muskiemike

Very cool ! Great job putting in the work. Nothing wrong with a 48"

Beautiful ! Good for him.

Solid fish

Nice fish ! That out of otisco ? 43 ?

Looking forward to it ! Does Waneta turn over ? For anyone familiar with the lakes history and our temp trends, what do you think the odds are it'll be rolling next weekend during tourney ?

Ellie as a pup on a camping trip to middle saranac

I watched some of the beaver river white water kayaking vids on YouTube while researching...that looks awesomely intense. I would like to do that some day Per fishing we heard from a few sources that "they are in there" but our luck was no better than yours for the few tigers that remain. If returning I would put more time in up by the dam coming from Stillwater. The weather was pretty unsettled. It rained on two occasions each day, this didn't seem to affect the smallies which are plentiful. The water level was low due to an unscheduled dam maintenance which may have had the fish a little off. Overall it was a great trip. It's relatively close to home and the serenity is unbeatable since it's hand launch only. Over the course of four days we saw two canoes from our island site. It's a shame they no longer stock it because I would love to put the time in to learn such a beauty of a water body

Heading up to Moshier Reservoir this weekend to do some camping. Has anybody heard of any tigers coming out of here recently/ever ? Spoke with Dick McDonald from Region 6 DEC today regarding Moshier. He mentioned they don't do well with any sampling types for tigers in there but that seems par for the species. We talked a bit about fluctuating water levels due to dam activity possibly interrupting baitfish spawning and thus forage abundance. I believe the last stocking was 2012 so if we do get any takers they should be a dandy Just curious if anyone fishes it. If it appears a strikeout is inevitable at Moshier, we may take a zip trip over to soft maple to view the scenery and see if we can get lucky. It's interesting how little information there is available online about these bodies of water. Here is a recent Onondaga tiger caught once temps got down a bit. 75 midday this past weekend

Great to hear man 👍. Top water too, thats excellent! Send us the next one too

The 44 and 37 that hit while porpoising

Ate my words last night. Had a virgin in the boat. He's moving to North Carolina in two weeks so we've been on the hunt. This was our third trip. We had previously managed Pike, bass, walleye and unsuccessful boat side tiger misses. 3 hours in it was pretty slow, we had two bass and a walleye trolling. We turn 90 degrees off the weedline into deeper water and his rod bends over drag screaming. I got the other rods in , lowered boat to an Idle. She made some good runs, we could tell it was a nice fish. Till the tip sprung up. Got bait in, one of the trebles was straightened out. That stings. Fast forward an hour to 8pm. We're casting the weedline. I had one come in hot in the murky water and whiff hard on next to the boat. That stings. Couple minutes later buddy exclaims. We can see it's a tiger. His first masquinongy, 34. Mission accomplished ! But we have some daylight lefy. Once we get her released we see one porpoising. I start into telling him how I've never seen one caught when they were doing that. Naturally he launches his bait at her. His second cast after releasing the first fish, the porpoising 37 takes his bait off the top of the water. She wasn't in zombie mode either - very acrobatic with two jumps before we got her in the net. He now has his first and second within 3 casts of each other. 10 minutes later he tells me he saw one surface for a second. I launch a buchertail in the general vicinity. Fish on!! She felt big. She got crazy getting into the 30x28x34" net and my heart stopped a couple times as my partner was not super experienced with netting larger fish but we got it done. 44" tiger. First time boating 3 in one outing and PB. Needless to say we're flying high today.

Aww man ! When I first saw the pic I thought you got a tanker. Double bummer she passed and you didn't get bit. Getting closer though ! I also tried Saturday night 5pm - 1am. First time trying any night fishing this year. We got a decent Pike, couple other follows but no masquinongy in the boat. I talked to few others that got out this weekend as well, seemed to be a slow bite all around... Or we just don't know what we're doing 🤪

Glides can be very effective. A 6" phantom has been my number 2 this year ( I know of a couple skis boated at waneta on them this year too). They take some practice to get a feel for and certainly require more patience vs a bucktail but definitely worth your time.

