BlueEye

Yeah congrats Ed on being the only guy to Wet the Net that day. I'm thinking I will be giving it another try this Sunday. Maybe I'll see you guys out there again?

Had a chance yesterday to fish with Dan Hughes from Lunge Lumber Lures. Thanks again Dan for invite – it was a blast fishing with you! I was really confident going into the trip as it seemed like all the right weather conditions were in place for the making of a good day on the water – overcast skies, pre-frontal, some wind, etc. Unfortunately, musky fishing has a way of humbling you very quickly. On the water at 4:00am and fishing non-stop right through until an hour after sunset with very little to show for our efforts. We had one lazy follow and another hookup that I lost as the fish came airborn. Two other boats out that we knew of and between the two of them only one small musky boated all day. Slow day all around despite what we thought was a good weather setup. The trip was not in vein however, as I really learned a TON from Dan. Nothing beats actual time on the water. Dan is basically to casting what Larry Jones is to trolling. I’m itching now (and I know Dan is too) to get back out there and get some revenge. Persistence and dedication can be tough on days like yesterday but it only takes one good fish to turn the day around so keep them lures wet and plugging away. I’m hoping to make it back out this weekend. Cheers, Chad

Awesome day Dan! glad to see the casting bite is still on. I will be up there on Saturday and Sunday this week hope to see you there. [ Post made via iPhone ]

Thanks for the tip Dan - I actually have those exact gloves already. You are able to cast with them no problems? I just picked up a pair of SEAL SKINZ gloves but will also bring my Ice Armors with me this weekend. Hope to see you down there - let me know which day you plan on making it down there if you go.

Dan, what gloves do u use for casting this time of year? Went out last week and it was 25 degrees in the morning and my hands were freezing. Had to take a break every 5 casts to warm my hands up again. Just curious. Thanks! [ Post made via iPhone ]

Nice going Dan! Glad u were able to meet up with another LOU member. I plan on fishing Chautauqa this weekend sometime. Looks like nice weather. [ Post made via iPhone ]

Nice fish Dan! Another good day for you out there. [ Post made via iPhone ]

Awesome man! Can't wait to see some pics

Larry – Thanks for posting about the harbor! I know I am going to try and get up there this year and do some late fall trolling – never done it before so it will be fun to fish a different body of water. Wet the Net – this time of year I have been paying close attention to water temperature. Below 55 degrees and I start slowing down my retrieves. I don’t go super slow though cause the water clarity is also getting better by the day and you don’t want to give the fish too much time scope out your offering. I’ve also noticed that none of my “loud†color patterns are producing anything right now (not even follows). As the water clarity continues to clear up, I go more and more natural looking (even consider dragging some live bait off the back of the boat). Keep at it man…… you’ll get em! Everyone else - thanks for the kind words! Can't wait to get back out there (most likely this weekend again...) Chad

Nice going Joe! Glad to hear you guys were getting some good action out there.

Decided to head out to Chautauqua as a last minute decision this weekend and see if the great fall musky bite would continue. Well we got off to a TERRIBLE start in that after launching Joe's boat, I went to step on it from the bow and missed my step and took a tumble into the 55 degree water at the end of the Pendergrast Launch...... geeezzzzzzzzz was that a cold shock at 6:30am. Soaked now from my waist down, I found that my iPhone does not do well submerged in freezing water. Looks like I will be buying the new iPhone sooner that I had anticipated. Sorry to anyone who might have called or text me recently as I no longer have a working cell phone at the moment and probably won't until next week sometime. After my morning swim, we proceeded out not wanting to miss the morning bite despite being soaked with no extra clothes in the truck. Well I'm glad we did cause the fall fishing continues to be great this year. First fish we hooked up with a low 40's healthy fish on a Lunge Lumber perch pattern. After a quick release, Joe hooks up with a nice fish and looses it after she came up to the top and did a couple good headshakes on the surface. Joe was upset that he lost that fish but only 10 casts later, he got revenge on a nice 44" ski taken on a largemouth pattern LL. After Joe's fish, I had another follow throwing a black tube over the weed tops but couldn't get any takers. The tube was a Red October Monster tube black with red sparkles - it looked really nice in the water but I need more practice on those as I am still not sure how to work the bait correctly to trigger strikes..... maybe Ronix can give me some advice as he seemed to have no problems getting hits last weekend on them. Anyways, after that fish, I had one more hit and I missed it. It was around noon and my feet were starting to freeze over from falling in the water earlier. I told Joe I'd treat for lunch for if he took me in and stopped at dollar general to let me buy some new drier clothes. He agreed and so we headed to dollar general - I wasn't about to win any fashion awards but at least I was dry and warm for the evening trip. Beggers can't be choosers at this point in time so my only option was a size too big and extra white.... perfect musky fishing shoes! Evening trip started out just good as I hooked into our biggest fish of the day (mid-40's) again throwing the perch patter lunge lumber. Another healthy fish sporting a good belly. Quick pic and release and we had our third fish of the day. Joe lost one more good fish after that one and we called it a day going 3 for 6 with a couple other follows. The water temps are down to 55 degree and the clarity is very good. Natural colors/patterns got all the looks - couldn't get anything on my bright stuff. Also seemed like they wanted the presentations a bit slower now. I tried working several baits fast but only took fish on slower retrieves. Lastly, if you have the choice.... now isn't a good time to go swimming in that lake Pick a warmer month if you have the option and maybe consider packing a spare set of clothes in your truck when you go out this time of year... you never know what can happen out there. Stay dry my friends

