Post Your October 2009 Trip Reports Here

We're into the home stretch of the 2009 season now. With the goofy weather all year, we don't know quite what to expect. What we can be sure of though is that there will be some excellent fall fishing at some point before ice up. With the scores of people fleeing the lake for winter warmth, hunting at home and just generally closing up the lake places, those left on the water will have the lake mostly to themselves.

Fall is the time for thick, fat, heavy fish. Muskies, Smallmouth Bass, Walleyes and Northerns fatten before the winter comes and make for some incredible catches.

Let's here your October reports so we can show others what they are missing!

After a hard day of moving into the place in Rainy River on Saturday (10/03) and a busy day of draining cabins and water lines to beat bad weather on Sunday (10/04), I was able to sneak out for a few hours of fishing on Monday (10/05) with my fishing buddy "Captain." We planned to try a little trolling and a little casting as he had has some success contacting and catching fish with both methods earlier in the week.

We managed to see 4 muskies casting the rocks and caught a couple of northerns trolling.

The only muskie we caught was a 40.5 inch male with the beginnings of a nice fall belly. The cool thing about this fish was that I caught it on a figure 8 after casting straight back behind the boat after we had come zcross the deeper water adjacent to the shallow rock structure we were casting towards. The water was pretty green but had cleared up a bit behind the boat so I was able to pick up the fish following about half way in. I lost sight of it at the boat before it jumped on my bait. I was using a bucktail made by Dick Moore as an experiment with an idea he had for a bucktail with a variation on the double 8 and double 10 inch blades that have become so popular. I threw this bait a couple times in it's original form before removing the second single trailer hook. This bait held the fish despite getting itself down into the big motor for 4-5 seconds as I helplessly held on trying to pull it down and away from the lower unit. Thanks for the great bait, Dick!!

Remember, you saw it here first!! I caught the first fish on the bait, which gave me naming rights. Normally I wouldn't brag about a 40" fish, but we have to show proof the bait works, right? Here is the hot new bait for 2010..............

Moore's D-8 Twister and it's first victim.

Got out muskie fishing for the unofficial "trolling opener" and missed a day on Saturday because winds gusting to 30 MPH all day long. Here is a quick report of the results from Sunday and Monday with my wife an I trolling for toothy critters.

Lost 4 fish on sunday. OUCH!! Three of them were on and gone before we had a chance to fight them for more than a few seconds. Another was a 5 plus minute battle with a fish that probably would have made the whole fall on the first day out. It made 3-4 runs and pulled line like crazy on each before powering up the shoreline and head shaking the bait free. We never saw any of the those fish. We did land 4 northerns including a 37.5 and a super fat 39.5 incher that had the head of a much larger fish.

Sunday we hooked 4 muskies again, but this time landed 3 of them and lost one. We caught 40 and 42 inchers to go along with a 27 inch peanut. Also 3 more northerns; only one of which was a decent size.

Observations of note for the first two days:

the outside line was pretty dead. Except for the first strike of the day on Sunday, every other strike was on the inside line or the "middle" line after I abandoned the outside position and ran the second rod short over the middle like we normally do in a 3-rod set-up. After moving the second rod to the "middle postion" halfway through Monday, it got hit 4 times, 3 of which were muskies.

We ran multiple baits on the outside rod, but all 8 strikes on Sunday hit the rainbow trout pattern jake. Sunday had 4 fish hit a perch grandma and 3 hit the same rainbow trout jake. Much too early to tell if they will be productive throughout the trolling season, but they both performed well last year and are off to a good start this year.

Baitfish seemed scattered and on the very minimal side on most areas. The fast cool down may have it b eing a bit "early" in the fishes mind despite the water temp sensors saying it should be prime time.

Action has picked up mid-week so the fish are coming around.

Justin,

You fared much better than me the last few days! I only managed 4 pike with the biggest being 40". Hopefully the heavy algae bloom goes away soon! Yuck! Also snagged an old rod/reel combo. You know your trip isn't going well when that happens.

Another tip. Make sure your clicker is on! I forgot once and looked back to see that 375 feet of line had run out!! The backing line snapped, but I was able to retrieve the lure, and even better was that I was able to re-spool my reel!

Hopefully the big girls put on the feedbag in the next couple weeks!

Jeff

Just got back from a weekend of fishing out of Morson. Stuck on shore Saturday with 390 mph winds and blowing snow. On Sunday we caught lots of Walleyes averaging 15" to 17" with the occassional smaller one and occassional larger one. Had our best luck fishing "Cuts" between islands. Jigs and minnows was the only bait we used. Tried for Crappies Late in the day with only one being caught. On Sunday we headed wayyy out to McPherson narrows and caught lots of 'Eyes again, Same size range. Trolled for Muskies for about an hour. One 37+ Northern and one fish of unknown species that spooled my friend's line in an instant. Both hits were on a Firetiger Grandma run straight behind the boat. Finished up the last 1 1/2 hours fishinng Crappies again and got 12 really nice ones. Made it home with a fingers and toes that I left home with, despite the cold temps.

