Newbie Intro

[richesox]

Good morning fellow fisher-persons.

My name is Rich Clemens and live in the southern part of Pennsylvania. I was doing some internet surfing for Lake Nippissing fishing and ran across this site, so after some browsing the forum at bit, I signed up.

I have been fishing the French River area since the 1990's, where we made annual trips to Dear's Den Lodge on the lower French. I then took a hiatus for a while and spent a number of years over in the Rideau Chain. Finally, my love for the French River and the Canadian Shield took over - as well as my interest in Musky Fishing, so back we came.

I do very little fishing here in PA - didn't even get out once down here last year and nothing yet this year. However, we do make 2, and sometimes 3 trips, up to the French and Nipissing in the chase for musky. Typically we are on Nipissing for a week in June, for the musky opener, and a two week trip in September on the French. Although I have been fortunate to catch one or more each trip, I am still waiting for that elusive 50"er - but I know they are there.

We have stayed at the following Camps:
Bear's Den Lodge.
Wolseley Lodge.
Rainbow Camp and Trailer Park.
Lakair Lodge.

Our June trip this year had to be cancelled due to work, so we are booked at Mashkinonje Lodge for the first week in August - this is the former Lucky Strike Camp. First time this far up the West Arm, so we'll see how she goes. We have been staying at Lakair Lodge for the past 7-8 years, but the Lodge is closed this year. Had some good friends stay at Mashkinonje couple weeks ago and really liked the new owners and they are doing a lot of upgrades.

For September, we used to split our two week trip between Rainbow Camp and Wolseley Lodge, but have changed things up a bit and spend the entire two weeks at Rainbow. It's kinda nice not having to puck and unpack multiple times. In several trips to Wolseley, I just haven't had much luck fishing there - but don't get me wrong, there are 50"rs right there in the bay. We have done quite well at Rainbow Camp, with two 49's and my wife also landed a nice 49 there.

My wife and I, and our two dogs, primarily fish for musky. But, when things are really slow or the conditions are not the best, m wife will switch over to smaller baits and catch whatever she can.

I primarily cast, but will troll on occassion as we move from spot to spot - you just never know. My go-to bait is the Double Cow-girl, black with either silver or gold blades. I'm using this probably 90+ percent of the time and it has been producing for me. I'll switch things up from time to time, but always seem to go back to the bait that is working.

I heard that the long hard winter, and late spring this year and delayed the weed growth and our friends reported this when they were up that way recently. Hopefully, by the time we get up there next month, our fishing locations will have some good growth.

Tight Lines ya' all

[richesox]

Here's a couple pics of our 49's.
Patsy Caught her's during an in-coming cold front. After a little rain forced us off the water, we went back out very close to camp and, less than 2 hours after Patsy caught her's, I landed my 49'r.

[richesox]

My wife's 49

[Northshore]

Nice intro, great pictures

[metalbuckle]

Wow what an intro.. Great read and trophy muskies..

Thanks for joining and sharing.

Glad to have you onboard..

Cheers & good fishing.

[Grumpa]

Hello Richesox.
Glad to see another Muskie angler joining the site. There's a few of us that join in the conversations regularly...but the walleye guys (particularly the hard water crew) out number us by a wide margin. You're fishing the area, in August, nearest and dearest to my own heart. I have a place on Nipissing's south shore and I've fished all of Georgian Bay and Nipissing, including the West Arm, for over 30 years.....and the entire French River system for over 40 years (from the Bustard Islands/French River outlet to Blueberry Island at L. Nipissing)......but I still keep coming back to the West Arm as my go to spot for numbers and size of Muskie. I've fished from season opener to the first snows and have come to the conclusion that the mid-August to late September period is the sweet spot when it comes to Muskie catches on the W.A. We've narrowed the best areas down to all of West Bay (east of the bridge at Lakair Lodge) all the way out to Hay Narrows. This year in particular, I'm anticipating a banner late summer/fall run due to the high water, late spring, cooler water temps and slightly stunted weed growth we're experiencing on Nip this year. My fishing logs from past years indicate repeatedly that in years where the water conditions are similar to this year, we've had outstanding results on the W.A. In that late summer/early fall time frame it's not uncommon to catch several 50 plus inchers a day under these water conditions (the only other place in Ontario you can get better results is Lake St. Clair). So, I'm entirely sure you're in for an amazing trip this August. You've already got me stoked to go. Over 30 years of results we've settled on a couple different lures as our prime baits year after year. We troll about 60% of time now (simply a mater of covering as much water in a day as possible). Large in line bucktails or spinner baits (I make my own now with #10 willow leaf blades) and when casting, large glide baits like the new Joe Bucher glide bait. Black and silvers combos (like your cowgirls) are good.....and perch patterns seem to work year over year. The water in West Bay will likely be deeper than in normal years creating a large kill zone over top of the weeds. This creates ideal conditions for Muskie to set up shop in the 11-14 foot weed flats that cover most of West Bay.
Make sure to post your results (fish porn inclusive) and any additional observations you have after your August trip.....I'll do the same after my trip down there as well. I'm extremely interested to hear how you make out. As I've always said.....the W.A rocks!

