July Morson reports here!!!!!

[Wild Thing]

Hey, Canadian side LOTW dudes. Start posting! I'm outta here for 9 days on the lake starting on Friday and I need some reports! Where are the usual suspects who have been posting Morson updates in past years? Pretty silent lately.

I have to say that, in four trips so far this year, except for wind, it has been fantastic. They eyes have always been where they should be.

With this heat, the crayfish should be on the reefs with the big eyes on top of them!

Let's hear those reports!!

[Eastwind]

Wild Thing,

I am coming up on Saturday for week, the first time up for me since the last week of May. I am also curious about how the fishing has been. Anyone else been up to Morson lately?

[Wild Thing]

Well, here goes. Anyone out there???

Spent 9 days at Morson and there are lots of interesting things going on in LOTW....

1. First things first. Got my biggest walleye ever: 31.5 inches, just a shade over 10 pounds even. I'd caught 30's before, but only 9 pounds. Had a 12 and a 14 pounder in the same boat, but they were caught my someone else! After 30-some years of walleye fishing, I'm finally in The Club!

2. The walleyes were on the reefs early and the first few days were spectacular, as good or better than July 4th trip. Catching at a rate of a walleye every 5-10 minutes, or 6-12 walleyes per hour per person. I never fished more than three hours per day so never got up to the big daily catch numbers some others did.

3. Crawlers and spinners on bottom bouncers were smoking them. (Tourists trying to use jigs, minnows or spinners w/lindy sinkers were just not catching many. They were snagged most of the time. Hard to believe boats can be that close and have such different success.)

4. Fishing SLOWED as the week went on and got downright dull by Saturday, not just for me but several of the locals were having very slow days. Not sure if the eyes are already leaving the reefs or just taking a break. It would really suck if they have left the reefs already.

5. Everything in nature is two weeks ahead of schedule. The algae bloom already has started and surface water is holding at about 75-78 degrees depending on sunshine. Bluberries are done or never were.

6. Muskies are going nuts, for those of you who fish them. Saw one 51.5'' caught, heard of several more. Tons of musky boats out so the word must be out.

7. Water is down 38 inches from last June and at least 24 inches from normal July!!! I can barely get in my boathouse. Reefs that usually top off at 10 feet are now 8 or shallower. (It is tinder dry up there, no real rain since early June. Some stressed maple trees and ferns already turning color, a month before normal. Other trees just wilting. No campfires allowed, so we used coleman stove for shore lunch. Several fires in the area, but nothing affecting lake access. Be careful!)

8. Besides the alage green and usual tea-colored water, LOTW has had an unusually milky appearance this summer. Not sure why.

9. Lots of wind again recently, but only missed 1 day out of nine due to high winds. several others were very breezy but still got out. We did a 52 mile boatride to Nestor Fals and did a 63 mile trip to Sturgeon Chanel, just for fun. Love to explore that lake!!!

10. I'm home for 10 days then back up for five. Will report again in August...

(Where the heck are all the old Morson reporters out there? Past years there have been many more contributors here.)

WT

[Shorelunch]

Congrats on the 30/10 WT! I think my largest on LOW is 27. I'm heading up for the weekend and will report back. There "should" be another month of reef fishing. I hope so as I really haven't got to fish my favorite reefs over by Dawson channel. Any luck with minnows or leeches?

The permanent docks are sticking out quite a bit - I hope they're still not letting water out at Kenora.

[Eastwind]

We were up in Morson from Saturday the 15th to Saturday the 22nd and fished Sunday through Friday. Sunday was brutal as it was hot and still and the only steady bite was from the the flies on my feet and ankles. Monday was cooler but the fish did not bite much better. Finally, on Tuesday we started getting something that resembled steady action. The reefs West of B.V.R. were producing little or no fish from what I experienced and what I heard from most other people. We started getting fish when we fished reefs surrounded by water at least 30' deep. Most fish came out of 22' to 35' of water. Not the normal mid July numbers of fish but a better average size. I'm going back up the first weekend of August so it will be interesting to see what the "Eyes" are doing then.

[Wild Thing]

Shorelunch:

Sounds like we fish very close to each other!! The 10 pounder came from a reef just east and a bit north of Dawson Channel! Those are my favorite reefs, too!!! Don't tell anyone!!! Ooops. I never tried leaches or minnows, usually don't need them this time of year. Maybe I should have by the second weekend as it was pretty slow. Mostly very small fish.

Eastwind, we probably crossed wakes out there! We had very good fishing the morning when it hit 98 degrees (Sunday) but only fished until noon then had shorelunch on Bigsby.

