but occasional breaks and bright sunshine - I sure like fishing when it is like that as these conditions have often meant success. It was also right around moonset when we had our flurry. Then a storm blew through and the wind switched to the east, and that was the end of it.
Here's me with the first musky of the season, caught on a new bait I received from Northland called the "Boobie Trap."
And a nice pike I caught soon after on the same bait.
My good friend Paul Schreiber and I fished the Minnesota Teen Challenge fundraiser tournament yesterday on the Gull Chain. This is the second annual tournament that raises funds for the Brainerd Campus, which is a faith-based drug and alcohol rehabilitation center for men. Last years tournament was an amazing success with over 80 boats and close to $90,000 raised! We are waiting to hear about this years numbers, but looks to me like another great success. Lots of celebreties were involved, as well as many "average joe's", who all got together and raised their own support. It is amazing to see what God can do when people answer the call when He "tugs on your heart strings" as Al calls it, and of course, when everyone works together. I sure enjoy hearing the MTC choir sing, and especially enjoy hearing how God is working in the lives of these men to restore them to something that He always intended. This is a great event and a very satisfying thing to do with your spare time... something some of you might want to consider being involved in next year. I am SURE you won't regret it.
Here, Al Lindner and Sam Anderson share a laugh.
The choir sings...
and the boats line up for weigh in.
My fishing partner Paul is on the edge of his seat waiting to hear how we measured up. Not really. Notice there are no pictures of fish here. It wasn't really about the fish, the fishing, or even really competing hard or winning prizes. It WAS all about a bunch of people who care getting together and doing something worthwhile for the MTC guys.
We've been catching a variety of species, and nice sized fish the past couple of weeks. Good eating sized walleyes, big slab crappies, large numbers of pike and bass, and even some limits of rainbow and brook trout to round things out. The best bass fishing has been on spinnerbaits and scum frogs for us. The northerns have been eating most everything you throw at them, and we've enjoyed walleye success while pitching jigs with plastics. We caught the trout on a basic Lindy Rig with night crawlers. Here's some of the highlights:
Lauren poses with some big crappies we caught one day sight fishing in the pencil reeds
and a nice smallie she caught that day too!
Joe and I pose with a nice limit of trout caught over in the Crosby area.
And my parents enjoyed the trout barbequed on their 51st anniversary while vacationing in their motorhome up on the north shore of Lake Superior.
PJ caught his first rainbow trout and brook trout, and second, and third...
5/19/10 Unfortunately spent the past week or so in the hospital with a strain of Viral Meningitus, so I do not have much to report for our areas fishing opener. I heard a lot of mixed reports from my friends, but I would say that it has been on the slow side overall for walleye. I got out last night for a few hours after being freed from the hospital, and caught a bunch of nice pike on the Gull Chain. Going to enjoy the evening today with my daughter trying for some pannies!
Have spent much of the past month turkey hunting with friends and family. It has been a weird season with (it seems) smaller amounts of gobbling than usual and the woods just being overall quiet. I have hunted from down south in the bluff country to back up north here by home. It was the same story, and the same with all my hunting cronies as well. Seemed best to just go to a tried and proven spot, keep you mouth shut (minimize calling) and just sit and be patient. It worked out for my son Ben and I on the first day of our season. Here, Benny admires his mature Tom that he shot at 40 yards.
4/9/10 I recently returned from fishing on Tuesday and Wednesday with my new friend Bill from Wisconsin. The fishing was nothing short of amazing - not so much from the numbers, but from the percentage of fish that were BIG! Tuesday, we caught 78 fish, with 17 fish over 25 inches. Big fish of the day was 29.5 inches. On Wednesday, we tried some new spots, and found something amazing. Of 106 fish that we caught, 51 were over 23 inches. We were leaning over the boat and using a plyers to pop off a 28 incher as if it was "no big deal", and only got the camera out for a true giant, or perhaps a double on 28 inchers. It was nice to "go guided" and not have to worry about the boat control. I was able to fish to my hearts content, and only had to operate an anchor now and then. And, the fish were aggressive enough so that no minnows were needed. We caught all our fish on plastics. Here's some shots of the highlights.
This was my big fish of the trip. 29.75 inches long, with over a 17 inch girth, it weighed just short of 11 pounds on the Bogagrip.
Doubles were a common thing, and the common courtesy of netting the other guys fish soon went south. It became a free-for-all in order to maximize the opportunity, cuz really, we didn't care if we lost a big one. Here, Bill paused to display a pair of golden beauties that we caught at the same time.
... and then it was my turn. I think we put 16 fish in the boat over 25 inches before we caught a smaller one!
4/4/10 Happy Easter to all. He has risen indeed!
I sit here a grateful man, having just recently returned from 14 days camped out on the Rainy River, where more than a dozen of my good friends came up to fish with me. It was a strange year on the river - hard to predict the conditions, and hard to predict the fish. We endured winds up to 40 mph or more and even went airborne with my boat a time or two. There were days when my engines were frozen up, and wind chills were below zero. Fittingly, the last day I fished in my jeans and a t-shirt.