Well I'm late getting my post on again. We were up to close the cabin in Hanson Bay the first week in Oct. Temps. in the 40's and strong winds out of the east and northeast all week. Fished mainly Thompson creek area and did manage to make it over to the elbow in Obabikon once. Lots of nice walleyes and some crappies which we had to hunt for but well worth it. With the wind howling all week it did force us out of our usual spots, and I did find a spot that that I want to hit hard next summer. As other contributors have noted I try to find new spots every time up. As we settle in to the doldrums of winter and work, Yuk!!! Our thoughts are already in to the 3rd week in May of 2010. Thanks Justin for every thing this year. You have been great. Hope every one has a wonderful holiday season. See you on the water next year.

nice job on the fish
i'll be closing my cabin in the northwest wi area next week end
already has snowed up there, temps 30 degrees below the normal average
inter sting bucktail looks similar to one a friend of mine has been making for a few years now.
the "stealth bomber".....his catches some nice fish with it too
here is a link to his site....check it out:
http://www.stealthtackle.net/fishing_products.shtml

We were up Oct. 2-11 for our annual fall trip. Nailed the walleye in the usual fall spots and good average size. Can't beat fall walleye fishing on LOTW.

Caught a 41 and 47 muskie at the same time trolling 10" Jakes along a rocky shore. First my brother's rod went off and as my wife was fast reeling in her line to get it out of the way, a second muskie slammed her bait. Was pretty exciting for a few minutes; me driving the boat away from rocky shore as waves crashed in, our two dogs racing around the boat barking and looking to see the fish, and the usual chaos associated with landing a big muskie. Ended up with both fish in the Beckman at the same time. I'm sure I'll never see that again. Good releases on both fish. Pics below.

http://www.walleyecentral.com/forums...pictureid=3070

http://www.walleyecentral.com/forums...pictureid=3071

Snagged this 19" smallie in the side while muskie trolling. Guessing she went after my 10" Jake and got snagged. At first it felt like a mid 30 class muskie cause she was being brought in sideways and then came in easier and we were all surprised (and disappointed) when we saw it was a smallie. See some weird stuff on the water.

http://www.walleyecentral.com/forums...pictureid=3072

And here's my brother with a 38" northern we caught. That dog loves fishing more than I do.

http://www.walleyecentral.com/forums...pictureid=3069

Also saw an eagle swoop down about 30' from the boat and perfectly grab a 15" smallie we threw back but was floating sideways. I've seen lots of eagles snag floating crappies but was pretty impressed to see one pick up a 15" smallie.

Week ended with an early fall snowstorm similar to that Oct. 2006 storm except not as severe. It's not an Oct. fishing trip on LOTW without some snow and wind.

We got home on Tuesday. Probably as rotten weather for two weeks as we ever had. Shoveled snow out of the boats twice. Very strong winds, lots of rain and cold temps. Walleye fishing was very good. Deep water , current areas close to the camp. Crappies were sporadic. Caught them at 35' and 14'. Miles bay area was best. Duck hunting was poor, although we did get enough birds. Bills were rafting up around Horseshoe Island. Shut the trailer down for the season. Six months to wait.

Got home this afternoon in time to see the Vikings luck out and win. Should have stayed one more day as yesterday wasn't very nice. Today would have been beautiful on the lake! Anyway, went up to Miles bay yesterday by myself while my wife cleaned up the cabin and got things ready for winter (I LOVE HER!). My first fish, picked up my jig on the drop,was a nice 22". Wow-gonna be a good day I thought. Not any more there. Had to move around to find any numbers. It was cold out, but at least the wind was blowing hard. I caught around 30-35 fish, all but the one, were around 12-15". Most were from one of my normal summer spots in 19-20'. Tried a few of my normal fall spots and nada. Oh well, I guess I'll be back when it's hard water for some sleddin' and Hay Island crappie fishing. Justin, Thanks for all the brave minnows that are willing to sacrifice themselves for me, and save me a stall again for next year. Bob

It sounds as though we had as mild weather as anyone, which actually didn't help us. We could have used more wind to concentrate some baitfish...and muskies. In all we caught 16 muskies this year. We did manage some personal bests in the group and some big fish...49.5 (nope, couldn't stretch her to 50!), 48.5, 48, 47, 46.5 were the top 5. We worked a lot of different areas with very little pattern anywhere. The fish came from all over the place and various times of day, with the only similarity being the typical point or underwater point coming out from a shoreline. So, keeping the baits wet was the key. Also unique this year was the "smaller" baits. We only caught one on a 14" Jake or 13" Grandma...and that was a little 31" peanut!

As previous posts mentioned, water temps were between 43-46 during the week, which is typically ideal. Early in the week the air was cooler, but we had mid 40 degree highs consistently mid to later week. Days were very stable and we never did have much of any wind to speak of. What light wind we did have was usually from the E. We never did find that great "feeding" window, but at least we contacted some quality fish.

We also put some big Northerns, up to 40", in the boat.

Good luck getting some last runs in, Justin, there are still some beasts out there waiting for you! Thanks for all your help this season.

rich
you never mentioned how thick your muskie was congrads on a nice thick fall lotw muskie you needed to give her a chiropractic adjustment to try to get that last half inch !!! well you cant get much closer than that. did you girth her ?
basil

Thanks Baz. Conservatively, the girth is 24". That's what I quickly taped in the water, but I may have missed the biggest part. Nevertheless, its a fun one to look at!