Waneta lake Muskie hunt.

[Aspiring_Pollack]

On a quest to get a muskie this year. Thought I'd post here as a bit of an online journal.

 

Made it out today from about 8:30am to noon. Fished boy scout camp north to no avail. Third time out this year and not even a follow, throwing bucktails, spinnerbaits, and cranks. Maybe pick up a few glide baits of some sort? Mid to upper 60's for surface temp.

 

Hmm... off to ponder.

 

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[Chowdaire]

I was out yesterday afternoon. Had a follow and got one in the net on a 6” twitch bait in about 10fow.

No size though. Mid to upper 30’s


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[old man]

Stay at it. It’s a good lake when they feel like eating


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[Aspiring_Pollack]

Update: fished today from dawn to about 10:30. South end and up the west side. Still no follows. Looks like algae may have bloomed, lots of particles in the water. 68-70 degree water. Great looking water, just nothing raised. My brother struck out on the bass as well. Few other anglers said they havent had much either. Lake in a transition? Try again tomorrow morning. Shall not be deterred!!!

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[whaler1]

And you will be rewarded!
Looking forward to reading about it.


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[ifishy]

my brother and I have been talking about making the same quest and trying to get a bucket lister in the fall after the the salmon fishing is done.  this lake is within driving distance and we usually get a couple trips in October thru November.  we did it once last year and got poured on.  I wish you best of luck in your quest and hope to see pics from you little bit of luck i'll have my own some day

 

by the way love the screen name.  my boat is the Poleish moments    double pun as fishing pole and a bunch of pollacks who sometimes do just really polish things

[Aspiring_Pollack]

Ifish, thanks. Just trying to be the best I can be, in whatever endeavor i'm involved in. However, if ya can't laugh at yourself along the way, what fun is it? There's a certain amount of humour in this one for sure. Especially 2 Pollacks fighting Waneta whitecaps in a leaky 12' jon boat with a 2 horse!

On that note... struck out again today, as did the nephew. Still no follows from what I can tell, water was pretty churned up though. 66 degrees pretty steady for the short time we had to fish (8-10:30). Went up the east side again. Seems like all the activity on the graph is deep. Probably where the efforts will be focused. Do have some new gear on the way since I could feel my cheapo rod coming apart, so purchased a Chaos Tackle 9' Mh and a new bait or two. Maybe that'll come with some luck?

And on that note, thank you all for your tips and luck sent my way. It's greatly appreciated, and as soon as I connect, come hell...since we already have high water... there will be pics posted!

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[fisherman21]

Try Red October tubes and bondy baits, jig the deep weed edges


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[Aspiring_Pollack]

Update:

Still no muskie. Fished yesterday and today from 4am to about noon. Sunday was east side, today was west side. Water temp is still low, 62-64 depending on where you are in the lake. Water is getting quite dirty though, probably lost a foot of visibility since the first trip. My white bucktail dissapeared from polarized view at about 3 feet, perhaps a bit less. Got a few glide baits, swimbaits, and a bondy so at least get to mix it up a bit next trip. Did get a slammer pickeral though, if there is such a thing, hehe. Maybe that means I'm at least in the ballpark? Only place I havent tried yet is the open basin... thoughts for next time... \M/.

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[whaler1]

You will get it done.  I admire your effort!

[Roys Boys]

I’ve been down there probably 10 times non stop casting from sunrise till noon I’ve landed one in the boat and had probably 30 followers to the boat..

[Tyrrell]

I was there today in my kayak from 6:30 to 5:30. And all I caught was a  Pikeral as well I went up the West side and down the East. Didnt have a visible follow. Tried over weeds along weed edges and drop off. Bucktails glide baits crank baits and a few jigs. 

[Aspiring_Pollack]

At least we're all consistent! Definitely some educated fish. I used to think the pressure came from bass anglers, however all but two boats I've seen were after the muskies. All good though. Seems like its definitely a lake better suited to trolling, I'm just not set up for it, nor am I much of a troller in general. At least not yet...

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[Tyrrell]

It is hard to be confident casting out into open water. But from what I have read and seem to have seen on my fish finder they are out there. Before I move on from an area I will cast out into open water I did have a good fish follow me last year doing it.  

 

[Aspiring_Pollack]

Agreed, but in the same boat. Safe to say they're not biting in the weeds, at least not yet. Next tactic is finding bait in the open water.

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[ifishy]

maybe try cursing the basin and if you see marks doing some vertical jigging?

the fish on the shoreline might see a lot more lures than the ones in open water.  i have read that trolling this time year at high speeds 3-4 mph can be good.  great way to cover a lot of water.  

i'm following this thread closely and will be learning as much as i can from it.  nice to get the perspective of someone else just starting into it.

[muskiemike]

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 

[Aspiring_Pollack]

I'll check out that podcast. I have been listening to FatAZ muskie podcast, and has been pretty interesting, plus theres always Hookshots every two weeks, but can always use more. And nope, no paddle tails. Another one for the list! Hehe. Started on the opener with a bass flippin stick, along with a t60 flatfish and 3 bucktails. Now I have an actual muskie combo and just had to put all the lures in a styrofoam cooler as I ran out of room in my usual box. Figure'd the ol' lady would've had my head by now, but she just sprung for some glide baits as a gift! She gets the fishin' obsession, thankfully.

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[muskiemike]

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. 

[Aspiring_Pollack]

Fished an evening bout and into the night tonight. 5PM to about 12:45. Surface temp was 72. No strikes but did have one nose my spinnerbait as it dangled while i was putting another lure away. Didnt even get a cast out... just put it on, tossed it over to hang. Blades weren't even in the water, just the skirt and ask of a sudden I hear the blades jangle. It's like they're taunting me, hehe. No expert in guestimation but I'd say upper 30" fish. Also found one dead, which sucks, but guess they all die at some point, right?

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[muskiemike]

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 🤪

[Chowdaire]

I fished it on Friday too. Casted in the morning, then trolled around until 14:30 and then casted again for a couple of hours before calling it. Came in with one scale on a hook on my tube and had one rip trolling in 21fow. That’s was all my excitement for the day.


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[Aspiring_Pollack]

Well dang, we're all on a roll!!! Idk, not that i have any experience to go off, but the lake seems pretty slow. Enough of us hitting it you'd think one of us would connect. Other than I'd say its definitely getting pressured. My live fish encounter came from deep water too. Hmmm.... think I know where to focus for the time being.

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[ifishy]

At least you got to see one gets the blood pumping I pulling for ya hope to see some nice pics from this thread you are definitely putting some time in

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[laker1]

Try using a River Run Manta or a Drifter Tackle Hellhound glide bait.

Both have a Great sub surface walk the dog action and are easy to operate with a stiff wire leader. Some guys tweek  their cranks with scent or a small dash of sparkle nail polish.

 

But the most important thing is confidence! You should expect to get bit and you will! 

 

I expect that we will soon see a picture of your trophy.