Looking for advice on fishing Georgian Bay

[Nate Carr]

I'm heading up to Georgian Bay next week to do some musky fishing (fly fishing).  I'll be in the Honey Harbour area.  Does anyone have any experience fishing for muskies up there?  any areas I should try, types of structure to look for, etc.?  any help will be much appreciated.  

I can effectively fish water depths to about 20' with fly gear.

Nate

[Scott McKee]

Nothing too educational here: target rocky shoals near deeper water.  Shoals with weeds growing adjacent to them are better than those that don't.  Drink plenty of water and ice your arm down every night.  Hammer a Georgian Bay MONSTER on a fly and you can have the cover of the newsletter for two months.  Best of luck!!!!!!

[Scott McKee]

Also, if you feel like going for a drive, go to Perry Sound and grab some sausages from Orr's Sausage Shop.  They are pretty damn good.  Are you staying at Muskeys Landing?

[Nate Carr]

Thanks Scott!!  That is helpful info, it is such a massive body of water, it can be daunting to figure out an approach.  I go up there every year and stay at a rental cottage on South Bay.  Most years I have just fished for bass and the incidental pike and have only dabbled with the muskies up there.  However, this year I want to focus most of my time in pursuit of one of those GB giants!!!

BTW - what do you consider deep water up there?  many areas are 100'+, so is 25' adjacent to a shoal considered deep or should I be looking for shoals near the really deep stuff?  

[Scott McKee]

I would hit both the first few days there and then try to pinpoint (good luck) what structure the fish are using.  Big water is only as big as you make it.  Narrow yourself down to the areas you identify as your best possible shot at a fish and pound the living daylights out of them.

[Nate Carr]

Sound advice Scott, thank you!!!

[John Jarosz]

Nate...good luck over there.  I can't wait to see the cover(s) for the next two months!!

Do you think you can post some of the flies you intend to fling?  And also, for deeper water, say, up to 25', what kind of sink tip do you put on? Thanks.

[Nate Carr]

Thanks John!  I'll see if I can get some fly pictures up.  As for the set-up, I run several types of super fast sinking lines (not tips).  On one rod I run a Scientific Anglers Wet Tip Express line that is 450 grains and sinks at 8"+/second, it has a 30' fast sinking head section and the handling line is intermediate sink rate (3"/second).  On another rod I use a fast sinking shooting head attached to an intermediate running line.  That set-up also sinks at over 8"/second but gives the flexibility to change shooting heads for different sink rates.  It is tougher to get as deep in the river but in a lake it is a bit easier.  Just throw as long of a cast as you can and then wait the appropriate amount of time for it to sink to desired depth (boring to wait sometimes but it's the only way) then retrieve.  In the Niagara I will feel the bottom in 15 FOW if I wait about 15 seconds or so before retrieving.  It slows your fishing pace, but once again, it's the only way to get it down there.

[John Jarosz]

Nate..thanks much.  Interesting setup.  One thing for sure, it'll get your line down there!  I've been mostly fishing the Cass so end up using a floating line.  I'll have to go deeper next time when I switch to the River.

[1o8js667r5pue]

its worth noting that the super fast sinking lines can still be fished 6' or even less under the surface by not allowing them to sink. In the river there is no need to fish anything else in my opinion but this is coming from the kid currently attached to an icing machine pump gizmo. haha