During my stay, the walleyes never did come up in the great numbers that I have seen in the past... perhaps that is yet to come. And the sturgeon were difficult to find as well. But in spite of it all, I tallied numbers yesterday and we caught 508 walleyes and 16 sturgeon. On the super cold day, we caught 6 walleyes, but we also had several days with over 90 fish. Our biggest sturgeon was in the 60-70 pound class.
How about some photos of the highlights!
It was Joe's second trip to the Rainy, and his father Lee's first. They were a couple of tough men, enduring some of the biggest wind and waves I have yet to see on the River (see background). But we bundled up and still did our best, which was 26 walleyes and this upper 50's sturgeon, caught by Lee. It was the biggest fish of his life!
All bundled up, Joe displays one of the biggest walleyes of our two day trip.
Matt came up and it didn't take him long to catch this beauty. It was a cold but beautiful day.
And Matt's uncle Steve was on the sturgeon shortly after.
I tried to keep it to one photo per guy, but this one bears mentioning. Our biggest walleye of the trip, and Matt's heaviest to date. 29.5 inches long, and 17 inches of girth, it's probably the heaviest he has caught. I got this nice release shot.
Craig came up next, and caught this 28 incher on his second cast. He is seen releasing his fish here in the beautiful morning sunlight.
Lauren Dorweiler, his dad Paul, and neighborhood friend Jim came for two days. We put up some great numbers, and caught some big fish as well. Here's Lauren and I with one of several doubles from the day.
Big Paul got this big 28 right under the boat.
And Jim cracked off a 25 and two 26's in short order.
Brent was up, and we put our focus on catching a big sturgeon. In a moment of chaos, we hooked up a double while in the process of cutting up a pizza. Brent's fish almost spooled his smaller baitcaster... to the point where I thought I might have to pull up the anchor. I managed to horse my 58 inch fish in quicker so that I was ready to help Brent capture this 62 x 25.5 incher, the biggest sturgeon of the year thus far!
The last of the fishermen to come up were Paul, Pat and Gary - three friends from Brainerd. We enjoyed a beautiful day on the river, catching about 60 fish and 8 being big ones between 25 and 29 inches. The fish were a little more fussy in the am, but began eating on "the pitch" in the afternoon. Here's Pat with one of three 25 and 26 inchers that he caught.
Gary caught a number of big fish as well. This one was 28 inches, caught in the afternoon while pitching. This is what Gary can do when he stops breaking stuff and gets down to business!
I sure enjoyed our last afternoon, when I was able to finally strip off all the warm clothes! I was messing with the guys about not having a picture of a big one while wearing just a t-shirt. A few casts later, I was holding this 28.75 incher!
3/8/10 Got spring fever? First water to open is river water and it should be here by the tail end of March. If you want a chance to catch a big walleye like this...
or a big sturgeon like this...
then you should give me a call!
2/1/10 Enjoying the winter with some outdoor hunting activities. I just returned from a fun scouting trip out west with my friend Lauren. We were all over Nebraska and South Dakota chasing wylie coyote. The highlight of the trip was when we spotted a yote way out on the prairie. We went over the hill and stashed the pick-up. Then crawled up the hill a bit to get our backs against a fence and telephone pole. On the way, we bumped a bunch of sharptail grouse, and they flew straight away. After I did some rabbit distress calling, here come the grouse back over our heads again. Lauren and I knew that a coyote was coming! And a couple of minutes later, it showed up over the hill-top. A couple of lip-squeeks and our coyote was in position. But it was also coming into our scent wash! It was now or never and Mr. Dorweiler snuffed him out on the spot. Here's Lauren and his victory coyote. He's killed many of them before, but this is the first ever that he's shot that came to the call.
And a different kind of hunting. I haven't been spearing since I was in high school, but I have a friend PJ (also my grouse hunting partner) who has a long family tradition of spearing - PJ invited me to join him this winter, and I have been really enjoying it. We NEVER spear big pike, but try to wait for that perfect eater that is about 4 pounds (and often it's a long wait). But we also spear whitefish and they are delicious smoked. Here's PJ after a successful morning spearing whitey's.
1/15/2009 Reminiscing about the season now past. I just scrolled down this page through all the reports and fish pictures that were posted in 2009. Wow, alot of fish were caught! Really big walleye and sturgeon from the Rainy River in the spring. Beautiful large and smallmouth bass, walleye and pike caught in the neighborhood in May and June, as well as up in Canada. AND of course the tremendous musky fishing we had. It was the best year ever as my boat partners and I landed over 100 fish, more than any season thus far, and not bad I think... for being "just a part-time guide."
I definitely grew as a musky fisherman... learned a bunch of new techniques that really produced for me as well as some new water that should be productive for the future. I met some really, really cool people in my new clients, and enjoyed reconnecting with some past loyal clients and good old friends.