My question is, what do the fish do where there is NO 30-foot deep water around for miles? That whole basin is 22 feet deep now. You have to go up north to find that 30 foot water (we caught walleyes Friday up near Sabaskosing on a 25-foot reef in 35 feet of water.)

So do the walleyes on the reefs west of Morson migrate? Do they stop eating? Sometiems I see them on the finder just hanging out there suspedned off the reefs, but they never bite out there.... Oddly, in past years we've had some of our best fishing on hot, brite days -- near noon -- when the big eyes were gorging on crayfish on the reefs. But I didn't find one crayfish in a belly this trip.

So it goes...

See you guys up there. We'll be up on a guys only trip (no wives or kids!!!) Aug. 3-7.

PS The big girl was photographed and released....

[Shorelunch]

WT, I know they tag 'eyes coming out of the Rainy and are routinely found around our neck of the woods. That being said, the whole portion of the lake hasn't uprooted. Heck they could be in 4' feeding or maybe they're eating earlier or later. My best reef fishing also has been mid-morning to mid-day in the past too. I'm also sure we've caught fish on the same reefs out there. It's my favorite fishing of the year.

[Eastwind]

W.T.

I also like the reefs down by Dawson and Basil channels. So we have most likely crossed wakes at one time or another. When we were fishing the reefs West of B.V.R. with no luck we graphed a lot of fish in the 22' to 24' basin. They just did not take baits. In the water that got to 30'+ we graphed fish from 18' to 35' and they bit in all of those depths, although 22' to 30' was the best. I will be on the water August 5th thru the 7th. My marine band handle is also Eastwind. Lately I have been monitoring 68 and 16. It's fun to listen to the houseboat renters trying to get service out of Morson Marina on the houseboats that they rent out for few grand a week. Maybe will talk to you up there. Will be staying at Mylie's, as usual.

[dmoore]

We spent a week at our place at Mylie's. Didn't do any good on the reefs to the west. Caught some real nice fish on reefs and points around Boomstick and Sunset Channel. 15' was oue best depth. Did all right on some of the reefs to the east. Jigs and minnows and minnows on bottom bouncers. The guys running out to Firebag and Pony did extremely well. Jigs and minnows. Muskie action was very good. Surface baits and spinner baits. Most of our action was on rocks. Don't know if we will get up there in

August. We are on Ch. 14 (Baitmaker). Stop over and visit.

Dick

[Scoot]

Fellers,

I don't have any recent reports from that way, but I'll be up there in a week or so. I'll be in a black and red Skeeter with a 150 on it. Our other boat will be a blue and gray Skeeter with a 200 on it. If you see us, be sure to swing over and we'll swap reports. I'm likely to spend a lot of my time N and W of the exact areas your talking about, but not by too much. I'm usually on the N side of Splitrock, but not always. I sometimes hit the reefs on the way up to our camp site too.

So... if you see me, give me a shout. Always fun to see fellow FMers on the water.

[rockpt]

Thanks for all the reports.

We'll be up from July 28 - August 6 running a Crestliner 192 with 200 Merc and a white dog in the bow. Stop by if you see us.

Eastwind - Give me a shout on the radio and I'll stop by and give you a report.

[Shorelunch]

Rockpt - where you fishing out of? I'll be up this weekend and fish out of Hanson Bay.

[rockpt]

Shorelunch,

We'll be at Grassy Narrows in Miles Bay. Probably hitting the reefs in Miles, around Fish Narrows and then out west by Pony, Firebag, etc.

Go by "rockpoint" on the radio and usually monitor 68. Stop by if you see us or give a shout on the radio.

Some of the forecasts are calling for temps near 95. Hope they're wrong.

Also, for what it's worth, just talked to a friend who returned from a 3 week trip to Crow. He said that b/c of the hot, dry weather, the wasps and hornets are bad this year. He got stung four times on the boat when fishing near shoreline. Told me to get the wasp and hornet killer that sprays 20'.

[Wild Thing]

Hey, we finally got some Morson chatter going here!!

Good luck this weekend and report back by Wednesday when I head up.

You'll notice a Trophy 190 with Yamahas on the back and the guys inside smoking cheap cigars...

I'm hoping the fish return ot the Morson basin reefs or we'll have to burn some gas heading up north..

see ya on the water!!!

[Eastwind]

rokpt,

You'll be glad that I am disagreeing with you on this one. If you look at the Canadian weather forecast trend for next week at " The Weather Network .com" for Canadian cities you will see a cooling trend for Morson all through next week. It just starts to trend hotter next weekend when I get there. At least the water won't be getting hotter yet during next week.