Nice fish man!

Thanks guys for the kind words. Joe - great video! Thanks for sharing that..... might be worth a try. Tough call between keeping the tube weedless and getting better hookups. Being weedless was key as we were fishing up in 3-5 feet of water just bumping the tops of these weeds....... I think it triggered some of the hits but loosing them was frustrating so it is a catch 22 there.

Had a chance this weekend to go out and fish Waneta Lake – a lake that I had never had the chance before to fish so thanks again Mike for the opportunity to jump on your boat for a few hours of fishing in the morning. It was a nice change of scenery from my normal trips to Chautauqua and results were nothing short of spectacular! I ended up having my best day numbers wise and also set a personal best size wise. Lunge Lumber Lures, Sledges and Red October Tubes were the hottest lures of the day. We got on the water a little after 7:00am and fished till around 1:00pm before the winds (25-35mph +) & rain came in. It was a great pre-front window and the bite was certainly on. Right away I had a follow on my Lunge Lumber (Largemouth Pattern) and Mike hooked up soon a healthy 38†fish. Then I hooked into a 49†beast on a LL perch pattern and set a new personal best! I knew it was big right away as it felt like I snagged a log and she immediately headed right for deeper water. I hooked the fish in less than 5 feet of water. After a quick picture and safe release, I was still shaking with excitement and could hardly pick my rod up to cast again…….. well I quickly needed to regain my focus cause only 3 casts later with the same bait I hooked another tree stump that started swimming away again! This one was another beauty that measured 46†and was just as FAT as the 49†fish only 3 casts earlier! She came totally air born – amazing to see. After another quick picture and safe release, Mike saw that natural patterns/jerkbaits seemed to be working so he switched over to a nature sledge and on his very first cast with it, hooks up with another fat 44†fish! This was a personal best for Mike. I told him this wasn’t fair cause he didn’t give me a chance to even make a single cast after the last 46†fish (call it fun competition at this point So we finally get ourselves and boat back in order after releasing Mike’s 44†fish and it wasn’t 15 minutes later that Mike hooks up again with a 42†fish. I actually thought he was joking at this point when he said he had one on cause this isn’t how musky fishing is suppose to go….. it felt more like pike fishing. Earlier this year, we boated 6 muskies in a single day fishing Larry Jone’s tournament on Chautauqua so we were going to try and break that record now having 5 fish boated already. Mike switched over to a Red October Tube and hooks into mid-30’s muskie, boated and released quickly tying our personal best numbers wise. What happened next, left Mike and I scratching our heads a bit….. Mike was throwing the same Red October tube (swimbait weight setup switched slowly over the top of the weed beds) and hooks up with another. Fights the fish for 20 seconds and pulls free…….. Couple casts later, Mike hooks up again…… fights the fish for 20 seconds and the fish pulls free. Couple casts later, Mike hooks again for the third time and this one seems to be a bigger fish (heads right to deep water pulling line out)…… 20 second fight and fish pulled free again. Mike had really good hook sets (even double hook sets) into these fish but they just kept pulling free. I had a couple more follows and Mike hooked one more that we boat (mid-30’s fish) and as soon as we netted the fish the hooks fell out of its mouth. Lucky for us, the fish was in the net and we had our 7th of the day (a new personal best numbers wise). Weather was getting ugly at this point and we decided to call it quits then. So I guess my first impression of Waneta Lake was HOLY S#*&@(T!!!!! Personal bests for both Mike and I on size and numbers over the course of a 6 hours……. Ending the day 7 for 10 with a couple other follows. Now that was cool and something I won’t forget for a long time.

