BlueEye

Great job and thank you to each of committee members for putting on another great event. Kudos to Jason and Trish for a stellar showing. It was great getting a chance to put more faces to names and we are already looking forward to next years event! Great job everyone

Blunight - It's always been my guess that as the bay heats up in the mid-summer months, the pike seems to move out closer to the lake in search of some cooler water. It also seems that very first light and right at dusk is about the only time you can really get them to bite as they disappear as the sun gets higher in the sky. Mid to Late summer months, mouth of the bay out into the lake has produced the most fish for me until the water temps in the bay start cooling down again. Hope this helps! Chad

Nice job MadPerry - getting the first one is always the hardest. Keep up the good work!

Mike – As Joe mentioned, I have seen this exact same strange behavior in both pike (Lake Ontario) and muskies (pure bread – Chautauqua Lake). I have read reports that this is even more common with Tiger muskies. The strangest part to me was that fish had it’s ENTIRE head out of the water (gills included). It wasn’t like the fish was simply swimming on the surface. I have also read some theories as to why the behavior exists. 1.) Fish is trying to clean gills of parasites 2.) Fish is trying to use gravity to get down a large meal / dislodge stuck meal. 3.) Fish is trying to get a better view of surroundings in murky water 4.) Fish is sick. 5.) Venting of the air bladderWhile no one has been able to definitively prove any of the above hypothesis, it remains a mystery to the ESOX world. In my experience, I have been able to get really close to the fish doing this before they go under and swim away. I have even read of some people being able to net the fish. Here was one video I found on YouTube demonstrating a similar behavior. In the two cases I have witnessed, the fish had its head (right up to the back of the gill plates) out of the water. http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/watch.asp?id=1181 Next time I see this…… I am going to try and get a picture/video. Would love to learn more about this phenomenon… Lastly, I should mention that I have never heard of anyone being able to get the fish to bite while they are doing this. While the instinct of us is to pick up a rod and toss a lure their way, no one has ever been able to hook up with one while they were performing this strange behavior.

Nice going Bob! Big fish and good company - can't beat it

Congrats guys - you had a great year!

Hahah - thanks guys! The "sunset cruise" idea ended up working out pretty well. Kate enjoyed reading her books at the front of the boat and I enjoyed reeling in Tuna in the back of the boat This has been a very consistent setup on Lake Ontario for us as well. Kate will ask if we can go on a "boat ride" and I tell her sure and that the first only boat ride of the day leaves the dock at 5:00am. The only hurdle we have run into is that she likes to clean the boat with Clorox Wipes seemingly after every fish that hits the deck. So we are trying to work out a compromise in that area still........ oh the married life........

Wow Nick - your reports are just AWESOME!

Welcome to LOU John! Sit back and relax and make yourself at home. Lots of great guys here

Nice report Bob. The wife and I tried our luck last night and did pretty well fishing the same area as you. We had kings and bows from 150 - 250 with a nice break line at 230 (were we did all of our bows). Had lots of marks in that 100 foot range and had missed a couple hits there. Current was crazy out deep - I was 1.8 going West to get hits and 3.2 going East to get hits. Good luck the rest of the weekend out there!

Baker Lures (Zach), Legend Perch Baits, Wileys and X-Rap Magnums should all get you down there.

If I had to sum up the tournament I would say it was “excitingly frustratingâ€. Joe and I (and the wife) did some scouting on Friday and found a good number of fish just south of Pendergrast, back in that bay (what is the name of that bay again?). There was a nice drop off on the south edge of that bay that seemed like it was holding a lot of fish. On Friday I had several follows and Joe lost one and only a few casts later hooked up and landed another. Trolling wasn’t producing anything for us so we decided it was going to be a casting tournament for us. Knowing that most of Larry’s fish this year have come right at first light trolling, our strategy was to try the trolling bite for the first 2 hours of the morning and then switch to casting. Tournament morning we were unable to move a rod trolling. Worked from Pendergrast point to Bell Tower but nothing – saw fish on the screen but couldn’t move a rod. So we went over to casting back in our bay (we were the only boat back there) and immediately started with a couple follows. So here is frustrating part…… I ended the day with 8 follows and 2 largemouth bass! I’m trying to wrap my head around why exactly I couldn’t get any of these fish to bite. Excitingly frustrating as I put it. I feel like I am missing some sort of trigger move to put the finishing hooks into some of these follows. It might of have just been a “lock-jaw†day but I can’t remember the last time I have SEEN that many fish and was unable to get them hit. I will share one thing that I learned…. Water was VERY clear in north end of the lake as most of you know. So clear in fact that I didn’t get ANY follows on my normally trusted bucktails. Everything was on jerkbaits and only jerkbaits that were of really natural patterns (browns, blacks, perch). My assumption is that with the water being that clear, these fish weren’t being fooled by bucktails. The other thing that I noticed is that all of my follows ended 5 feet from the boat, when the fish would spot the boat (cause of the ultra clear water). Not once was I able to get a fish to chase the lure into a figure-8. Just some thoughts I thought I would share……. Anyways, I’m itching to get back out there and get my revenge! But in the mean time I’m going to try and put some salmon in the boat. Bite was good last night in 75 foot of water of Braddocks. I’ll have to get some of my musky buddies out there sometime to try the big pond

