BlueEye

Awesome fish Upstate - congrats to you and your wife on a real trophy! And kudos for letting her swim away

Hysterical Your stories are great Bob! Thanks for sharing and congrats on the catch & release of that nice night beast

Nice going

Congrats to Mike, Brent & Joe on their fish and special thanks to Capt. Ed (Reel Rippin Charters), Jim Reynolds (Mr. Toothy) and Bob for putting on a great event each year. I have a blast fishing this tourney and meeting all the guys in person and putting some names to faces. This is the only tournament that I have ever fished where the judge boats come around and deliver hot Chili to the participants while they are fishing!

Nice fish guys

It's a blast Brent! If you have a radio on the boat then it's even more fun listening to all the commentary throughout the day. Hope to see some of you guys out there! Look for me trolling in 5 feet of water at 7mph wearing a big cowboy hat 😋 Sent from Lake Ontario United mobile app

Haha I know! Bob is an LOU Sponsor ( http://www.fingerlakestackle.com ) and a very talented painter. He also delivers a story like no other! I feel like I'm there in the action reading this post. Congrats on your giant bud!! Sent from Lake Ontario United mobile app

Nice fish up-trim! Way to go! Sent from Lake Ontario United mobile app

Happy Birthday Hank! You have a great ol' buddy :beer:

Adam - water temps just starting to dip under 65 now on the river Sent from Lake Ontario United mobile app

Haha - upload video to YouTube and then just copy link to forum post. It will post video automatically then in the post. Call me if you need help - I'll come over and help you fix your lake camera as well

Fish looks like a PERFECT Chautauqua specimen... albeit a very large one! Congrats on the giant bud! Sent from Lake Ontario United mobile app

Nice pike fishmaker! Sometimes it only takes one to make the day. Sent from Lake Ontario United mobile app

Nice fish there. Congrats guys! Sent from Lake Ontario United mobile app

Nice northern guys - way to go! Looks like you had a fun time out there.

Guys - thank you all for the kind words! Darryl - I'll definitely pay a visit to the Save the River group next chance I have and make a little donation. This weekend looks like I might be down on Chautauqua. Good luck to each of you if you make it out this weekend. Chad

Hi EsoxAC3 - You are right - looks like the program is run by Save the River. What a great idea that is! Kudos to Save the River and Michael Ringer for partnering up on a program like this. Here is the link for others looking for more information on the Catch and Release program. http://www.savetheriver.org/index.cfm?page=app.programsMuskie You can download the required forms right there as well. Cheers, Chad

Hi Fisherman72 - Pike have come on a wide variety of baits including tubes, bucktails, jerkbaits and spoons (red/white dare devil). Any weedy bay will hold pike up there. Spoons were our best lure for pike recently though - they wanted it slower. Thanks for info on musky release prints EsoxAC3 - I'll look more into that! Chad

Thanks everyone for the kind words. Many hours go into getting that one strike. Don't let the one hour fool ya - it was a very calculated hour that was right at both sunset and moon rise on a full moon cycle. It was the one hour that day you definitely wanted to be musky fishing Sent from Lake Ontario United mobile app

Yeah that was new PB for me Ivan. My previous was 51.5" - this one had it beat by a couple inches. IGFA contender for sure but wife & baby are not members so I don't think it counts. No worries though..... in my heart of hearts, I'm still smiling

Hi EsoxAC3, I've been going up to the islands with the family every year for the last 30+ years now. After the family sold our cottage up there, we usually stay and fish in Alex Bay or Clayton. Many of those years we spent pike/bass fishing or off the docks with worms. These days I try to carry on that family tradition with my own as I keep my boat up in Clayton and will fish from there up to A-Bay. In my own opinion and experiences (and I am by no means an expert so please take all my thoughts with a grain of salt), there is a population of muskies that never leaves the river and there is a greater population that migrates out to the big pond and back in again in the fall. It's not to say you can't catch them in July/Aug but it is certainly more difficult. If you haven't ever fished up there before, I'd highly recommend hiring a guide first time out like Capt. Bob Walters / Capt. Darryl of Water Wolf Charters (who both gave great presentations at Muskies Inc. meeting last year). This past weekend I had the family up there and we had a chance to visit the "Musky Hall of Fame" museum up in Clayton. It's a pretty cool exhibit if you have ever never been and fun for the family. Admission is free and I make a little donation each time I visit. My daughter gets really excited to see the replica mounts Saturday we were out on the water watching the boat races they had going on - boy were those boats loud! After that, I was ready to for some quiet time and momma got to do some worm fishing while daddy played with baby for a bit. After we went through our allotment of worms for the day, mommy got to play with baby and daddy got to try a couple casts. I only had about an hour to fish that day but it wasn't long before I felt that unmistakable tug on the end of your line that feels like you snagged bottom. I knew what it was right away, just didn't know how big till it came fully air born out of water a couple times. As mommy held baby at front of the boat, Daddy tried to figure out how to net fish one-handed. Lucky for me I dipped net in the water and fish swam herself into it - stroke of luck there. After a quick picture, we released her back and she swam right away strong. Water temp was 68 degrees. She was even kind enough to leave one of her teeth in my solid oak wood lure... I should donate this lure to the musky museum with the tooth in it still. So EsoxAC3, to sum up my answer to your question, I'd say that summer time musky fishing up in the Islands will greatly test your patience but reward your determination, with an emphasis on greatly testing your patience. To go days or weeks without seeing anything in the summer is normal. I got lucky. If you are looking for more "action", then I would try pike or bass fishing up there. We got some nice pike last weekend we were up there and you can catch them consistently every time out. Lastly, I'd be remiss if I didn't give a special thank you to my wife for allowing me to keep my family traditions alive and for playing along so willingly even though I know she would probably much rather be out on a wine tour or shopping at the mall. Good luck to each of you this year! Cheers, Chad