Some caught a first fish. Others caught a new personal best. And then there were those fish of a lifetime. Man, I love it all and just never seem to tire of it. I can still see all these people in my mind... their faces lit up as they hold these beautiful fish. Heck, just thinking about it makes me hungry for open water and 2010! I am ready and booking for the upcoming season - so give me a call anytime and lets plan a trip.
Now preparing for the upcoming season as I'll be doing the usual... fishing the Rainy and the Mississippi this spring. As with last year, I hope to be camped out on the Rainy for at least a week or two around the beginning of April. And before we know it, we'll be doing alot of turkey hunting this spring all over the state of Minnesota. Really looking forward to both events!
12/29/09 I have this problem that happens every year in the fall, and that is the struggle of whether to fish or hunt? Truth is, I like to hunt just as much as I like to fish... if not more. And so I typically juggle the two, but this year, I hunted more than I fished, which was just fine. My plan this year was to stay close to home and hit the grouse hunting hard since their numbers are up. And as usual, I had the quest for that big buck. My grouse hunting partner and I set a goal of shooting 100 grouse this year, and fell just short at 92 birds. I believe we would have made our goals too, but for the big snowfalls that occurred at the end of December, which really concentrated the grouse down to some very small areas and made walking tremendously tough for some past middle aged guys like us! I gotta say it was my best wing-shooting season in years. Throwing in a couple of day trips down south for roosters was the icing on the cake. Here's PJ with the last grouse of the year... shot in deep snow in that thick swampy stuff you see in the background.
12/19/2009 Quite possibly my highlight of the season as I just love to hunt mature whitetails! I shot this one in the waning days of the bow season. I had been hunting this one, and other deer like him or larger without success since the beginning of the bow season and throughout the gun season. As I sat my stand on this cold morning, I was amazed to see him running down my trail with his nose on the ground... still chasing or seeking for one last desperate opportunity to breed. I stopped him at 8 yards, but it all happened so fast, I got a really poor hit. I left this buck alone for 4 hours, and then took up the trail with my good friend Gary. The story is a long one, with many twists and turns as well as many highs and lows. The bottom line is, in the failing daylight, I made one last desperate attempt to get this buck by driving it past Gary, and our plan worked. Gary made an incredible shot - threading the needle at 37 yards and finishing the buck in his tracks! This is one whitetail hunt that I will never forget. Never would have gotten it without Gary. Lesson: never give up!
10/23/2009 I still have a few dates left for this fall in case you're up for one last monster quest before freeze-up. We're still getting some good ones!
It has been unusually cold, rainy and windy this October...feels much more like mid to late November. Water temps dropped from the 60's to the 40's faster than I have ever seen before. It has been wet and miserable to fish in at times, but good things have come to those that persevere. I fished yesterday with Matt and Ryan. The rain had let up briefly and after seeing lots of baitfish in the area, I got "one of those feelings". Matt changed baits and shortly after, caught a new personal best fish at 49 inches. This fish put up a great tussle, and turned out to be bigger than any of us thought. Here's Matt with his beautiful musky...
The day before was another good one as we landed two muskies. I was fishing with Steve and his brother Chuck who was visiting from Wisconsin. During the afternoon, a very large fish followed Chuck in initially... hung around for a little bit, and then swam back down to the depths. I had a feeling that this fish was active enough to feed, so we backed up and made another pass. This time she came up from the depths to eat a big bucktail right by the boat. I had time to say "there it is" and the fish attacked. The fish put up a great fight and turned out to be my longest musky of the year at 53 inches. Too bad it did not bite Chucks bait as I would have loved to see him catch it, but I guess that is musky fishing.
And the day before that, I fished with Dave Huston from Iowa. We worked hard that day in some tough conditions to land this one.
A midnight flurry resulted in three fish, and here's Mike Goffman with one of them.
and the night before was a 6 fish night. Here's me posing with the biggest of the 6...
10/7/2009 Yesterday was a cold one... felt more like late November than early October. Temps were down around 40 and the wind was clipping pretty good out of the northwest. Tough on the hands. Good thing the fish were going as adrenaline from action tends to keep a guy warm! Boated three fish yesterday... all at boatside. They were chasing pretty good, and I was surprised by it since the water temps are dropping rapidly. I did not fish on Monday as I watched the Viking/Packer game with my son, but did get out Sunday night and caught three that night as well. Seems the fish are biting both day and night now. Fall is upon us. Time to rack up some numbers and maybe get a big hog too.
10/5/2009 Wow what a day yesterday. It was action packed with fish caught out on the cast as well as the good old boatside pandemonium. All in all we landed 6 muskies. Bigger baits and a slower pace seemed to be the answer yesterday. Not much time for posting pictures as I'm headed back out there shortly to see if we can duplicate.
10/3/2009 Fished the past couple of days with Pete Diego from Nebraska. Pete fished walleye and smallmouth with me early last summer and did really well. This time though, it was all about muskies. The weather left alot to be desired as it rained and blew the entire two days, but Pete and I persevered through it and boated 5 muskies anyway. The coolest was when Pete was burning a bucktail to the boat and hollers "there's one"... it came in boatside and when Pete started to do his circle, the fish just woofed his bait! It turned out to be his biggest freshwater fish to date. And FAT. The musky had a big bass in it's stomach, and it was still eating! Here's Pete with his chubby musky, along with several others we boated while he was here.
