Fish Report 6/19

[Scott McKee]

My little brother Bruce really loves bass fishing.  He needs the action. Like myself, he cut his musky teeth fishing on Sturgeon Lake in the Kawarthas.  When we first started on my favorite little "Y" shaped bowl up north, multiple fish days were the rule and not the exception.  Bruce caught a lot of muskies on Sturgeon and a few in the upper forties including a 49.5".  (I always have a lot of respect for a musky angler that catches a 49.5".  It means they won't cheat to hit the magic number.)

Getting back to Bruce and his love for bass fishing.

Bruce bass fished this evening while Carrie and I cast and jigged for muskies.  He hit for the Niagara Bass cycle, although just barely.  He managed a largemouth, a smallmouth and a rock bass.  Carrie and I had four follows up to a mid-to-upper 30-inch fish on a jigged ROB Monster Tube, a deep diving Toothy, a Shallow Invader and a 6-inch jointed Believer. All four follows came near the Grand Island shore in UN4.  Bruce doesn't get excited about musky fishing unless someone on board pops one.  So the follows didn't phase him a bit and he kept throwing his small lures.

Around 5 PM Carrie left to visit her mother.  Bruce continued to bass fish and i continued to chuck for 'Ski's.  By about seven we were getting ready to call it a day.  I stopped seeing fish and we were both getting fed up with the moss.

I asked him what he wanted to try?  He gave me his standard answer, "I don't care."

One of my favorite ways to catch muskies is to short line troll spinnerbait really fast around and over weeds.  It's a technique that's landed me a lot of fish on the previously mentioned Sturgeon Lake.  I know my brother likes to fish this way as well.  He's caught a bunch in this manner.

Since I didn't want to run up to the Harbor at 7 PM, I decided we'd do the next best thing and speed troll the slop between Motor and Grand Islands.  At 7:35 PM I landed a nice, fat 40-inch musky on a Vibrax Spinnerbait in Firetiger.  She hit like a ton of bricks and fought very well for her size.  She was really dark.  She almost looked like a Nipissing fish.  Bruce started to perk up and even started checking his lure for floating weeds, which is saying a lot.  He'll pull a weed ball for miles if nothing is biting, or if there is a bag of chips within five feet of him.

About five minutes later I had another fish on with the same lure.  I thought for a second that we were really on to something.  After a few cranks, I knew it was a pike, a nice pike, but still just a rat.

That was the last fish we contacted other than a perch follow and we quit around 9 PM.

Four follows and a forty in five hours won't make my brother quit bass fishing, but it might make him more prone to grab a meat stick (get your head out of the gutter) from time-to-time.

Good luck everyone and don't forget about the need for weeds and speed.

[Jay Nannen]

Scott you are a most worthy leader.  Your enthusiasm is contagious.  Can't wait to get back out there and get the skunk off my boat after reading your post.