LOTW

[eskay]

Well guys, I guess it's my turn to check in. I'm the other half of Wizard's cabin, the older and better looking brother. It's about time the Wiz checked in, I've been offering my insights occassionally over the last couple of years. I don't get the chance to fish as much as Wiz, but do get up a few times over the year. I always seem to be too busy to make the fall musky hunt, as I also live and breath for duck hunting, which clashes with fall fishing. And running your own business always seems to get in the way at the wrong time.
Our cabin is the first one on East Stinzi Road, to be more accurate. I have a 175 Mag Alumacraft with a 115 Yamaha. We monitor ch. 16 on the marine band, so holler if you see one of us.

[Uramusky]

Thanks Wizard -

----- Hey guys, I keep hearing about musky in sabaskong bay, what are these fish relating to in late June, and what is the water level like and temp. I live near Litchfield and Hutchinson. Up Nort is my happy place also. Any info on

[jasonk]

Just got back from our cabin north of Morson and fishing was terrible. We caught some small walleyes in Miles bay and some small northerns in Whitefish. Other than that fishing was brutal.

[dmoore]

Ultra
Heading up tomorrow. If you have a marine band radio call me on ch. 14 "Baitmaker". I will be fishing for muskies in and around their spawning areas. Burrows is a top spot.
D Moore

[Shorelunch]

Wizard/Eskay,

Our cabin is on West Stinzy Drive (Taylor Bay). You must be in Miller Bay? I've probably walked by your cabin. Small world.

[Daryl]

Shorelunch-Wizard-Eskay- I have a cottage just south of you guys on Frenchmans Rock Road. Its the little cabin that sits under the big white "barn". If you have been by you know what I mean.
As far as fishing Garden, I have not fished it but have seen the fleets of boats on the American side and have made the trip around Bigsby and Big Islands. It is an easy trip in a single day with plenty of time for fishing. Lots and lots of good spots and very few boats.
I monitor channel 68 and my handle is Solitary Man.
Up every weekend.
Good fishing,
Daryl

[Doonbuggy]

We'll be up the 26th as well. Spoke with our houseboat hosts tonight to finalize things. They said miles bay, obabikon bay/lake are doing well for all species.

Water temp is 58 and walleyes have been caught on jig/minnow combinations in 12' of water.

Will give a full report when back in Mpls. Anyone have any other suggestions on areas or techniques (any species). Going out of Hanson's Bay.

I have a gps map so I can make sense of islands, etc. that you talk about. Thanks in advance.

Also, I imagine the houseboat will have a marine radio. Is there a popular channel? Would be kind of fun to trade info during the week as opposed to just commenting after the weeklong trip.

DB

[Eastwind]

Doonbuggy,

As far as marine channels I have heard fishermen on 14 others on 68 and others on 72. As far as spots to fish, I think if you concentrate your efforts in and around the islands and points in Miles Bay you will find fish. Good luck and have fun.

[Doonbuggy]

Thanks for the info. Assuming we have a marine radio, our handle will be The Mothership.

Let's keep the updates coming. Smallies hitting topwater yet?

DB

[jerkin'm]

Will be on LOTW last weekend in July. Are the crappies in the deep winter spots at that time of year? Will be towards the stevens bay side of the lake and would just like to see some action. Any info appreciated. Thanks in advance

[Wizard]

Just got back from a few days on The Woods. Fishing was pretty disappointing. Let me start by telling you how we did last year at this time and the difference in conditions. Last year me and a buddy fished June 17th, 18th and 19th. We fished the Dawson Island area, the Rabbit Island area and the Miles Bay area. We mostly pulled spinners with Leeches or Crawlers. We fished for 5 hrs. the first day, 9 hrs. the second day and 8 hrs. the last day. Air temps were 75, 75 and 80. Water temps were 66-70, 70 and 71-74.5. The skies were mostly sunny all 3 days. The winds were moderate to strong all 3 days. We caught a total of 107 fish including: 68 Walleyes (24 were between 15"-23 1/2"), 25 Perch, 12 Sauger and 2 big Crappies. Not too shabby.
This year, me, my brother, his wife and daughter drove up on the 22nd (Tues). We got 3 1/2 hrs. in on Tues evening, vertical jigg'in south of Miles bay. It was mostly sunny, strong wind from the NW, the air temp was 60 and the water temp was 59.5-61. We caught 3 freak'in fish! 2 little Walleyes and a Crappie. Saw lots of fish, even watched them on the sonar, come up to my jig only to head back for the bottom.
On Weds. we did'nt get fish'in til 10:30. It was mostly Sunny with a moderate wind so we started up by Rubber Island. Vertical jigg'in and slip-bobber'in. Tried a few spots, didn't see hardly any fish or bait. Caught nothing. Went to Miles Bay. Caught 8 fish. 5 Walleyes, a 13 1/4" Crappie, a Perch and a Rock Bass. At about 1:00, the rain moved in and it got very windy. We braved it for about a 1/2 hr. then decided to give it up.
The brother's family left and my cousin arrived Fri. afternoon. We fished from 6-9pm in the Dawson Island area, and managed to jig up 4 Walleyes (including a 17 1/2"er and a 19"er), 3 Saugers and a Smallie.
On Sat. we fished for 9 hrs. basically in the Rabbit Island area. It was mostly cloudy with a few small rain showers, a pretty light wind, low 60's for air temp and 60 for water temp.. We spend most of the time jigg'in for Walleyes and a couple hrs. casting for Muskies. The Muskie fishing only produced an 18 1/2" Smallie! The Jigg'in produced 32 fish, including 17 Sauger, 9 Walleyes, 3 Perch, 1 Crappie, 1 Rock Bass and 1 Beautiful, 35", clear-phase, Muskie! Boy did he thump that jig!
That's it. Pretty **** slow. The water temp is so far behind, I hope things get back to normal as soon as possible. This week looks like "water warm'in" weather. Anyone else been up lately. Lets hear a report!!
Good Fish'in, Wizard