9/28/2009 Wow...pretty interesting surfing yesterday in the three to four foot swells on a SMALL lake. Wouldn't have wanted to be on a bigger lake, I do know that! But we did manage to see and catch fish yesterday in spite of it. Tyler got his hands on this one...
The day before we had action both during the day and after dark. This fish chased me in, followed me around the circle and then took off. I cast a second time and here he comes again. This time I turned on the afterburners and that really got this fish excited. After the fourth turn, he decided enough was enough, and when I set the hook... boy did he go berserk! This is one of those rare times when I "take a knee" for the picture. I really like the pose that makes the angler look small and the fish look bigger and the center of attention. Trouble is, my knees are in horrible shape and on the verge of needing to be replaced. My right knee hadn't been bent like this in a long, long time. Just about needed help getting up! So I will have to figure out something else and leave the kneeling pose to you more limber anglers.
Later that night I caught this fish on "pinkie"...the supermodel. The fish T-boned the bait so the blades were hanging out one side of the mouth, and the rear hook was sticking out the other side. Front hook was dead center and came out very nicely.
Day before that was alot of fun. Kevin from Florida was visiting friends in our area, and he and I connected to spend the day together in the boat last Friday. It was Kevin's goal to catch a musky on the fly. It was obvious that he knew what he was doing, and I enjoyed watching him do his thing.
Kevin did have a couple of follows, but did not connect with a musky on his fly rod. I was impressed by his resolve to catch this fish on the fly, but for this time, it was not to be. He did get his hands on one though...
Taking a couple of days off now to recover and catch up from lots of time on the water. Full moon will be upon us soon, and I expect to have some great reports up in the very near future. In the meantime, I will be beginning work part-time at our local Gander Mountain store in Baxter. Come on in and say "Hi" as I'd like to meet you and help you find what you need to make your fall fishing and hunting adventures a success.
9/24/2009 Steve caught this jumbo with me on Tuesday night. I had put an icon on my gps map to mark the biggest fish we had seen earlier in the day. And as we usually do, Steve and I were circling that icon at prime time, which happened to be moonset that night. As it was, moonset occurred just after first dark. Steve hooked up at precisely moonset and believe it or not we had this fish boated in less than 15 seconds! I do love it when a plan comes together.
Earlier that day, Paul was fishing with me. It was his first time musky fishing, and also his first musky catch. He got to see the fish chase his lure, and then eat it at boatside. We saw seven other fish that day, and had one other good opportunity. Here's Paul with his first musky.
And last Sunday was a really good day too. There was a big wind out of the south, and we fished the north side of the lake we were on. We found fish both up shallow as well as off the breakline. 6 fish were spotted. Four fish were hooked. Three fish were landed. And no pictures were taken!
9/19/2009 Fishing remains fantastic as we have been boating a couple of fish most times out, and have been having more opportunities as well. Last night I fished with good friend Matt... pulling an "all nighter" looking for that giant musky of a lifetime. He and I do this several times a year, and, we often come up empty handed, but not last night! At 1:30 am (moon down) Matt hollered "FISH" so I reeled up quickly and dove for the net. What I saw approaching the boat (from the light of our headlamps) was a fish of monsterous proportions, and thankfully I managed to scoop her up on the first try. Matt and I were both extremely jacked-up and shaking like crazy as we set about getting ready to measure and photograph the fish. Here's Matt with his giant 55 x 25.5 musky caught this morning. Congrats Matt on what... your third or fourth fish of a lifetime?! Folks, this is a legitimate 45+ pounder!
Got some really cool release shots too...
I consider myself to be extremely blessed to have friends who share the same passion that I do for this sport. It is this shared passion and deep desire that I have found is so often the basis for great friendships. I believe the good Lord puts these people in our path, and then He blesses us like He blessed Matt and I this morning.
People ask me why the heck I give up the front of my boat (first water) all the time? Truth is, four 55 inchers have been in my boat now, and I haven't caught any of them. Yeah, I'd like to catch a monster like this, and some day I will, but for now, I am completely content to be a part of helping others to accomplish such a rare treat. This musky gave us a thrill of a lifetime, gave Matt a few cuts on his hands, and then proceeded to poop his last meal all over Matt's lap and the rear deck. After the release, it was time for bear hugs and high fives...after all, this is exactly what we set out to do! Matt and I now have another memory that neither of us will ever forget.
And just the morning before, I was out again with Dan, John and Jay...the Beard clan (last name). John got the party started right before moonrise with his new personal best, a really nice 46 incher. This one clamped down way out on the cast, and put up a good fight before we corraled it in the big Beckman. Here's a really good shot of John with his biggest musky to date. John... looking forward to hopefully landing a bigger one yet come October. This is what I like about John...he always looks so stinkin happy in his musky pictures!
