LOTW report for 6/19 - 6/25

[Big G]

Stayed up at Angle Outpost Lodge. It is a great place with great people. Very reasonable @ $37 a night!!! Very nice cabins and it is a drive to. The disadvantage is that you need to motor a ways to get to good fish. But at $37 a day, who cares about gas. A full 6 day trip, with gas, ice, and bait ran each individual $375 with tax. Keep in mind that we burned up alot of gas!!! No, this didn't include food and beverage!<P>We ran to the Big Narrows on some hot areas I've been working for a few years. It paid off!!! We hit west facing sandy bays with good weed growth. Raised atleast 30 muskies, lost 5, boated 3. The largest boated was only 42". Did have a high 40"/low 50" ski chase the bucktail in figure 8s. Ran her in circles 6 times, but she wouldn't open her jaws. It was a good time. We learned later that the trick was to burn bucktails to get them to follow (they wouldn't hit them consistently) and then come back with a crank and twitch it through the weeds. The only bad thing about this, was we figured it out on the last day.........so 3 fish on the last day ain't bad for me!!! <P>Now, to walleyes...........<BR>Goofy thing.........they were pretty much in the same areas as the muskies. Both of these fish are basically in a hard post spawn, with the big females of both species with serious lock-jaw from "normal" fishing.<P>We found all the male walleyes in the sandy shallow bays (3 to 15 feet) we wanted to catch. Boated a good 70 to 80 fish in 6 hours. Got boring after awhile, and when the 6 hours passed, we realized that there were no females to be found. They were gone. The largest male was about 20". Good fishing and lots of fun with jigs/plastics casting to these areas. Got to love ringworms!!!<P>Now for the big pig female eyes!!! They liked glow beads with orange blade or red beads with gold blade for spinners. Pending on the location of the lake, was whether you used crawlers, leeches, or minnows. The fish wanted different bait at different locations. We fished the deeper reefs, south of the Big Narrows, pushing close to Little Traverse to find these fish. Largest was only 26", with plenty in the 20 to 25" range.<P>Again, the weather was rotten, with high winds, rain, and cold..........but it was a good trip!!! <P>Anyone else???<P>------------------<BR>Let em go, so they can grow!

[Kaz]

Big: Sounds like you had a great time. Did you get over to Portage Bay?? I've had some great Muskies come out of that area too. Can't remember the excat little area, but there is another good rock pile just before you get to Outer Bay, kind of a small cove, and we had good luck there, several years in a row. We stayed a Mounment Bay Resort on Enchanted Island. Fished with Billy Sandy for many years, one of the best Musky hunters in the area, his Dad Les guided me quite often too. Bill has several 50 inchers to his credit. He now has his own camp at American Point... Just hearing your discription has got me thinking about that area again. Glad you had a good time. Did you get into the Pub while you were at the Inlet???? Good report on the Musk hunting.... LOL Kaz

[Big G]

YES!!! We did work it a bit. My buddy pulled a 43" pike out of there this year. We spotted a BIG TUNA sunning itself there this year. We chased her that afternoon. She tagged my reefhawg, but I lost her. We never raised her again. Last year, I pulled a 42" pike out of there, lost a big tuna at the side of the boat and had a honest mid-50s fish chase my bucktail. I love that little section of the lake. Also, just outside of the entrance to Portage, to the east. There is a island that has about a 3 acre island to the southwest. There is a good saddle there with rocks and cabbage. I pulled a mid-30s out of there and had a few hits on topwater, where the fish threw the lure.<P>To be honest, I've never spent a whole lot of time in Monument Bay. I know there are fish there, but I just get the impression that the pressure is incredibly high because of Monument Bay Lodge. We stayed there 2 years ago and it seemed it was everyones pit stop or after dinner milk run from the lodge.........<P>------------------<BR>Let em go, so they can grow!