Muskie., Walleye and Crappie.

Spent Saturday afternoon sitting on a friend's dock catching perch and a bit of a sunburn. After that went out to try and find some walleye. About 9.30pm caught a muskie around 32 inches but it looked a bit thin. Maybe it's just my eyes or a bad angle on the picture. Nice strong fish jumped a few times but was really hoping for walleye and crappie.

A short time after that lost my 2nd favourite crankbait. You can't get this exact crank anymore in that gold color so I was not happy. Here is a picture of the lure with a rock bass from last week. Last year I lost the same lure and only had two of them in gold. Oh well.

Pulled out a new crank that has never been wet and got a surprise. These are twins...same lure but the new one runs about a foot more shallow than the old one at the same speed. Only down side is these are the only two in this colour I have. Better not lose them. LOL.

After the muskie I was not too optimistic about catching much but about an hour later the walleye and crappie showed up with a few rock bass and bluegill mixed in. Some small walleye and one big walleye and quite a few crappie. All fish were caught on those two crankbaits and a few on the bobber and jighead. All the fish were very aggressive last night and hit like trucks. It cooled off to 13 degrees but tonight's low is around 20 degrees. Not sure if the fish will be hungry again. Not going out fishing tonight until the sun is gone later. Here is a picture of the fish for the family dinner. Edit.. Fishing should be good now and tonight some clouds just rolled in. Good luck if anyone is going out this evening and night. Stay safe.

Sunday update. Just read a good article in the Peterborough Examinar. If you pay attention to mother nature she can teach you many things. If you hike or camp learn the signs of the animals that are sharing their world with you. And for fishing as mentioned before on some of my posts watch these birds. They were around long before fish finders. We were just catching fish last week while floating out on the lake with two Loons. I am very careful not to cast while the Loon is under the water. When the Loon comes up with a fish my next cast goes in that direction. When an Osprey is flying and diving 100 yards away from your boat it's time to move your boat. These birds know where the fish are.

Now as for the fishing last night. Took off after the clouds rolled in so it did not seem as warm with the breeze helping as well. Fish were still hungry and aggressive hitting the baits hard. Many baby walleye and crappie. Small...medium...large...walleye last night after dark. Here is a 15.5 inch but too skinny to keep.

Lots of baby crappie.

I am sure most know this but if not here is an important service announcement. Wet your hand before handling a fish. Bare hand or glove if you wrap your hand around the fish make sure your hand or glove is wet. If you remove the protective coating...slime... from a fish you can kill it. Bacteria and parasites can get on the fish and so on. And please don't squeeze the fish you can kill it. Many fish you can hold by their mouth with your thumb and finger. Be gentle especially with the small fish. I am sure there is a video on Utube on how to handle fish. I dont want to bore everyone. Here is one of the many baby walleye out last night.

Here is another one that we thought was way too big as my friend netted it for me. Turns out it was only 20.1 inches. But heavy. This fish was so fat for its length we were shocked.

Crappeeeman those Muskie like to find you at night. On my last few outing i have had some huge fish jump in the weeds i believe they were Muskie. Saturday morning i got a average pike before i got rained on and thunder chased me in. Went out Sunday morning nothing Sunday evening got 4 walleye and a nice bass in about 1.5hours. The walleye were 23,22.5,19 and 14.5” the 2 big walleye were very fat. All caught on plastics before dark in weeds around 8ft of water.

This one was fat and was a beautiful fish so golden. Lots of time spent in the weeds

That is a beautiful walleye for your dinner table. This weather is so weird. Saturday night it cooled down to 14 degrees. Sunday night it rained three times but only for a minute or so. Last night was just like wearing clothes inside a sauna. Then it got even more damp with the fog rolling out onto the lake from the west. It's cool to see fog come from the land onto a lake.

Well time to go back to the real world. 34 hours of fishing in 3 nights I must be getting lazy. Usually it averages a bit more. Needless to say living in a shack by the lake with an old 12 foot paint faded dented junky boat would be alright with me. Leaving the lake is always sad for everyone when you have to go home. The accumulation of memories spending good quality time with your families is what keeps the adventure a life long experience. The longing grows to get back to the great outdoors by the time you arrive back home and park in the driveway. I hope everyone had a good summer. It seems to be hanging on for a few more days. Fall fishing is just around the corner with cooler temperatures in the near future. Good luck out there. Here is a couple of pictures from last night. So many baby walleye around makes for good fishing for years to come.

There was absolutely no wind after midnight so casting was tough with all the floating weeds slowly rising to the surface. You could here a pin drop or maybe a fish jump from a hundred yards away. I only kept these two fish as the others were all small. That new crankbait is working well...sure hope it does not end up lost like the gold one. LOL.

It is going to be a quick turn around from the cold front that moved in yesterday. The fish will be active in the Kawarthas from now right into Monday. Day or night the fishing will be good for anyone that gets out to enjoy this perfect weather. Not too much wind and cool enough to bring a jacket. The early morning and evenings will be the best the walleye and crappie and bass will be in shallow water. Don't count out the afternoons when the sun is high in the sky. The walleye will be hitting your baits in 8 to 12 feet of water if you just touch those weeds. The walleye will not be on the bottom but rather suspended inside the weeds two feet above the bottom. If you don't mind pulling a few weeds off your bait, that is where walleye will be. I prefer a slower retrieve during the daylight hours. You can wind your way through the tops of the weeds without hooking too many. The fish will come up to hit your bait, they are just waiting for that slight disturbance in the water to trigger their reaction. Fishing is not possible for me this weekend as some birthdays and other family stuff is on my schedule. Good luck to all that can get out there and catch some fish. Wish I could go. A really good way to put myself in the dog house would be to say these four words.