August 1st through 7th

[Red Team Leader]

Dave,

Great report and congrats on all your success you and your group had with our friends with teeth!

I can’t agree more with how you feel about WBC, it’s staff, the water and of course the best guests on earth! LOL

Tight lines,
RTL

[Dave B]

Ed -- I did hear some moaning and groaning about sore shoulders and muscles, but I must say after 6 solid days of casting heavy metal, it was the hands that needed a rest. I think it will take a few more days yet before I'm pain free. Most of the pictures attached to Wayne's muskie report were from our group. If I could figure out how to post pictures, I would add some more.

RTL -- I suspect Wayne has already sent you a message, but the 49.5" fish came off one of the spots you showed Wayne, so thanks for being willing to share spots. We tried to pay the favor forward by working with Jeff and Mike from Chicago. I can assure you, the big fish was in good shape when we released her.

[Jratthelake]

Great Report Dave, I will post some more photos, and I noticed I doubled up on one of them. I am limited to 10 photos per post so I will add more soon.

[Red Team Leader]

Dave,

Your welcome,

And I am glad you worked one of my big girls off “Motor Block”.

That’s a great fish you hooked up on; please keep the spot in your hip pocket of milk run spots from now on, and enjoy the fruit it can provide for years to come.

Until last year that spot held the largest girl I have ever seen on LOTW’s at well over four and a half feet and a girth that haunts me to this day.

It’s a small reef structure adjacent to deep water with other great structure nearby; it can be over worked but can pay big with fish of both size and big water girth.

(Note the great large water girth and rock markings on your fish, she’s very clean, thick and silver)

I remember a day like yesterday some years ago before I had my own boat. I was running a camp Lund 17’ tiller over that spot with a howling wind out of the south West.

White capping waves where breaking that point and I had no hope of dropping the bow mount trolling motor and holding so I shot the point with the big motor and held it as well as I could so Alex could cast it quick.

I handed him a rod rigged with a Fire Tiger Double Tail Stomper, a very large Top Water Bait made by Holcombe Tackle, it stretched over 10” long and could stand up to the heavy chop.

The lure looked ridiculous but was perfect because it could handle the large waves with a great combination of top water commotion and the ability to dive the next incoming wave for some real distress features.

On Alex’s second cast he had to rip the bait back to the boat as we washed towards the rock point.

The boat spun quickly around after I slipped it in neutral and I had to shift it into forward and gun it a bit to avoid the point.

I remember seeing this tanker of a Muskie with gill’s flared rising quickly on his bait right over my shoulder boat side as he ripped the lure back to the boat.

She broke the surface after his bait as it popped out of the water and all Alex caught was her giant red tail floping back towards the deep but I saw her true size and mass in full glory just feet from my body.

This grotesque lure was half way down her throat and had I waited a second longer this fish was ours, a massive mid 50’s Muskie as hot on a bait as one fish could be.

It’s what keeps me working hard every trip, a true fish of a lifetime!

We missed her that year but will see her again I know and hope the ball fumbles our way that day.

Dreaming of October again now after writing this post.
RTL

[fishhateme]

Hi All,

The aforementioned Jeff from Chicago here.

I would just like to say a big THANK YOU for the incredible hospitality shown to Mike and me by the entire Witch Bay crew including Gail, Wayne, Russ and the awesome dock boys and wait staff. This was Mike and my inaugural trip to LOTW and believe it or not - we did not land a single musky (still in disbelief). However, we certainly were not without our chances including some of the largest fish I have ever laid eyes on including one that threw Mike's jackpot after coming our of nowhere to nail it on about 6 feet of line.

The whole week was everything we expected and more and nobody could have been any nicer.

I'd also like to extend a special thanks to the boys in cabin 15: Dave B, Joe, "Musky Mark", Deano and Steve.

These guys went OUT OF THEIR WAY BIG TIME to point Mike and me in the right direction, mark our maps, offer encouragement, and endure Mike and my stories nightly of "woulda/shoulda's", and the fish we blew. They were all great sports and great guys who were free to share information as well as a few too many shots of whiskey! Oh - and who can forget the moose $@#! appetizers!

Thanks for making us feel welcome guys - we really appreciated it!

No doubt we'll be back to Witch Bay - what a great place with a great staff on an incredible lake. I've begun working on the "boss" for a return trip next year, but if not - definitely the following and hopefully when the Cabin 15 boys return!

Best,

Jeff Sevcik

[Dave B]

RTL -- I get goose bumps reading your story. I can't imagine the feeling you must have. Motor Block will go down in our log of trip stories, as much for the big fish Mark caught as for what happened the next night. The next evening, I went back with a couple of guys and fished the spot again and didn't see a fish. After our other boat finally made it back to camp Friday evening, they said they went and fished Motor Block and caught 2 fish on it. After de-briefing them a little further, we discovered they in fact hadn't fished Motor Block, but had fished a spot within spitting distance, and caught 2 muskies, a 41 and a 38. To top that off, the Chicago boys Jeff and Mike went off to fish the spot based upon suspect directions and/or limited information and ended up fishing a spot on the complete other side of Andrews and they had action from a couple of good fish. Everybody came back to the cabins that evening pumped up that they had seen/caught all these fish off Motor Block, and thinking it was the best spot ever. After those experiences, I'm thinking of calling every spot Motor Block.