Stay on em, you'll get bit. Cutting your teeth is definitely a grind. Have you listened to the Ugly Pike podcasts ? I found it helpful to keep me motivated as I was going through the struggles of learning my lake and figuring out how to entice these creatures to bite. I would recommend the John Anderson episodes for some very solid pointers. I found it particularly helpful to hear the afternoon charters are far more productive vs morning charters. Getting up at 4am to catch the "morning bite" can get exhausting but the serenity of the sunrise is great. Are you throwing any paddle tails such as a swimming dawg ? It has been my hot bait this year (different lake) and it's nice because it's easier to throw vs cranks and blades. Keep at it. Check your drags, check your rod tip for any signs of wear, check your leaders. Dont want your first one to end in dissappointment due to equipment failure after all your hard work

Old man pretty much covered it. I would emphasize proper handling and release tools. If you are on Facebook or even LOU it won't take long to find a post with a photo of fish being mishandled per best practice. Upon reading the ensuing comments you may develop a sour taste toward the musky fishing community and sport as a whole. DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT post a picture holding the fish vertically or covered in anything except water/slime unless you are prepared for the ruthless onslaught from keyboard musky release gestapo. Proper handling is most important for the fishes safety but it will save you trouble if you do your best to follow best practice techniques. Surprisingly musky are not hardy like other species. Minimize time out if water (try for 30seconds or less). The big net helps keep her safe while removing the hooks. http://www.steveheiting.com/release-a-musky-right/ The other key I would recommend, if you are casting, do not forget your polarized sunglasses. Musky will often follow your bait right to the boat and you can often trigger a strike by performing a boatside maneuver involving change of speed and/or direction (YouTube musky figure 8). As stated above, Pete Maina offers a wealth of musky tips and experience on all topics. But having a set of polarized sunglasses dramatically improves your ability to spot a following fish and can turn your trip from frustrating to heart racing/successful. I own Amber tint from a gas station . Any polarized are better than none. Per lures. Again for casting. I'm working on getting better at keeping it simple but I think it's important to have multiple triggering mechanisms to present them. I predominantly use the following. Double bladed inline spinner. Single bladed inline spinner.(as stated above) These are arguably the most effective means to catch a musky. And good for fishing over weeds. Dont be afraid to reel as fast as you can (this can trigger a strike) but sometimes they like it slow. Spinnerbait. Need not be huge. Great around weeds. Rubber. I've done well on paddle tail (swimming dawg) this year. But the bulldawg (curly/ twister tail style) is also a fish catcher. Glide (i.e phantom lures, warlock) and or jerk (suick, Fat AZ raptor). Pick a pull & pause style bait. The pause can be quite effective. These may require some practice / research to learn how to use correctly. Cast the weed lines 10-20'. Don't be afraid to cast to the deeper water There are far better trollers on here than I can ever hope to be. Hopefully they chime in. For casting I would recommend smaller lures 5-8" to start. Large lures cost more, are harder to retreive and not necessary to catch big fish. There is endless information available on this forum and the web. Time on water and maintaining a positive musky attitude are the keys to success. Good luck and send us a picture 😎

Nice girthy fish regardless of total length especially out of a yak. My guess would be 41" +/- 2". Always feels better going to work the next day after getting some good slime time !! Nice catch

So how did everyone do ? Let's hear the reports

Bummer. Tiger ?

Anytime I see them it seems they're in zombie mode. I don't even cast at them anymore, they never acted interested. Guess I'll start throwing at them again. At least we know one thing, they are consistently inconsistent. There are no rules with these creatures

Ive seen it a number of times, most frequently with tigers but also with Pike and purebreds. There are "theories". There are two which make the most sense to me: Burping itself to help swallow/digest a recent meal (swim bladder related?) Or oxygen theory. Watch fish in a tank with low O2 go to the top to bubble/gulp air. For some reason the fish could be seeking a better way to get more dissolved O2. Cool to witness for sure. Never had one act interested in any presentation while doing this - they usually ignore it and just turn a little bit but at least you know you're on fish

Have there been any updates on this ? Legislative or catch rate wise for Pike or tigers ?