Another nice fish caught that same morning on the boatside maneuver...
There is a really good shallow water bite going on right now. Just about all of our recent fish have been caught in 7 feet of water or less. Many fish have come from right up in the junk weeds in two or three feet of water. Some have been way up on flats, and others have been up shallow but near deep water - so make sure to check both. Medium to large bucktails burned FAST over the weedtops have been the ticket during the day, and larger profile bucktails and spinnerbaits rolled SLOW have been the ticket in the dark. The muskies seem to be liking gold or orange during the day, though some of them have been so aggressive (mostly triggered by speed I think) that I wonder if they would have eaten just about anything you had in front of them? With the dark moon, blacks and browns with gold or nickel blades have been producing well at night.
9/13/2009 Getting caught up on reports after a couple of days of much needed rest. Last week was pretty spectacular with 20 muskies boated. I fished again with Dan and his sons Jay and John last Thursday night. We had an action packed trip with four more fish boated. It started out with a number of follows, a couple of nippers, and a couple of hook-ups that were lost. I was getting really frustrated. It was as if the fish were on the verge of something, but just didn't quite have that killer instinct. Then it got dark, and John landed the first fish of the evening when this musky ate his bucktail about 20 feet from the boat. John looks just a little bit thrilled to say the least!
Not long after I caught this fish right beside the boat. I had come in, did a full circle, and was standing there talking to the guys with my bait hanging in the water when it ate! Seriously, this has happened to me so many times... people give me a hard time for catching muskies while vertical jigging a bucktail! But it just goes to show...you never know if a fish is there, and you need to go really slow. Lingering doesn't seem to hurt either!
The moon was rising and we had located a pack of feeding fish! John's first fish had broken "Tyson" right in half, so we put on a new version and it wasn't long before John was back hogging the fish. He hooked this one way out on the cast. Here John appears thrilled as usual, but brother Jay is starting to look... well, he's either really tired or maybe even miffed! You be the judge.
We were getting ready to leave, but oh how I hate leaving when the fish are biting. So I suggest we stay just a little longer and what happens but John hooks up again on "Tyson" while doing his circle next to the boat. Congrats John on your hat trick. I guess it was just your night. Jay, at least you were able to look a little happier for your brother this time! I'm really hoping it will be your turn on our next trip. With all that new gear you guys have, you should be poised to do some serious damage. Here's another great shot of the guys with the last fish of the night.
9/9/09 Had a really fun day yesterday fishing with Dan Beard and his sons John and Jay. Dan is a victim of three recent strokes, and unfortunately also has a broken collar bone (so he couldn't fish)...but he wanted to get out musky fishing with his sons for the first time, and yesterday it became a reality. The action started out early when John hooked up about 2:30 pm but lost the fish. About 5:30 pm we had a hot follow on a harasser (with weeds), and shortly after that, hooked up with this beautiful 47 incher that ate "Goldie Hawn" right at boatside for everyone to see (yes I have this weird habit of naming my baits). Here's a great shot of Dan with his son Jay on the left and John on the right.
I had a feeling that the muskies were going to go again after dark, but the wind was a problem. I spent some time looking for calm water before settling on my spot, and it wasn't long (right after moonrise) that we ran into another pack of fish. I lost the first fish on a boatside strike. Jay lost a second fish that ate at boatside and then got away right at the net. We hooked a third fish on "Tyson" and landed this 41 incher. Here's John and Dan with that fish.
I'm looking forward to hooking up with Dan and the boys tomorrow to see if we can enjoy this success again. And perhaps later in the month we will be spending a couple of days up on lake Vermilion. For me, it was a blast to be included in on this quality time with this father and his two sons.
The night before we hooked up with a couple of muskies as well. The first fish was lost, but we did manage to get our hands on the second one. This one bumped the bait on the way in, and then ate "Pinkie" on the "L-turn" at boatside.
9/7/2009 Another night of great action as we boated 5 more fish...that's 13 fish in the past 3 outings. I was fishing a spot just a little before moonrise, and thinking about moving to another spot for prime time when this 49 incher clobbered my bait way out on the end of the cast.
Since we've been catching many fish in "packs" lately, I told Steve that we'd better stick around and fish this area for awhile. 5...maybe 10 minutes later Steve gets his first fish of the night!
After releasing Steve's fish, we immediately stood up, started casting, and I hooked into another one.
And five minutes after that, another one, which we didn't bother to photograph because we wanted to make as much as we could out of this intense feeding window. But then we went about a half hour without a fish, so I told Steve we were going to circle back around and go through the area where we had caught the previous four fish...hoping to pick up any stragglers. And it wasn't long before I hear some sloshing at the front of the boat and I see Steve grunting and straining with a big fish right at boatside! I got the net as fast as possible and had this huge fish in the net in less than 30 seconds. She was pretty green, but fortunately, she was also pretty docile. I soon found out that she had a treble hook burried where the gills come together under the tongue. I could not see the hooks from underneath to cut them, nor could I see them from inside the mouth. I kept working on the fish for 15 seconds or so, and then let it rest for five minutes with it's head submerged. I finally decided to "go for it" and got a hold of the hooks from the front and pushed them back hard, and they popped loose. The whole ordeal probably took 20 minutes. The good thing was, she didn't bleed at all. I commend Steve for not wanting to take her out of the water for a precise measurement and photo. We didn't want to stress this fish any more than we already had. So we measured it in the water, took a few release shots, and when she got her strengh back, we watched her swim strong down to the bottom.