[richesox]

Great read Grumpa. I see the walleye guys have us out numbered, but thats OK. I've heard of a lot of muskies caught while walleye fishing - I've even thought of switching during slow times. (Ha ha ha).

We leave August 2' so only three more weeks to wait. Never fished up that far, but anxious to give it a try. Sure hope the weed beds are developed by then. When fishing up there, we spend most of our time out in the West Bay and have done fairly well the past several years. There are 50's out there. One of these days, I'll join that club.

Let's just hope I have something good to report .... If you know what I mean

Rich Clemens

[WishN4Fishin]

Nice report! Great looking muskies.

[Fishchaser67]

Great Intro ,, Welcome Aboard ,, great pics ,,

[Grumpa]

Hey Richesox:

You back from your trip to the West Arm the first week of August yet? How'd you make out?
Give the rest of us muskie hounds the run down.........water conditions, what lures think worked best....your general observations. And of course.... any fish porn you might have.
Enquiring minds want to know.

[richesox]

Well, we got back this past Saturday evening and not a whole lot to report - unfortunately. We actually left the previous Friday night after hearing the Skyway bridge in Burlington was closed to Toronto. That, coupled with a Canadian 3-day week-end and other events along our route, I'm sure glad we did. Others coming up Saturday am from Toronto area said the traffic was horrible and added a couple hours to their travel time.

We went to Mashkinonje Camp (formerly Lucky Strike) for the week. First time here and never fished that far up the west arm before. And - the Navionics chip I had for my GPS does not have that area mapped. I will be getting that corrected for next year. So, this was all new territory for me.

We fished a little Saturday evening around camp, but got nothing. Didn;t fish long after driving straight throughout the night.

Sunday we made the run out to the west bay -which is where we normally spend the bulk of our time in search of muskies. We weren't there all to long until I hit into a 33" Northern and maybe 20 minutes later, a nice 44" in musky. I thought this would be the start to a great week up there. BUT, and I repeat, that 20 minute span was the highlight of fishing for the entire week. Other than a couple small pike, that was basically it.

The other folks in camp were not faring much better. Nobody was catching much beyond the small pike. One of my buddies did manage a nice 46" musky. Probably close to a dozen of us there, and it was tough all around.

We did some exploring back some of the channels and side lakes that are up there, but really didn't get anything there either. But, it was nice to around a bit.

We had some friends up there in June and they reported basically NO CABBAGE beds due to the long/cold winter. Even the west bay was pretty much void of weeds. I had hopes things were much improved since then. The weeds were growing, but still they were topping out at 4-5 feet below the surface. Although there were a few pockets that were getting close to the surface. Normally this whole area is just full of weeds, even in June,. that makes for some great fishing, but not this year.

We probably cast 95% of the time and do very little trolling. Others in camp troll a fair amount, and they weren't hitting much either. My goto bait is the double cowgirl, black with silver or gold blades. This has been producing for me the past several years - so I stick with what is working. Or - did work.

We really likes Mashkinonje and the new owers are very nice and accompodating to all our needs. The camp needs work and they are doing what they can and have some great plans for then future. We have already booked there again for the June musky opener net year. Hopefully things will be back to normal.

Not a lot to report - but we had a great time there. We had friends there from Ontario, Quebec, and even some guys from Virginia.

