St. Larry report 8/8-8/11

[JOE ESOX]

Not too many muskie reports lately so here is one.   Spent a long weekend relaxing on the river with the wife and of course looking for big pike and ski's.  Pike fishing was very good.  Lost count after a dozen with many decent ones around ten lbs.   Biggest pike of the trip was 11 lbs on the boga and was caught trolling (all of the bigger ones were caught trolling).  At one point on Friday I had a nice rip trolling a perchbait in 40 FOW.  As I am reeling i feel some weight and my heart starts pounding.... i am thinking muskie!  Get the fish to the boat and it is the biggest pike I have ever seen...maybe 15 lbs.   Wife is ready with the net but the fish went nuts when it saw the boat.  Couple head shakes and it disappeared... heart breaker!   

 

My heartbreak was short lived-  Saturday evening I was out solo trolling a steep drop off and the starboard rod goes nuts.  I grab the rod and immediately realize that this is no pike.  After a decent battle I have a gorgeous St. Lawrence muskie in the beckman...  48.5 inches on the tape.   Of course I am alone and the camera is in the wife's bag.  As luck would have it another boat came over after seeing the battle,  took a pic and emailed it to me.  Nice!    Her tail looks a little stressed in the pic but she was only out of the water for a few seconds and swam off like a bullet.  Did i mention that this fish was gorgeous?  pic does not do her justice.  

 

Great to get a nice muskie in the net as I have not been out this year as much as i would have liked (20 month old son at home) and have also been playin in the big lake with trout/salmon .  Got a high 30's a few weeks ago but that is it so far.  The fall season is fast approaching however and it will soon be game time!   Tight lines

Edited August 12, 2013 by JOE ESOX

[justtracytrolling]

Gorgeous fish...I know what you mean about pics not doing a fish like that justice...they are truly spectacular predators.

justin

[NitroMusky]

Awesome! Glad you were able to put a good fish in the boat after that pike came unbuttoned. Hate heading home thinking about the one that got away. Should be good memories for sure!

[muskiedreams]

Nice!! Even though it would have been nice to land the big pike, it would have been worse to loose the musky. And landing it alone always presents a challenge.

[old man]

Way to go joe! In my book that's the hardest place to catch a muskie. Congrats

[Tigerhunter]

Awesome fish!!!

[JOE ESOX]

damn straight old man. the larry is one of my favorite places for that reason (sounds weird maybe)- but we dont fish muskies cause its easy. i have put many hours in up there and come up empty. the river is absolutely gorgeous... the fact that it is such big water and there are giants swimming there has had me hooked for years. gotta love the experience

Edited August 13, 2013 by JOE ESOX

[Acoustic Guy 11]

Beautiful fish. I lost a monster last year 6 feet from the boat after a good 20 minute battle.

Still gives me nightmares!!

[justtracytrolling]

I can relate to enjoying the challenge. My favorite way to catch stripers is jigging the cape cod canal. Its a steep learning curve! I love walleye fishing otisco as it takes a certain stubborness to keep going back until you learn to succeed. I have very limited experience on The Larry, but it was humbling! Nothing beats a good fish that comes after a lot of hard fishing. My best musky in my mind was no where near my biggest, only 36", and was my first. I swam the susquhanna to fish a gravel bar before I had a boat (no lifejacket...young and dumb). Started 200 yds upstream and let the current take me to it. Caught the fish on my first cast, tied the musky to me, and we swam back. I ended up well downstream, but never felt better about catching a fish.

justin

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[JOE ESOX]

Thanks for the kind words guys.  Justin-  that is a hell of a first muskie story!   Have never fished stripers but that is on my list for sure

[Up-trim]

Nice fish.. I would be very happy with that one...

[panfisher]

Excellent story and beautiful fish......!!

[BP Swing]

Nice work Joe. St Lawrence muskies are the nicest looking muskies on the planet. Muskies are cool looking everywhere but that strain just seems spectacular with the stripes, dots, tigerish appearance. The biggest are there too. Well done.