[marknamy]

Wizard,
Thanks for the report. No report here. Haven't been up for a couple weeks. Headed up Sat AM.
What structure/depth were you working? I talked to two groups that have been up in the last week. One group found fish on top of the reefs, the other found them in the weeds. Tough to figure out the pattern this year.
Just wondering if it is worth heading to the Firebag, Rubber area or if one would be better working structure out by Dawson.
Just curious.

[Wizard]

Marknamy, We caught most of the fish working the edge of the basin of structure such as points and reefs in 20+'. Things may change though with this weather. Your best bet is to search on and by structure with your electronics, looking for fish and/or baitfish before you even put a line in the water. We caught a couple nicer Walleyes in the Dawson area but the numbers were very low. Talked to a guy last Sat. at the Gov't Landing N. of Morson, and he said he had done pretty well around Firebag a week earlier but we did'nt get quite that far. Let me know how you do when you get back.
Good Fish'in Wizard

[Sabaskong]

Just wondering if you guys have any opinions on any of the resorts in the morson area. I fish lotw quite abit but usually it's Buffalo Bay or Warroad and an occasional trip up to the angle. I would like to take my dad up around july 20 for 4 days. Just looking for a decent cabin and lodge with a decent bar around. Thanks guys, Stiffrod

[Eastwind]

Stiffrod,

I have stayed at two of the resorts in the Morson area several times. Mylie's and Buena Vista. Both are nice resorts and are priced about the same. Mylie's gets an extra little edge for their docks and consistent attention to customer service. Buena Vista has a nice restaurant on site that also serves liquor. If you check Mylie's HSOforum, I believe that they have openings during that week. I'm not sure about Buena Vista. There are other resorts in the area that you can find by doing an internet search of
"Morson, Ontario". I have not stayed at any of the other resorts so I have no opinion of them.

[dmoore]

We just got back from two weeks at our trailer at Morson. Other than the wind, rain, cold temps we had very good fishing. We didn't find any sort of pattern. Caught fish deep, shallow, on reefs, sand shorelines, etc. Did real well on reefs and shoreline points out east 18-20'. Big and Little Mink, Comegon Channel also produced. We usually only fish 2-3 hours. Dragging 5/8 oz. jigs were by far the best method. Minnows one day, crawlers the next. We actually did better using 3" twisters (Black, Yellow). When we left the fish were starting to show up on the reefs out to the west. May fly hatch was in full swing.

[Doonbuggy]

Got back Saturday from our houseboat trip out of Morson.

Had great weather and the fishing was pretty good overall. Water temp really moved during the day. When we got there on 6/26 it was 58, on 7/1 we hit 71 in one bay after a series of nice days.

Walleyes: Caught great numbers of them, but the biggest was only 18". Simply could not find bigger fish. Jig/minnow combo outfished everything else and color did not matter. 16-19' was the best. Tight to shoreline breaks got most of our fish.

Good spots for us were Obabikon Bay, the channel east of Wisakode Island and the N/NW side of the larger island that is SW of Horseshoe. (I call it "Snowboot Island" given it's shape.)

The channel east of Smokehouse is also said to be good, but we didn't get there.

Smallmouth: up on the rocks in shallow water. The shorelines with steep breaks did not hold fish. Jointed floating raps was best and they hit both on the top and during the retrieve. Big boulders in the shadows was prime!

Caught a few 16", 2 17" and one 18" beauty. A rule of thumb for us that our boat had to be in 12' of water or less when throwing to the shallows.

Pike: Didn't catch a lot of them, but they all went 6-10lbs. Spinnerbaits in the weedbeds worked best.

Muskie: We had a few follows and boated a 25", a 41" and a trophy 50" that was probably closer to 52" b/c it was so long it sagged when it was measured.

Chartreuse bucktails, Top-Walkers drew them in. An orange Phantom caught the pig. Obabikon Lake and Burrow Bay had the best action.

Gorgeous country and I hope to get back some day. Hope this helps and good fishin'!

DB

[Shorelunch]

Got back on Sunday (July 4) after spending a week fishing out of the Hanson Bay area (government dock).

