Moon River Blackstone Harbour

[Brett Cournoyea]

Got to spend two days fishing the fabled Moon River basin on Georgian Bay

greatest place on earth to musky fish and not catch a thing

water is at historic lows, weeds that induce the fish aren't there

perch run was on, some of the crew were hunting the gate keepers but only pike on the prime spots

I chose to simply relax and committed to spending my time in Blackstone Harbour, the home of the O Brien giant.

Blackstone is pretty much a lake on its own. Deep water, resident cisco, and all the other bait fish to keep the giants in there all year. Plenty of consistant spawning ground to boot

Fish here have a very distinct colouring passed down through generations.

I've raised a few giants in there now. Prime time is early evening, prevailing winds take you over the main shoals, leaving the setting sun over your shoulder. When the Queens appear, the sun lights them up in a giant gold hue you'll never forget.

Been a long season at work, this trip is simply about blow'n off steam and relaxing.

Water entering the harbour through the narrows was under two feet in places

temp was in the mid 60's, beautiful sunny day, figured the beasts where up making use of the solar heated rock and would enjoy the day the same as I.

Pulled up to the first spot, slowly got myself ready and started casting a new bait I made myself over the winter. It's a 14" Suick type chop bait. Has a nice stainless tail I dog eared the tips and pulled it down hard. 

I was really impressed with the way it would slowly rise with a bit of shimmer to it on the way up. 

for some reason I was working it really slow letting it rise almost to the surface and then chopping her back down.

I was totally relaxed, not like the usual start to a fishing trip where I'm working like a dog,,, I really just didn't care, enjoying the day

5 casts in, see a white flash behind the bait, thought it was the belly of a pike, bait was rising, chopped her down,,, wow..... a true giant spun on the bait and was watching the rise.

She was close to the boat and I could tell she had one eye on the bait, and one eye on me, she started to fade off,,, chopped the bait down again, she charged in again, but slammed on the breaks, she was really close now, and she spooked and took off

Again another Blackstone gold, dark back giant, these fish leave me sweating after each encounter

well, that stoked my confidence and played a cruel trick on me

the fish all had the last laugh, figure they just teased me into throwing a 14" huge jerk for two days,,, a little tolling on the arms

partner threw the box, we trolled some new super shallow 10" baits I made over winter. They ran awesome, less than a foot down 35ft back. I had them waking at 25ft and was able to troll through the channel out of the harbour through less than 2 ft of water. 

High hopes for this bait as I can run over top of the cabbage. First bait of this pattern took a really nice fish for me last fall on the French River.

so again, another amazing trip to the moon river, places leaves you dreaming of the giants. Hard not to when you chat with some of the river veterans telling you of the 50b fish they've caught and some of the ignorant giants they have raised over the years

Haven't fished the river in a month, good luck to all you guys out there

think the fish will be up really shallow till the cold really sets in

[Josh Ketry]

Black-stoned!  Thanks for sharing Brett.  Someday I hope to make the trip up there.  That O'Brien fish and his yellow slicker has visited me in my day dreams quite a few times. 

[Josh Ketry]

Ken Obiren's fish:

http://www.musky.ca/ontario-record-muskie3.jpg

http://www.musky.ca/ontario-record-muskie3.jpg

[jojo wilczewski]

Good Day

Nice report. Sometimes we forget the only thing "IMPORTANT" when fishing, is the relaxationnnn...

jojoout 

[Frank Stachowiak]

wow, felt like I was right there with you, Brett!

[1hhzpwr6f46xh]

Brett I have to agree, that is one fine piece of real estate.  It's got everything you could ask for in a small body of water.