Sorry to hear of your loss John - our prayers are with you.

Wow Bill - what a BEAST!!!! Nice going man

Nice going Dan! That was the full moon day and I think you were in the right place, right time with the right lures! Results speak for themselves. I love how big the head is on the 49" fish and how dark looking he is - just awesome! Fall bite continues to be really good out there as we thought it would once the temps dropped to near 60. Keep up the good work sir

Went down to Chautauqua this past Sat – Mon just me and wife to do some fishing (well I did some fishing and Kate did some relaxing and reading and watching me fish). Started out trolling out over 25-35 fow from Irwin Bay to Pendergrast and wasn’t too impressed with how the graph looked (little bait and few big marks). Went zippo for the morning and decided to switch up to casting for the afternoon trip. Water temp was 60 deg. In the morning and warmed to 61.5-62 by afternoon. Started casting around 4:00pm and immediately had a follow on a bucktail up in 5 foot of water. Watched 40†fish follow the lure around the figure twice before deciding he wasn’t going to be fooled today. At that moment I noticed a big full moon just starting to rise to over the horizon and it was like someone had just flipped on the switch to activate these fish. 5 casts later I had another follow. 15 minutes later I hooked up with one and fought it for 30 seconds before it came free. Had a couple more follows and lost another fish as the evening came to an end. No fish in the boat but LOTS of activity. I never really paid attention to moon phases until that evening. It was incredible how as soon as the moon appeared these fish turned right on. I guess I am a believer now….. Next day was more of the same – started out trolling east side of the lake and couldn’t move a rod. Switched up to shallows and casting in the afternoon and again as soon as moon came up the fish went crazy! Several more follows and a big one that hit my trolling motor and scared the daylights out of me (never had that happen before!). Saw a couple muskies chasing bait on the top – really cool stuff! Hooked up with a mid-30’s fish that went swam around the boat once before coming off. Biggest follow I had for the day was up in 5 feet of water (Mayville) on a fish that looked very similar to one I have seen before….. wish I could have got some hooks into her as she was hot on that lure but just missed it before getting spooked off. Did manage a nice fat 42†fish though. Last thing that I noticed that stood out to me was the incredible amount of baitfish I saw just walking out to my dock. Yes, normally I see a few perch and sunfish, etc. but this weekend I saw a great number of crappie, bass, tons of sunfish, and large schools of white perch (dozens at a time) all way up in the shallows and I think that might explain why the muskies were in tight this weekend as well. Weeds are retreating making the shallows even more accessible right now. Jerkbaits and bucktails both worked good. Talked to a couple of friends who also did really well casting that 5-15 foot range. Got a couple texts from Dan this morning (Lunge Lumber Lures) and he is doing really well today and I’d expect the evening bite to be even better.

Found a good video of this behavior: http://news.yahoo.com/video/minneapolis ... 83222.html

Nice report Dan! Glad you were able to get one in the boat. Got the 1-year wedding anniversary this weekend so my next trip down there will have to wait till the following weekend.

Nice report Mike – glad you guys were able to avoid the skunk. I thought Saturday was also setting up to be a good overcast day of fishing but it still proved to be pretty tough. Started at the flats and Joe lost a good fish that straightened the hook out on him. Didn’t see anything after that so we headed south to checkout Pendergrast and were able to raise another fish there and also raised another fish across from Pendergrast on the East side of the lake but couldn’t get any hooks in them. Joe’s new boat isn’t yet rigged up with any trolling gear so casting was our only option for the day….. you won’t hear me complaining though Looking forward to getting back out there soon – water is clearing up nicely (north end of lake anyway) and now we only need the temp to drop down into the lower 60’s upper 50’s to get this fall bite going!

Sweet Rob!!!

Nice report old man! Congrats on the great day Mike and I had luck earlier this year fishing bucktails up in shallower bays (5ft) but the weeds were still down at the time enough to make it fishable.

Happy Birthday Hank! Thanks for all you do for the site - you can have the day off Bob and I will handle the overseas spammers today

That is a nice pike for Cranberry - way to go