pigeon musky

Hey guys,

I'm planning a fishing trip to the southern end of Pigeon Lake near Emily Provincial Park at the end of July. I'll be staying in a friends cottage and will have a paddle boat. I wanted to ask if it's worth trying to target muskie there or if I should focus on bass instead. Any advice or personal experiences would be really helpful.

Thank you and happy fishing!

Best regards,
Oliver

End of July, water temps will be well above 80 degrees. I wouldn't be fishing musky in those water temps. Bring the bass gear and wait for the water temps to cool a bit before targeting the toothy critters.

I caught 40+ inches musky at south endo of Pigeon.
Some good water over there, can troll and cast.

You may catch musky in pigeon river.

I would not target muskie in July or August. With the warm water and the fish fighting the angler, it is very hard on the muskie. There is hardly any oxygen on the surface of the Kawartha lakes when they heat up in the summer. You may already know this, so I will post it for someone that may not know this. If you catch any fish and you are releasing it, make sure you are giving it time to recover from the fight. So many fish die from people not knowing how to release a fish. Catching a muskie may sometimes take up to 15 minutes of time for the muskie to recover. Good luck on your fishing adventure.

Great tips. Thanks.

If you’re targeting Muskie, the warm water temps can be detrimental to them. Temps above 80 will stress a caught fish. However, many of us fish the hottest of the summer months because our schedules dictate…. So, when you target them, be sure to limit their time out of the water, cut embedded hooks, quik pic. Then take the time to revive them. We Muskie guys value the resource , so let’s be good stewards. Go get gem!

thanks for the advice guys. looks like ill be skipping the muskie and targeting some big bass instead.