In late August I took my kids into a backlake for our annual musky fishing trip. We’ve been going for nine years now but it’s getting more difficult to schedule because both kids have jobs now.
This is a small lake with only a hunt camp on it and we access it by 4 wheeler and portaging. The lake is only about 60 acres but has musky and smallmouth.
We arrived on a misty morning and dropped our camping gear at our campsite and started fishing . The bass were not on the bite but after a couple hours my daughter got a nice bass on the only lure she uses in this lake, a hula popper. Most years she catches the biggest bass and this year was no exception.... almost 22 inches and well over 4 pounds.
My son was the musky master as he boated one musky around 40 inches and another near 39 inches. We only measure them by laying them on the paddle so it can be exciting to get an accurate measurement.He caught his on an old greenish husky jerk with half the finish coming off the nose of the bait.
We were reminiscing about a lure I had lost years ago when I got hung up and had to paddle back to try to free it. As I was working on my side of the canoe my daughter said my lure was stuck on a branch on the opposite side as she could see it there. I told her I had my lure back and when we checked out the lure she saw it was the one I had lost 5 years ago. The hooks were rusted off and the finish was bubbled from being underwater but it was mine as it had a section of leader material attached that I had hand tied myself.
We also caught some smaller musky and a few more bass but the bass fishing was tough . We only stayed one night but fished all the next day and pulled camp late in the afternoon.
How the time flies when you have kids! It seems like yesterday that I was untangling lines, ducking lures and unsnarling brush and trees. Now they are carrying the canoe,driving the vehicle and organizing trips with their own friends It’s been a great journey.
Back lake trip, Musky fishing by canoe