Two of us caught about forty 14-18" walleyes a day. During the day we mostly fished the reefs by the Dawson Channel area and fished island shorelines at night. While we marked a lot of fish at 25 - 30' most of the bites, day or night, were at 10-18'. We mostly trolled bottom bouncers/spinners with either crawlers, minnows or leeches. Largest fish was a 5.5 lb/26" walleye and about six 2 lb'ers.

Great week of weather and good fishing - lots and lots of small wallys - should be an excellent crop in the next few years.

[benelli_dude2002]

Was up at my dads in Morson on Saturday. 3 of managed to bring home 12 in about 1 1/2 of fishing and then the storm moved us to shore. Caught about 30 fish most were smaller and a few about 3 lb and they went back. Most were caught in about 12-15 ft on this reef we fished out towards Dawson. My dad even landed a 40 inch musky on the same spot where we caught the walleyes. Monday I went up there again but this time we went for the south end of Miles bay and tried out a few reefs. Ended up out front of New Moon Lodge for our last spot. 4 of us filled out with the biggest one about 4 lbs and we caught about 70 fish total but most were smaller. Leeches and minnows on jigs but jig color really didnt matter because one guy even used just a plain leadhead and he caught most of the fish. Needless to say we ate the evidence went we got back to dads. Dont know when I will get back up there cuz i leave tonight for alabama and wont get back til saturday sometime and head out again sunday sometime and got to go meet a friend in fargo next weekend so who knows. But i do some fish in the freezer finally. Just thought I'd share my report with y'all. Hope you had a good weekend this past holiday weekend. Good luck fishing! Brian

[Wizard]

Hey, guys
Thanks For the reports! Their fantastic and greatly appreciated! I'm going up next weekend for a 3-day'er. You guys are getting me all excited! will report when I get back.
Good Fish'in, Wizard

[eyeballs]

It's nice to see a running topic for this area. I knew I wasn't the only one fishing around here. I will be leaving tomorrow for the cabin and wil be more than happy to post some results.

[marknamy]

Just got back from Morson last night.
Fished Sat and Sun. Catching was not a problem. Kept enough for a nice meal and released the rest. Found walleyes everywhere we tried. It's nice to finally have some consistent fishing. Mainly worked shoreline and points in Miles Bay.
Not going back up till August. It's going to be a long four weeks.

[Sabaskong]

Eastwind, thanks for the info. We ended up going with Ontario Wilderness Houseboats. We are booked for tues. 20th thru fri. 23rd. We'll be fishing mainly for eyes with a little time for smallies and skies. Hopefully we'll get some decent weather. Thanks again.

[eskay]

Myself and Wizard will be up this weekend, Fri-Sun. Give us a holler if you see one of us. We monitor ch 16 on the radio. Wiz- red 20' Lund w/ 225 optiMax, me-gray and black 18' alumacraft w/ 115 Yamaha. Good luck, and we'll report back next week. Probably around Sabaskong. I plan on a little muskie hunting.

[Wizard]

Well I got home Sun night from 4 days on The Woods. Did real well pull'in spinners for Walleyes on the reefs. Did a little casting shad raps for Smallies with no luck. Did some musky hunting with my brother catching 2 smaller ones, and there was a couple encounters with HUGE fish. The first day (Thu the 15th) me and Wolfer drove up early and fished from 4:30-9:30. We got 25 Walleyes with the biggest being: 3-15"ers, 2-16"ers and an 18"er. We also got 3 Perch and a Sauger. Friday, brother ESKAY and Dave joined us. We got 34 Walleyes, the biggest were: a 15 1/2"er, 2-16"ers, a 17 1/2"er, a 24"er and a Big 29 1/2"er for Dave. We also got 8 Sauger, 4 Perch, 2 Rock Bass and ESKAY caught a beat up little 32" spotted Muskie, that hit right at the boat. Sat. we got 83 Walleyes including 3-15"ers, 2-16"ers, 2-16 1/2"ers, 2-17"ers, 2-17 1/2"ers and I caught a 20 1/2"er while Muskie fish'in, casting a small Muskie Bucktail! We watched another group of fisherman catch and release 2 Walleyes that looked to be between 28"-30"!!We also got: 12 Perch, 5 Sauger, 1 Smallie and a Crappie. ESKAY caught another beat up 32" spotted Muskie, about 10 miles from where he got the one yesterday. Dave had a "Forty Pounder" jump out of the water with his Bucktail in it'd mouth only to throw it back at him before it crashed back into the water! We pretty much fished reefs and caught fish from the very tops to past the basin. We fished for 3 1/2 hrs. on Sun. before we drove home. ESKAY and Dave went Muskie hunting, but had no action, except for 1 small Northern. Me and Wolfer needed a couple more eaters for our limits, so we hit the reefs again. We got 22 Walleyes including 3-15"ers, a 20 3/4"er and a 22 3/4"er. We also got 4 Sauger, 4 Perch and a Rock Bass.
P.S. The Mayfly hatch is in full swing. I parked my boat directly under the dock light on Fri night and in the morning there was about 9" of mayflies piled in my boat!! Had to clean it out with a broom and scoop shovel!! Could have filled a 50-gal can EASY!!!
Good Fish'in, Wizard