07-31-2006, 05:18 AM
Just started fishing it recently and am amazed at the action, particularly in the middle of the summer.
Caught a 44-inch musky last week on only my third time on the lake this year. I was trolling my favorite lure and a small pike hit and then she hit the pike, hooking herself. She jumped once and went under my 14-ft. boat, but I managed to finally turn her belly-up with one hand, get a good grip under her gill flap and hoist her in. Beautiful healthy fish. Biggest musky I've caught, beating my decade-old personal record of 15 pounds, caught on a hammered blue-and-silver spoon on LOTW.
Otherwise, action wasn't great that day compared to my two previous trips. I only caught about a dozen bass and pike combined, although I'd have undoubtedly caught more if half my suckers hadn't died when I went too long adding ice to the minnow bucket. I went through the half dozen I had left in about half an hour, bobber fishing around 11 a.m. Here's a chronology of my fishing two days before. After releasing each fish, I checked the time on my cell phone and wrote it down:
Got on the lake at 9:30 a.m.
9:35
9:39
9:42
9:55
10:00
10:13
10:42
10:47
All of the above were pike caught trolling the 13 ft. weedline, none over 3 pounds
......
Missed two hits
......
11:05 -- first bass
11:18 -- another
11:43 -- bass "quick released" by boat
lunch
12:20 pike
12:42 pike
nap
2:27 bass
4:00 pike
4:25 bass
5:50 bass
6:30 off the lake and off to work.
Biggest bass was about 2 pounds. Some of the fish caught after my nap were on suckers slip-bobber fishing.
My first time on the lake (the previous week), I had comparable action, but my biggest were a 5 and a half pound pike and a 3 pound bass. (I caught 3 pike trolling back to boat ramp that night.) I could probably catch a hundred or so little bass a day using crappie minnows on Tonka, fishing the 13-ft. weedline, but I haven't figured out where the big ones hang out yet. Docks, maybe?
I'm more of a pike fisherman, anyway, although catching the musky was so much fun I'll be focusing on those a little more in the future.
Anyone else fishing Tonka or catching muskies?
[signature]
Caught a 44-inch musky last week on only my third time on the lake this year. I was trolling my favorite lure and a small pike hit and then she hit the pike, hooking herself. She jumped once and went under my 14-ft. boat, but I managed to finally turn her belly-up with one hand, get a good grip under her gill flap and hoist her in. Beautiful healthy fish. Biggest musky I've caught, beating my decade-old personal record of 15 pounds, caught on a hammered blue-and-silver spoon on LOTW.
Otherwise, action wasn't great that day compared to my two previous trips. I only caught about a dozen bass and pike combined, although I'd have undoubtedly caught more if half my suckers hadn't died when I went too long adding ice to the minnow bucket. I went through the half dozen I had left in about half an hour, bobber fishing around 11 a.m. Here's a chronology of my fishing two days before. After releasing each fish, I checked the time on my cell phone and wrote it down:
Got on the lake at 9:30 a.m.
9:35
9:39
9:42
9:55
10:00
10:13
10:42
10:47
All of the above were pike caught trolling the 13 ft. weedline, none over 3 pounds
......
Missed two hits
......
11:05 -- first bass
11:18 -- another
11:43 -- bass "quick released" by boat
lunch
12:20 pike
12:42 pike
nap
2:27 bass
4:00 pike
4:25 bass
5:50 bass
6:30 off the lake and off to work.
Biggest bass was about 2 pounds. Some of the fish caught after my nap were on suckers slip-bobber fishing.
My first time on the lake (the previous week), I had comparable action, but my biggest were a 5 and a half pound pike and a 3 pound bass. (I caught 3 pike trolling back to boat ramp that night.) I could probably catch a hundred or so little bass a day using crappie minnows on Tonka, fishing the 13-ft. weedline, but I haven't figured out where the big ones hang out yet. Docks, maybe?
I'm more of a pike fisherman, anyway, although catching the musky was so much fun I'll be focusing on those a little more in the future.
Anyone else fishing Tonka or catching muskies?
[signature]