This was a good learning experience dealing with releasing a fish that was hooked really bad. We took our time, and kept giving the fish time to breathe and keep up it's strength. And, it was another good lesson on capitalizing on the whole "water wolf pack" concept. I had never caught a fish in this place before, but last night, we caught 5 in less than 90 minutes. I will always have a new respect for that place from now on! Here's Steve releasing his 50 incher from last night. Congrats Steve...very happy for ya! You deserved this one. The picture doesn't do Steve's fish justice, but it is nice to fish with a guy who will choose the health of the fish over getting a really good photo.
9/6/2009 Last night was a real hoot as there was good action most of the night. I was on the lake "tag-teaming" with some good friends. We were able to share information about where the fish were and what they wanted and the result was that we landed 6 fish between two boats. Big blades were the ticket. Today the plan is to spend some time with my family for the holiday weekend but we will be back after them tomorrow. I've got a good "musky rash" across the knuckles of both hands. Saw the doctor yesterday for something else and he was really curious what I had done to my hands! I assured him it was self-inflicted. Crazy, yes...but a good thing! Here's the biggest fish from last night.
9/4/2009 A quick report before I head back out after them.
The muskies really had me scratching my head there for a couple of weeks in mid-August, but we are back on them now. Yesterday was a really interesting day. My client Doug and I had numerous opportunities throughout the afternoon and evening, but just couldn't quite deliver. We honestly should have had 3 fish in the boat as two were hooked and lost, and another suicidal fish was there too at boatside wanting to eat. It was one of those days when I get an attitude that I'm not going to leave the lake without having caught a fish. I totally hate leaving after losing fish. I called up Dan, and he came over to fish with me for a few hours after dark. And redemption came! At around 10pm, we ran into a pack of fish, and nailed a couple in short order. Here's Dan, running around in my boat bare-footed in the dark. Kind of dangerous, don't you think?
And another bigger one minutes after the first. Fish seem to be feeding in packs right now, and I've found that after you catch one, you can quite often catch another fish or two by staying right in that same general area. Dan and I got these fish under the light of the moon with some big colored blades.
Ben Jensen and his dad Dave came to fish with me for a few days. We got into the muskies right away with an evening flurry. Unfortunately the cold front that came in last Thursday night and Friday made things difficult, but we still got our hands on some fish. I had a great time with Ben and Dave, and was impressed with their stamina and desire as we fished about 32 hours in three days. Not an easy task for folks who only fish muskies once or twice a year. Ben lost another fish right after this one. I called it the most insane musky I have seen in a long while. At the hookset, it jumped three times in rapid succession, jumping right at the boat. Ben was reeling as fast as he could to keep up, but that crazy fish eventually threw the lure and left us all standing there in shock. That's the stuff memories are made of, and I'm sure Ben will be seeing that fish in his dreams for a long time! Here's Ben with another 'ski that couldn't elude us.
And Dave with a nice pike caught after dark.
And Ben with a nice bonus bass.
Here's me with a well deserved musky. I was scouting for some upcoming guide trips. A couple of friends and I decided to fish before sunrise till after dark one day, trying to locate some fish and figure out what they wanted to eat and when. We did locate five fish that day, and had a couple of nippers that just didn't quite eat. But after dark we visited them and did manage to catch this one on a spinnerbait after 17 hours on the water.
8/11/09 The cloudy, foggy, misty weather was great for us this weekend. I have a client, Trent, who has turned out to be a great friend. Trent works construction, and is actually from Nevada, but was in the area (Iowa actually but close enough) and had the weekend off, so we were able to connect and do some hard core musky fishing. Trent and his wife Pam fished a half dozen days with me last year, and they caught some really great pike, bass, and walleye, so I was surprised this year when Trent said right off the bat that he wanted to fish for muskies. Well, it didn't take any arm twisting for me to do that! We hit the water on Friday evening, and within 15 minutes, boated this beauty.
15 minutes later, he was holding another beauty...his new personal best.
The next day the morning started out rough when I lost a fish right beside the boat. But later in the evening, under the same conditions as the day before, with the same lures, and in the same place, we did it again. Another feeding window netted us two more great fish! Here's Trent again displaying the results of all our fun.
And the last fish...a good noggin shot...what Trent calls a "muskosaurus".
Sure enjoyed having Trent up here. He's one of those guys who I enjoy fishing with so much...I kind of get a sinking feeling whenever he leaves because I just don't know when we're going to get to do it again. If you've got a good fishing bud who you don't get to fish with often enough, you'll know what I mean. Trent...hopefully you and Pam can get up here this fall and we can get our hands on some more muskosaurus!
