Muskie opener coming Saturday

Who’s going?
What does everyone consider the best lake. Pigeon, Buckhorn, Balsam?
Not necessarily in that order

Well, Balsam and Sturgeon. If the weather stays to forecast, Saturday will be good. Low winds, chance of a shower. Hopefully the wind dials down for Sunday. Muskie will be in 10 feet of water, a bit more shallow than normal for this year on opening day. Mirror the weed line, don't look for the muskie to be hiding in the new weeds. Weeds are not where they should be yet, as far as thickness goes. The big fish will be cruising and moving even more shallow into the evening. Try and keep the boats in 12 feet of water casting into the ten feet, beside the boat. If you like to troll the shoreline stay at 10 feet, and troll a bit slower than last year in June. My rule for muskie is always fish a bit deeper than I fish for walleye. Same areas as walleye, same depths as the day passes. Always deeper to more shallow following the sun as it sets. Good luck on Saturday, and cross your fingers for Sunday.

Ill be out. Normally participate in the Kawartha Musky tournament, but decided this year to give the Trent river a shot for a chance at a tiger.

Will be up on Sturgeon in the week.

Best of luck.

I have always seen numbers and size come out of Pigeon. However, Stoney has the potential I think for the largest in the Kawarthas. I am likely biased as it is my home lake but Stoney gets very deep and has a lot of food for the big fish. I have personally seen fish over 50" but my biggest caught is 42". That said I don't chase muskie like I used to.

MC

I've spent sooooo much time on Stoney looking for a big girl.

No luck yet. 42" is also my biggest.

Update - the river is blown out. I will head north of Peterborough in search of a biggin.

Best of luck to everyone.

I've spent sooooo much time on Stoney looking for a big girl.

No luck yet. 42" is also my biggest.

Update - the river is blown out. I will head north of Peterborough in search of a biggin.

Best of luck to everyone.

Hi, what do you mean the river is blown out? We were thinking of launching out of the Southern Havelock Boat Launch along the Trent this weekend. Is that not a good idea?

Trent Severn was flushing out system and it was closed from Young's Point south to at least lock 19 in Ptbo and likely pretty high the rest of the way south. All that rain last week needed to get out...

They are starting to close the dams now it was much better this evening (Thursday). This weekend should be much better in terms of current so your original plans where the river was ripping is likely ok now.

I see. Thanks for the reply! Will give it a try this weekend. Haven't fished that part in a long time.

I can confirm Mastercaster1 that Stoney Lake does have big Muskie.

Two of my three over '50" Muskie's came out of the north end of Stoney Lake. A 52" thin male, and a huge gutty 56" female. While I have witnesses in both cases, (my boss in one, and 2 OPP guys in the other) but sadly no pictures.

The main focus was to get them in the water asap as their red tails told me there were both over-extended. I was actually jigging for Walleye using 6-8 lb test line with a 1-/4 oz jig with a 3" white grub in 45-50 ft. of water.
As you can imagine, it took a while to get both if them in the boat with the light line. I was relieved that both swam away, without difficulty, after about 10 mins of tail-holding.

The fish were caught about 300 yard from each other, but 2 yrs apart though. Go figure?

Muskies are an amazing fish, surprisingly fragile to raise, yet fierce later on.
I find the main difference between Pike and Muskie is that Pike will fight till they are tired, a Muskie fight till over-extended and death.

Good Luck at Stoney!

Cheers,

I checked out that launch on the Trent River by the big monument a couple weekends ago. Have wanted to try that stretch but haven't yet. Good luck.

Went to Pigeon. Had a hit on a Suick in the first 10 minutes and then nothing after that.
Went out in the Lake a caught a little pickerel. Not enough for a meal.

Nice day for fishing, that's a healthy looking fish. I see you were not alone out there, with the boats behind you.

Many boats in the Nogies creek area. A few Muskie caught and many lookers.
I went down the east side of Big Island and on the way back saw 4 boats out in the middle so I cruised over and joined them jigging for Pickerel.

I have to change my ways, I never would have fished mid lake in the past, but the Pickerel seem to often be suspended out in 30’ of water. This never would have been my way to fish before electronics.

One guy said he’s caught 500 pickerel (maybe a slight exaggeration or not) over the years, and not one over 20”.

Pigeon Lake north end, is very similar to Balsam Lake as seen on this chart. My friends fish Pigeon, I do not only because Balsam and Sturgeon keep me busy in fish. You are exactly right on how electronics is changing the way anglers fish. If you can find the fish, it may be easier to catch a fish sometimes. My friend and I don't use sonar in the boat, we fish the same humps and weed lines constantly. A chart of a lake is just as useful as sonar, because it gives you a place to start. And weather tells the angler the depth to start, from windy days, to calm days. From cool spring, to hot summer and back to cool temperatures in the fall. The lake does not change on a chart, only the fish change. I tell anglers, start with a chart. There is a reason that rhymes, it works. It is also great for your safety in the boat. Pull out a chart of the Kawartha lake being fished, find the humps and weed lines. Know where there is water current or not, sometimes that is very important. Get in the boat and head to the spots you have picked. Turn on whatever video game, sonar, forward facing, fish finding computer you can afford and start the search. Sometimes the fish will be suspended in deeper water, sometimes not. Maybe they are right on top of a hump, or halfway down, or all the way down hiding from the sun. As for that guy and his 500 walleye, it could be an exaggeration, or maybe not. The not one over 20 inches is what may be hard to believe. I am up to 40 to 45 small, medium, and large walleye so far this year. Over the years the number is in the thousands, only because I have spent thousands of hours on the lakes. Once the angler understands where the fish should be in general, then uses the chart to fine tune the search. Then uses the sonar if applicable, to watch the fish around the boat. Then comes the hard part of finding the right bait for that particular day. Are the fish hungry? Is the fish lazy today? Does it want to chase the bait? Casting, jigging or trolling, what is better? Soft baits, hard baits, small baits, large baits, what works best? Only the fish know the answers to these questions. And the fish change their minds frequently from day to day, and even hour by hour sometimes.