Went out for only my 2nd time ever targeting musky. Went with my buddy Lew who is an avid and experienced musky fisherman, he took me up to Thaddeus and Ord lakes about an hours drive north of Dryden.

I was kinda ambigous about the whole Musky thing......to be quite honest i did not think i had the patience to cast what seem to me to be giant lures all day with the likelyhood of catching nothing. In the end we did not even get a follow, but i was surprised how quickly the day went, and how the anticipation of a bite was sustained all day.

For me, I think what helped sustain the anticipation was the fact we were catching relatively small fsh (not muskie) on these big spinner baits, crankbaits and jerkbaits. Although i know these big baits catch muskie, it was hard for me to imagine anything going for them...especially some of Lew's homemade contraptions....but even the most outrageously bright coloured , non fish like creations were catching fish.This helped my confidence no end, which helped me believe i could actually catch one....lol...which made me feel like every cast was gonna be the one.

Another spin-off benefit from the day was getting waleye on the large natural and firetiger jerk baits. Again a confidence thing but i'm warming to using hardbaits for walleye more and more, and this trip certanly re-inforced this. I went into a Bass tournament a few weeks ago and during the pre-fish and the tournament itself we caught more walleye on "wigglewarts' than we did bass....maybe should go in for a walleye tounament instead....lol. And whilst fishing local small lake a week ago when the bite was slower than slow, i decided to try the wigglewart and caught fish after fish when live bait could not get a fish for love or money.

So i guess the point of my rambling is...... that even a 'bad days' fishing is a learning opportunity.


Anyway...here's some pics and vids from sundays outing with Lew.



ONE OF THE WALLEYE





SOME OF THE BASS











SOME NORTHERNS

















KINDA COOL GOING THROUGH THE CULVERT CONNECTING THE LAKES




SOME COOL PICTOGRAPHS TOO IN THADDEUS LAKE






Whilst fishing for muskies was fun, these 2 lakes have some awsome bass fishing, we were watching 4 and 5lbers swimmng over the boulders all day...definitely worth a trip again.

nice one Simon ,looks like you and Lew had a top time !! hope you are getting your young man introduced to fishing too , just wondering how the new father and fishing is getting on also it looks decidedly better weather than we are getting mate ...rain and rain and southwesterly rain....after all they didnt call the best rain and wind jacket a sou`wester for sod all !! bring back the gentle easterly`s and sun

Hey Phil, how's it goin mate, you work nights or summat? you always seem to reply at around 12am-2am....lol...or ya just back from the 'ole pub?

Anyways, as for the weather....its awful here too! its been so cold the fish are all confused, water temps are way down on normal, only positive really is the man eating skeeters and blackflies are more subdued. It pee down constantly (with lightning) that say in the report, and every day since.


As for baby/fishing balance....so far so good. I actaully think i fish more often now....its just i dont go as long, that is i used to do a lot of all day missions, now i get out often but for a couple of hours at a time.


The baby (Jack) is gonna be a bruiser, if he inherits my height he's gonna be a rugby player for sure! He's almost triple his birth weight, and a healthy 26" tall now...and cute as all hell. Not getting any fishing done with the lad so far...but it will happen.

Just like his dad with the sungalsses! Nice pike you have there! are those large mouth bass good fighters?

Its good to see another type of Bass, well done.

oops i just looked again, thanks for correcting me. i would love to do a bit of bass fishing.