8/4/09We're off to a great start in August with some big fish and some first muskies. I got this hefty 50x22 the other night right at first dark. It stopped my bait dead in it's tracks, and for a moment I thought I was snagged, but then it started to come my way very slowly... fish on! We had some camera issues, and this fish was really heavy. Not one of my better pictures. Oh well, will just have to go get another one.
And 20 minutes later I did. Same scenario. This fish was slightly smaller at 49x21, but still built like a brute. It was one heck of a fun night which I am hoping to duplicate some more this week. Love fishing the full moon period! Will be heading out the door shortly.
Scott got his first musky right off the bat on our trip. It was his first, caught on a showgirl on my little "ultralight" Revo outfit. He and his brother Matt have a little competition going on who has the biggest fish. It was a fun day guys...hopefully we can keep the competition going next summer.
I recently spent 4 days fishing muskies on Lake of the Woods with good friends Steve and Greg from the local Muskies Inc. Brainerd Chapter. We got in on a good pattern that lasted the entire time we were up there. We weren't able to find much action on rock islands, points or reefs, but found the fish active in the cabbage in front of sandy bays. We moved 45 fish while we were up there, and managed to boat 10. All of the muskies were caught on bucktails burned fast over the weedtops. Man...the fish up there are built! We found that we were overestimating the length on just about every fish because any fish we have caught with these kind of girths back home have been so much longer. I was really impressed with how healthy these fish were.
This was my best fish of the trip, a fat 46 incher. It scared the heck out of me when it came out of nowhere and ate right beside the boat.
Greg with his second fish of the trip caught on a DCG. This one bulged up behind his bait and chased it all the way to the boat where it ate on the 8. Really fun to watch the whole thing happen.
Steve caught this nice one on a homemade bucktail, also hooked right beside the boat. It happened so fast, I think we had this one netted in less than 20 seconds.
Would you believe that this fish is only 42 inches long?
Here's Greg's first fish of the trip...the only one we caught on rock structure, but it was close... actually right in front of a sandy, weedy bay.
Steve caught a really nice bonus pike.
And so did Greg!
July has been really fun as I have been all over fishing muskies, big pike, and walleyes. Here's a blow by blow of the action.
Matt with a couple more nice ski's and his traditional pose. He has this down to an art...it's very hard to ever find his hands in a photo. Your eyes immediately go to the fish, and there is rarely anything to distract you from it.
It's been fun getting to know Jeff Andersen recently. Jeff is best known for his domination in a number of tournaments on the PMTT in recent years. He is also a multi-species guide who, like me, has a great passion for musky fishing. I recently guided Jeff (haha) to this stocky fish.
And Heiner from Germany caught his first musky, and biggest fish ever. We got this one speed trolling on a small in-line bucktail.
I had the priviledge of spending about a week up in northwestern Manitoba with my good friend PJ and a number of his good friends from years past. It was great fun roughing it on this very remote canadian shield lake. It was relaxing as we spent plenty of time around camp fellowshipping and taking it easy, but as you will see, we did very well fishing too. We mixed it up, changing fishing partners most days. It was really fun getting to know this group of quality guys. Seven men with a common passion for God and for fishing...it doesn't get much better than this. Guys...I can't wait to do it again!
Brad from Saskatchewan caught his biggest walleye ever, a 29 incher. Brad was a fishing fanatic who wanted to be out at all times of the day, and in any kind of weather. We got very soggy together, twice in one day, but caught some good fish in the process! Best of everything Brad on your upcoming wedding.
Dan caught this beautiful "surprise" laker while trolling a shorline with a jointed rapala for walleyes. Just look at the noggin on that thing!
Dave spent a morning with me fishing for pike. He caught this 33 incher, and netted my best fish of the trip, a 42 incher.
John, PJ and I got in on a great walleye bite just before a storm rolled in. Here's John with a nice walleye.
Toward the end of the trip, we saved a few fish to eat, and a few to take home. Here's John (left) and PJ with a stringer of nice eyes and pike.
Dave (left) and Randy with a nice catch.
And Dave and PJ with a beautiful stringer of 20" walleyes.
These guys put me on some big fish, and helped me to be able to find them on my own as well. I caught a number of really nice walleyes.
And best of all, some really big pike. Here's my longest pike of the trip at 43 inches.
a chunky 37 incher
and my favorite pike of the trip, this 42 incher. This fish was an absolute brute, built thick through the entire length of it's body. I caught it on a jig in a cabbage bed near deep water. This is the very fish I was dreaming about catching!
Early summer was very different as well. Unstable and overall cool weather made fishing more challenging back home too. The water temp went back and forth, but overall remained on the cool side. Still, we managed to get some nice bass, walleye and muskies too. Here's a variety of shots from all species:
Cory Schmidt and I caught some really nice walleye's on Mille Lacs with Northland and Castaic swimbaits. We got a couple with Rapalas and rigs as well. Cory is a writer for In-Fisherman and a rep and writer for several tackle companies. It has been fun getting to know Cory while out chasing the big ones.
