October 2014 fishing report

Weather for this time of the season has been wonderful for the most part holding temperate avging high 30's at nite to mid 40's and 50's,even 60's some days daytime for last several weeks. Water temps for the most part have not really dropped much over the last couple weeks but rather holding between 48 and 51 degrees,a bit cooler east/south and a bit warmer north and west. We've had some periodic northwesterly with colder weather and winds but for the most part the norm has been it switches right back after a couple days to southerly with east or western tendencies .


Turnover or what ever degree of it we actually experienced is well over and done with and my temp probe shows water temps and oxygen levels fairly uniform throughout the water column. Real fall fishing is here till ice up.
It's too bad there aren't more up in this neck of the woods fishing right now, all species with the exception of lake trout which is closed are feeding heavily before ice up, and fishing has been excellent.

Another giant muskie out of Herbie's Lund Pro Guide, Mike Chismore's PB 53.5
Since both weeks of the Fall Trophy Hunt which ended on Oct. 16 are kept to limited number of guided guests and we're full with more interest AML is considering adding another big week into the 3rd week of Oct. Stay tuned for this exciting trophy opportunity.

Lots of big, fat, beautifully marked pike avging 34-42", 10-20#+ have moved up shallow from the deep basins where they spent their summer and it has been undoubtedly the best and most consistant fishing of the season for this species especially if you are looking for size. Rock bars,humps,points on the edge of the basin near big bays, wind generated current areas or narrows with deeper holes and congregating walleyes are magnets right now and they are like hungry wolf packs. To specifically target them for outstanding numbers and consistant action go with 6-8" suckers or plastics like reapers,big flukes,swim bait bodies,etc.on wire leadered .5 to .75 ounce jigs like the Bait Rigs Cobra , 9-12" suckers on quickset rigs,vertically jigged bondys and echo tails, suspending minnow jerk baits like #13-18 husky jerks in firetiger or clown, but you'll bump into some while casting or trolling much bigger cranks, jerks,and rubber for muskys... some times to the point of actually getting in the serious musky hunters way.

Walleyes in much of the central basin, northern and western sections of the lake for the most part have moved back up onto edges of deeper bars and hard bottom areas nearby at 20-28' but can be caught shallower and deeper depending upon the weather and forage movements and their staging. Where you find them they are not tentative but rather feeding and biting very well.

We've even caught some big ones incidentally very shallow on cranks like triple d's and depth raiders recently. There is also a fantastic bite going on as the walleyes follow shiner migrations in the far southern section in the holes near any current areas,moving water coming in,and holes in narrow areas. Jigs and minnows have been most consistant.

In nearby lakes, particularly trout type lakes with smaller populations of big walleyes where nite fishing is allowed, longline trolling big minnowbaits fished shallow along wind swept rocky shorelines, on tops of big shallow bars, and on sandy flats with weed remnants can produce some of the biggest fish of the season for those hardy enough to give it a try.



Trophy Smallmouth Bass fishing at it's best!
The big smallies have not slowed down since last report and are actually just bunching up more and are on such a feeding frenzy most days it is ridiculously easy fishing for the biggest overall avg size fish of the entire year. They will stay this way till water temps drop below 40 or so. Mostly 16-20" fish,fat and 3.5-5#. 3-5" suckers are by far the preferred bait right now and a simple .25 oz Odd Ball jig is the most efficient presentation . The large gap hook on these jigs works well with the big headed suckers and provide a bigger gap for better hooking % and the stand up feature gets the hook in good position when a bass sucks it in. 12-18' on mid lake bars in VB, Portage Bay, both mid section basins around Dead Mans, Pats etc., and when you find them they will be in bunches, stacked up, and ready to rumble.

The Fall Trophy Musky Hunt has just concluded and while some days were better than others overall it was a great hunt. 2 weeks, 103 Muskies, 19 were 50" or better with 54 plus the biggest. As usually is the case weather was one the biggest influences governing success from day to day. When we had the N, NW, Westerly winds and fronts that trigger feeding binges in the fall come through it was predictable in both locations and positive feeding attitudes and good numbers of catches followed. Unfortunately seldom would it last for more than a day or a couple days at best switching more times than not 360 degrees to S, SE, E which then would take several days for the fish to acclimate and reset locations. It has been the weather pattern since I arrived first week of Sept. This type of weather pattern tends to scatter fish a bit and confuse anglers on just where to concentrate efforts .

Actually what we found out mid way through was not to worry too much about the wind because it was changing too much and just stay on good spots and fish the spot on the spot regardless of wind direction. Conversely to last season in which a lot of fish where very shallow through much of the fall a high % of the fish were not on structure or at least alot of the time. Most were off the 2nd break a cast behind most boats making sporadic movements to structure.

Typical would be to cast 6-10 normally excellent structure options with little or no activity then pull up on a spot and have 2-5 very active fish on it. You needed to stay focused, on good stuff, waiting for windows to open up, or find the honey hole for the day with the wolf pack on it. Different areas of the lake went through several day periods of being hot or not back and forth so having multiple guides moving around to different sections of the lake helped us pinpoint these activity levels and cash in.

Medusa's, bull dawgs, depth raiders, triple d's, and 9" gramas accounted for most of the casted fish. Jakes, perch baits, headlocks,13" grammas ,and custom x chubby's were best trolled baits. For the amount of time spent trolling vs casting trolling has been very productive this fall and live baits accounted for several of the biggest. This is a great venue to consider for next season if a trophy musky along with a great time is your goal . You will spend time on some of the best fall trophy water in Canada on Eagle Lake with the most experienced guides specializing in trophy muskies in Ontario.

As The Hunt drew to it's conclusion AML was fortunate to have Steve Worrall and his son Keith from Outdoors First Media come into camp for a shoot to compile still shots and video for the new website, facebook content, u-tube, and sport shows. In 3 days all the above in the report was accomplished and substantiates this report in it's entirety as well as the validity of all reports coming out of AML. Over 100 walleyes first day, numerous pike to 40"+ as well as bass to 20" and 5# 2nd day, and the kicker with day 3 producing 2 muskies on a short day over 50" with the largest 53.5" and 40#. It was a blast to spend the day with them as it has been 20 yrs since I have shared a boat with Steve, who helped me immensely with sponsorships and support when I first started guiding and getting into the business over 27 years ago.

Next week Pete Maina and The next Bite come into camp and we look forward to a great shoot for everyone to enjoy during this up coming winter season. Stay tuned for a final report as some of us are just getting fired up and have no intentions of putting away the gear just yet. There are big girls just waiting to dance.

Trophy Deer Hunts start first of November.

We'll keep you informed of all activities/news as well as an early Dec. year ending newsletter with many exciting new announcements, sport show schedules,2015 brochure,etc.

Now is the time to book your 2015 adventure and recieve 2014 pricing as well as being assured of the specific guides, boats, cabins you prefer (there is a brand new cabin #1 being built and is almost complete with option for reserve/request for groups of 4-6 with a huge screened in porch,2 baths, queen beds, and a fantastic view).
Till the next update, good fish'n.

Respectfully,

Steve Herbeck
AML Master Guide | Fishing Instruction Coordinator | US marketing liaison

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