Waneta Lake Musky Fishing - New Personal Best

[BlueEye]

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.

[Ronix 51]

and i wont be surprised if the next time i go there it seems like the dead sea, that was crazy. We hit the pre front perfectly (with zero clue that we had). Losing 3 fish though will teach me to replace/sharpen hooks more often that is the worst feeling

[Pike Hunter]

WTG!

[Nalod]

Great fishing guys! How did your third guy in the boat do? Oh, that is right...I canceled because I was nervous of the weather (stupid stupid stupid)! I am still glad you guys had such an amazing day with insane numbers and even better sizes

Red October Baits is actually known for some great hardware used. I know they use some of the best hooks and split rings on the market. I am guessing you were using a "through the nose" setup which is known to have a lower hookup rating. Check your rig at the top to see if there is an extra hole (eye) where you can add a split ring and an extra treble hook.

Mark Arena has a great description about this on a youtube video done in 2010 --

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Take a look around the 1 minute mark for a good explanation and a quick demo.

Again, great fishing!

--Joe

[tcon]

Awesome Chad, man I can't imagine the fight those fish must put up. Great day!

Tom

[Ronix 51]

Joe,

wouldve been nice for you to come but weve got time. I was using the ninja tube so I didnt think I was going to need 3 hooks but lesson learned haha

[BlueEye]

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.

[LungeLumberLures]

Way to go Chad and Mike .Quantity and Quality all in the same day AWESOME!!!!These fish are definitely coming around. I love it!!

Congrats to both of you on your personal bests very nicely done!

[solgrande]

great day guys-congrats.

sol

[old man]

amazing day! wow! i'll be happy if i get 7 more by november 30th. congrats.

[chowder]

Congrats to all! Surely an amazing day on the water. -Andy

[ray koziatek]

cool ya got some .....maybe ill head up and get a dozen or so ..

[muskybob]

Real nice job Chad, Congrats!!! Thanks for the awesome pics.

[Gator]

Awesome! I grew up fishing Waneta and let me tell you, that lake has some big muskies, but she's hard to persuade to give them up. You guys must have hit a magic window. Or you're just that good

Anyway, you'll remember it forever, that's for sure. Congratulations!

[old man]

i haven't been there this year but after seeing those fish i had to try it again. fished 8 to 2 today.

this is all i could manage.

[johnnywalleye]

great pixs and story..almost willin to put my bow down and keep fishing!!

[zach]

Awesome bud! Amazing fishing and some cool stories to tell!

[pikeopay]

Way to go! nice fish!!!

[esox hunter]

thats awesome!!! i had a day on the same lake in late august that was the same. 13 follow in, 6 hook ups, and 3 in the boat. It was crazy!!!! i was in a atv accident and broke my back. Usually only fish lamoka for pickerel in the early spring, my buddy wanted to try waneta for musky. good decesion, big time!!! went back 5 times after that day and didnt get any musky just a few pickerel and bass

[panfisher]

Esox hunter- Whoa! A beautiful Muskie. Beginners luck! See how things are kinda balanced? Some folks might think (as did I) that that was good payback for hurting your back and then gettin out there. I know your feelin' a little better with that day's results. Good work and keep up the "out of the envelope" rehab program!!

[tflack]

Nice job. How exciting.......

[zach]

Very nice! Congrats! Those Mepps get their fair share of fish!