Kristine got in on the walleye action.
As did her husband John...
Gary got a big bass on the scum frog fishing in the slop.
Here's Paul and Cory on Paul's birthday with a nice double on smallies.
Me on bass opener with a good one, also on the scum frog.
"Little John" came up with his dad and grandpa and caught some nice walleyes, pike and bass on the Gull chain.
Craig with a nice Mille Lacs eye.
And then we went into musky fishing gear! Here's Joe with his first ski of the season. He caught it on a Llungen bucktail way up on the shallow rocks.
Joe and his dad Lee on fathers day.
Lee hooked a nice bass, only to have it "t-boned" by a 50 inch class musky! We tried to land it for about 20 minutes (and came close) before it finally let go. The bass didn't fare so well...
Good friend Brent with our first night musky of the year...caught on one of his homemade spinnerbait creations.
And "leutenant" Dan with a nice musky caught with a big joe on the throwback.
Matt and I got into the muskies one day in early July. We caught them burning/bulging bucktails over the cabbage tops.
Some more musky action...this one caught on a small harasser with an Abu Garcia Revo. Pretty fun catching these guys on heavy bass gear!
Another fish caught on the Big Joe on the throwback.
It was a very different spring on the Rainy in 2009. High water. Fast water. Muddy water. Fishing was difficult at times, but we still managed to get our share by using heavier jigs than normal, and slow trolling (long lining upstream hovering our jig and minnow just above the bottom. We caught fish in most of our traditional spots. The good thing about tough fishing is that it forces you to open the box and try new presentations and places. We found some current breaks that I had never fished before, and these places really produced the numbers of fish, and some big fish too.
We got some big sturgeon as well. Not the hundred pounder that I was hoping for, but some darn nice fish in the 70-80# class. The sturgeon seemed to be very specific on their location. We had to look hard to find them, but when we did, we got good numbers.
Following are some of the highlights from the 12 days I spent fishing up there.
Here's Joe from Iowa with a great sturgeon shot:
and a nice walleye...
Joe's grandpa Marv with a good eye...
and Marv got some nice sturgies too...
Joe's friend Doug seemed to have the upper hand with the big sturgeon!
He caught at least three big-uns like this!
Longtime high-school buddy Joe Davis came up for a few days. It's always fun trying to get Joe to smile when he has a big chew in!
Here's Joe with his first sturgeon.
Jake is a new friend I met at church. He came up for a tough, windy day on the river, but still got some nice walleye action.
And longtime friend Gary came up with Jake and got himself a nice eye.
Here's Bill Grange (left) and Jim Van Duyn with Jim's biggest fish ever. It put up a big fight on his walleye rig.
Cory came up for his first every Rainy River trip. Despite having a broken down big engine, we managed to have one of the best days of the year with 52 walleyes and 15 sturgeon. All of this done with only an electric motor, and all within one small area.
Here's Cory's friend Lance with a nice fish of each species...
Jerry got a new personal best walleye.
And they even allowed me to tie my own personal best walleye at 31 inches.
I recently had a boo-boo and lost four years worth of fishing reports for good. I have re-built what you see above this afternoon for 2009, but thought I would add a few of the "biggest and best" from past years. These fish bear mentioning. Hope you enjoy these shots.
Steve Jonesi caught this 30 x 18" walleye with me early season on the Mississippi. Still the biggest walleye ever in my boat at somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 pounds.
This is my personal longest fish caught in 2008 on Mille Lacs on the August full moon.
Matt Holbrook with the biggest musky to date in my boat. This giant was 55 x 26 inches, caught in Mille Lacs right around Thanksgiving in late November.
Another monster from Mille Lacs, this one caught by Gary Gutenkauf. It measured 55 x 21 inches. A bit skinnier fish as it was caught in early July.
Paul Schreiber with a huge smallie from the Whitefish Chain.
And another giant smallie, this one caught "accidentally" while musky fishing. It ate the pacemaker topwater bait over half it's length. What was it thinking?
Another Mille Lacs lunker. This fish was 53 1/2 x 23, almost identical to another fish I caught the morning before but was alone and without a camera.
A monster of a sturgeon caught in the Rainy River in early April. I caught this fish with light spinning tackle in 13 minutes!
Brad Engel from Chicago caught this huge Lake Bemidji musky. It was 55 x 23, and built like a tank for the entire length of a fish. Brad caught it at precisely moonrise on one of the worst cold front days I have ever fished in, where the temperature dropped over 20 degrees from the day before, and we endured 25mph northwest winds. Well worth it though!
This fish was 53 x 21, and was caught again six weeks later by one of my good musky fishing pals. A true testament to catch and release. Oh yeah, notice the moon coming up over the fish's tail.
Tony with the biggest sturgeon ever in my boat. Tony had one heck of a day, catching close to 40 sturgeon in 5 hours. This one was 68 x 29, and weighed in the neighborhood of 90 pounds! Tony had fun handling this one, and was up for a "walleye fishing break" when it was all through.
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