Great report Rob - will try our luck tonight! Thanks for posting!

Great post Nitro – I loved it! I am heading down there tomorrow with the Wife to launch the boat and maybe fish the afternoon and have all day Friday for fishing and a…………… wine tour???? The wife was adamant on it. Hope the wineries don’t mind me picking up their glasses with a little musky slime on my hands All the talk lately has been about the fishing being a trolling bite. Anyone even tried casting yet this year or will I have be the first one to post that report? Bought a nice new St. Croix from Mike (Ronix) this year and have been itching to try it out. Also got a nice compass (courtesy of Bob – thank you Bob! ) installed on the boat that should make telling the wife what direction to keep the boat headed easier. This will be our first go at Muskies this year so I am really excited! Been having great luck on Braddocks recently fishing pike but I’m ready for the big time now. A special thank you goes out to Capt. Larry again for putting together this amazing event! Your dedication to the musky fishery is second to none. Oh and my pick for this years 2011 Champion…… beginners luck and musky fishing seem to go hand-n-hand. Last year I witnessed an old friend of mine that grew up down the street from me (Kevin) who was fishing from Zach’s boat catch a musky on his very first cast ever! He then repeated the effort only a few casts later! With that said….. good luck getting your first PURE Mike (Ronix), my money is on you!

Nice catch DF! Wish they had the RIT Bass Club back when I attended school there. I graduated in '05.... shouldn't have rushed it Keep up the good work

Nice fishin' Matt

Happy Birthday Bill - enjoy your day sir

Zach - a dozen baits is WAY more than you need to do for this. I was thinking like 3 baits - at $22-35 dollars per bait that is between $66-$105 in prizes. Ray to your point - I agree it will be tough getting winners to disclose all their secrets (or luck) as to how, where and on what they caught the winning fish. That is why I thought they only have to answer a YES/NO question... did you catch the winning fish on a Baker Lure? If YES - its good promotion for Zach. If NO - its still good promotion for Zach as the tournament participants will hear of the "Baker BIG FISH" bonus prize. Good luck trying to get any more information out them than that right

Zach – If you want some good promotion, maybe you and Larry can work out some sponsorship package where if the winning fish is caught on a Baker Lure, then that person wins a bonus package that maybe consists of a couple lures from you? Call it the "Baker BIG FISH BONUS". I have seen this done with many tournaments around Lake Ontario – the last one being the Niagara Pro-Am where if the largest fish of the tournament was caught on a Northern King Lure, that person won a prize package from NK. Just an idea….. Chad

Great pics Mark

Thanks Tank! That brown actually jumped a couple times - can't remember the last time I seen a 13lb brown hurling it self out of the water like that. It was kinda funny to see such a fat fish trying to jump

Matt - I fished out of Sandy yesterday looking for browns. Started inside 10-20 FOW and didn't move a rod. Moved out to 40-50 and found some browns there including one over 13 lbs. Debris was REALLY bad however - all slick lines carried lots of wood so be careful out there. Ended up getting a small king (10lbs), a bunch of good size browns (6-13lbs) and even a laker in that 50-100 foot range. Seems to be a good mix of fish there is can stand dodging debris. Best of luck out there! Chad

Welcome to LOU springerdog! Glad to have you aboard

Thanks for the report Mike. I have heard of a good mix of kings being caught 200-400 feet of Sandy this weekend (I know that is a wide range). Might be worth taking a peak a little deeper. Nice going

Welcome to LOU Erik - glad to have you