Thoughts on Crow Lake for Muskies...

[Doonbuggy]

Our fishing group is considering going to Crow Lake by Nestor Falls, Ontario next summer for muskies and smallmouth.

I'd be interested in anyone's thoughts on this lake and the resorts on it, good or bad. Also, any thoughts on the portage lakes for bass/pike/eyes?

Thank you.

DB

[bigbritt]

crow lake is an exceptional muskie lake. it is a deep, clear trout lake, so the fishing is a little different. during the heat of the afternoon, the fish move into sand beaches in coves and bays,the key is beaches that are direclty adjacent to deep water, they move in and out of the deep water from these spots. there are also a million midlake spots to fish also. get a good map for sure, if you have gps, get the chip for it also. but the midlake reefs and so on are also good spots. the lake also has a few weed areas, it is cabbage and are sparse, but if you find them and they havent been ripped up yet, the fish will for sure be in them. the best resort up there is muskie bay resort, the owners name is paul trinkner, he is a great guy and is himself a muskie fisherman. always muskie hunters staying at the resort and always are open to talk about what is going on.

the smallies are all over in crow and relatively easy to find. lake of the woods is right across the street, so pike, walleye are easy access as well.

hope that helps ya.

[MNBIGBEAR]

I fished it one time a few years ago for a change of scenery from lotw. We just fished the morning and the locations mentioned by bigbritt were right on. We found em on the sand with weeds mixed in. Even if there were only a few weeds, we still found fish, and big ones! Really clear and beautiful lake. Good luck.

[jerkin'm]

Been fishing Crow for a LONG time, not an easy lake to learn and plenty of hazards...Smallies for me have been tough, I have spent plenty of time on a couple of the portage lakes with terrible success the last couple of times...Stay at Muskie Bay or Crawfords, both Paul (MB) and Mike (Crawfords) are good guys and willing to share info..The theories on the portage lakes is there has been a few too many nets in them the last couple years...Summer muskie fishing on Crow can be super tough as well...I like to spend most of my time chasing the trout on Crow ...Both places have access across the highway to Lake of the Woods as well...Tons of options...Very cool area...Spend the time and you will find a few fish...

[Random guy]

If you have a chance to go to crow, GO! Don't even debate it. I love Crow Lake, as stated above it is a little differant to fish but it can produce both some nice fish and decent numbers as can most shield waters.

I have stayed at Crawfords and was more then happy with the service and the stay as a whole. Good folks.

Pay attention to the sand, it can definetly make an afternoon. Also watch your map, Crow likes to eat props and lower units for lunch.

[Lals]

Check out Crawford's Resort HSOforum, he does a nice job of providing regular fishing reports. So, you can evaluate this years fishing based on that. It seemed that the early season Muskys were really hot.

[Doonbuggy]

A big thank you for the info! I am ready to book our trip, now I just need to get the other five sallies in my group to commit. Thanks again.

DB