My wife and I will be heading back up in early September for two weeks on the Lower French in search of muskies. So, we'll see what happens then. I usually catch a few nice ones there. We'll be at Rainbow Camp and Trailer park and we've been going there 10+years now.

Cheers.
Rich

OK; Here's a couple shots we took.



Patsy ended up catching a nice 25" Walleye on a spinner-bait and twister tail. Good eating.

[Grumpa]

Hey Richesox
Thanks for the status report. Sorry to hear your results weren't a tad better. A bit discouraging to hear about the weed growth.........higher water, good......but no weeds, bad. I'm headed down there the last part of the month and will work over some of the same areas you covered. I'll let you know our observations and how we make out then.

[Grumpa]

Hi Richesox.
I'm back from the West Arm and have very little different to report then you had to say when you returned. The muskie were few and far between this year. We experienced motor problems the 4th day in down there and we were limited to 3 full days of fishing only. As you indicated the harsh winter limited the weed growth in West Bay to only a few locations....and weed density wasn't there this year. We managed to catch 1 nice stocky 42"er....lost a very nice 50-52" fish right at the side of the boat after a spirited fight. Took huge trolling hit from two other nice fish and raised another low 40's fish casting topwater baits. The thing we did notice was the almost complete lack of bait fish and minnow schools throughout the entire system. Eventual MNR sample netting will determine this latter....but it appeared to me that the spring spawn of a number of various fish species may have been extremely poor this year...if at all.
Very poor results given the idea weather conditions we were afforded the three days down there.

[joegriffin]

Hey guys, it is great to be able to read about your trips - the good and the bad. I love the pictures. Thanks for sharing them. A few years ago we stayed at the Lunge Lodge on the Upper French river and really enjoyed the fishing but it seemed to peter off so we took a few years off. We are heading to Sunset Cove on the lake on the 18th for a few days of hard fishing. I am not familiar with the area although my buddy had gone a couple times. I would love to haul in a Musky so I have been taking notes on baits and structures to fish. Can you tell me a little more about the right tackle for musky? Braided line or no, what pound test if mono??? I understand that wire leaders are a must but I am unsure of what line you guys use. Any help for a newbie musky guy would be appreciated. Also if you are familiar with the camp we are staying at -- any favorite spots in that area?

Thanks guys!

[Grumpa]

Hello Joegriffin.
Glad to see another prospective muskie angler joining the site. There are many good muskie fishermen contributing to the site on a more or less regular basis. All can provide you with their particular spin, experience and wisdom on the sport.
The only really good general suggestions I can lend to you getting started...are perhaps -1st see if you can fish with someone that has good experience muskie fishing themselves (with that said, there's several good and competent muskie guides operating on the lake currently)...whether you charter a guide or align yourself with an experienced muskie fishermen.....fishing initially with experienced fishermen will save you a lot of wasted time in the early stages. If I'd done that 40 years ago, when I started, I'd have cut the learning curve in half.
2nd-get a good hydrographic map of the South Bay/Hunters Bay area that you intend to fish. If you already have a fisherfinder with a GPS mapping chip of the area, even better. I've stayed at Sunset Cove years ago and live on South Bay now..........Nipissing is treacherous and rough a lot of the time, many rocks and hidden shoals...hydrographic mapping capability is essential on this lake from both a safety aspect and a fish finding prospective as well.
And 3rd-don't blow your brains out on equipment purchases right out of the gate. Musky equipment, in general, is expensive equipment to purchase. One average, hard body, minnow bait can cost you as much as $25 a pop...poles and reels much more expensive....then you've got an oversized landing net....hook out tools....it can go on and on.
If possible, see if someone will lend you a muskie rod and reel and possibly a good Beckman or Frabill muskie net to try and use your first time out.
I've seen alot of guys over the years buy themselves into the sport of muskie fishing right from the get go.........only to have limited success initially, tire of the sport and then wish they had never spent the amount of money they did. Try the sport first, with an experienced fishermen and borrowed equipment (if possible) and see how you like it. If your upcoming trip is a one shot deal to try and catch a fish......definitely...... spend as little as possible for the first kick at the can
I'll let a few of the other muskie guys chime on some more specific tackle and locational recommendations......
Good luck and let the board know how you made out along with your thoughts on the sport and the area in general.