SAT PM

JUL 29 SUN

JUL 30 MON

JUL 31 TUE

AUG 1 WED

AUG 2 THU

AUG 3

HIGH 26°C 28°C 28°C 27°C 25°C 23°C

LOW - 21°C 21°C 22°C 20°C 11°C

CONDITION Mainly sunny Mainly sunny Mainly sunny A few showers Mainly sunny Cloudy periods

P.O.P. 0% 10% 10% 40% 10% 10%

WIND N 5 km/h NE 5 km/h E 15 km/h W 5 km/h NW 15 km/h NE 10 km/h

Updated : Friday July 28 2006, 9:01 CDT

[Shorelunch]

We fished Friday evening through Sunday afternoon. Overall we had very good walleye fishing and darn good smallie fishing. The vast majority of our walleyes came along shorelines in 16-20 feet. We trolled spinners with crawlers and minnows with most coming on crawlers. Most were in the 15" range with a few larger size (18-26") up shallower. They'd hit good for a half hour then slow down for a half hour and so on. We did catch 4 fish in 5 minutes once. The best fishing was in Miles Bay.

Smallies were hitting along the rip rap shores with weeds in 6-12'. We threw top waters, #7 shads and jig/ringworms - all did well.

[Wild Thing]

Thanks, Shorelunch, glad you found fish,. We're heading up Wednesday night..

A friend of mine caught lots of fish through Friday on the reefs west of Morson, and I see BVR reports fish on the reefs eating crayfish, so we're going to try that first for bigger fish..

What kind of structure and how did you catch the smallies?

see ya on the water!!!

[marknamy]

Thanks for the reports. Headed up on Friday for the weekend. Haven't been up in three weeks. Getting tough to read all the good reports and not be on the water.

I'll post next week. Planning on hitting the reefs west of Morson if the weather permits.

[Shorelunch]

WT, I caught a few eyes with scraped up heads from pushing rocks for crayfish. You're also a reader of Richard Gate's "Daily Journal" too, eh? I heard most of the reefs and humps around Miles, west of Morson and about everywhere in between. I still didn't get to my favorite reef by Dawson though - went up to Miles instead and it was too good of fishing to leave. Smallies were hitting on the islands off of their spawning grounds. Typical structure - rip rap, weeds and sand with a good drop-off. Best spot I've found is just south of Goose Neck (south of Dawson channel). There's weeds through the neck and there's really nice rip rap shore on the east side. The point is also pretty good along with the island just to the south. The east side of Village island is also good. Closer to Morson, if you go out of Hansen Bay through Raspberry by Pine Island and go right/east along the north shoreline Raspberry - the first island you come to on your right (just off the NE point of Raspberry) is also good smallie fishing on the south side.

[Wild Thing]

Wow, Shorelunch, thanks for the smallie tips. How shallow is it through Gooseneck? I'm going to try that spot!! Won't tell anyone else. Ooops. Will try Village, too. We hunt ducks down there so I know it a bit...

What are you using this time of year on smallies -- cranks or spinners or worms or what? And how deep are they?

I rarely have time to fish smallies as everyone who comes up wants to catch walleyes. We catch a few on the reefs, but I want to spend a day targting them.

Gracias....

[Shorelunch]

I wouldn't go full throttle through the neck but it should be just fine to troll through. Start working where the weeds start to turn towards (the east/south) shore (I've never caught anything through the neck). I like lures with noise on LOW - blue & silver Rattlin Raps or Rat-L-Traps, Rattlin Shad Raps. They're pretty dumb there with no pressure so they should hit about anything. I'd also try a 4" ringworm - I like silver/black and chartreuse/orange type colors. Also through white spinnerbaits. As far as depth, as the old saying goes, if they're not shallow, they're probably deeper . . . I'd start throwing to shore and swim/jig it back to 12-16'.

If nothing is happening around Goose Neck or Village, try the Dawson channel area - the fist bay coming in on the north side of the channel and the shoreline from the south point of that bay west along the north shoreline (multi-species - use Fireline or the like). Oh, the west side of the bay in Harbor Island has also been OK in the past, too.

[Scoot]

I've done a lot of smallie fishing in the areas you're talking about. We usually spend about 1/3 of our time on each of walleye, smallies, muskies. We've done best for smallies mixing it up between cranks (#'s 5 and 7 Shad raps-- also X-raps can be dynamite), tube jigs (try different colors), and jig/plastic combos. Occasionally done well with inline spinners (e.g., Mepps) too. Smallies can be very finicky so be sure to mix up presentations to see what they want.

Any fist to basketball sized rocky shoreline can be good in the areas you're talking about. However, look for areas mentioned above for a little better location. With the water low, you may want to move way up shallow and try get your casts in really close to shore. Sometimes in low water years I catch most of my fish in the first 24" closest to shore.

Good luck! I'm headed up there tomorrow. I'll be in a black and red Skeeter with a 150 Vmax. Swing over and say hello.