Great trip, great fishing hole, great memories!

[JB]

Lake Of The Woods has to be the greatest fishing hole on the planet. Just spent a week there. Two days with the same guide we have used for 10 years now, the rest in my Montauk with my son, John and his son, Daniel.<br /><br />First of all, spending time with your adult son and teen grandson in the outdoors is absolutely priceless, no matter where or when or doing what.<br /><br />Day one: We caught several northerns up to about 35". I hooked a musky while ultralighting for walleye. Big enough to whip my gear and spit out my li'l Bagley at boatside. Oh, shucks!<br /><br />Day two: More snakes. John boated a nice musky, mid 30s (inches).<br /><br />Day three: Went prospecting for good musky water. The lake is 3' low so none of our old favorite spots were producing well. Several little guys under 30", lots of hammer handle pike and smallies.<br /><br />Day four: Went out with our favorite guide, Scott Edman. Limited on walleyes in about 1/2 hour, then went musky hunting. Boated 5 muskys to about 38", Grandson Daniel caught his biggest ever pike (see pic, 37"), countless small pike. A bear swam by our boat crossing from one island to another!Probably the best day I ever spent on LOTW.<br />

<br />Daniel, big pike, Scott. Hat in the background is John.<br /><br />Day five: Went out with Scott again. Same results but not as many muskys. Only 3 to about 30".<br /><br />Day six: Begged off with a tummyache, sent John and Daniel out without me. John brought a musky about an inch shorter than my 52" cradle to the boat. She hooked the lure in the net and got out without any pics. He was devastated. His previous high had been 44".<br /><br />Day seven: Cold front last night. Fish turned off. John boated a 34" musky. <br /><br />What a great trip!! I never tire of the spectacular scenery, wildness, wonderful fishing and solitude of LOTW and I never tire of the great company of my descendants.<br /><br />Nevertheless, I am glad to be back at The Hideout and back to my life routine, including spending time with my pals on iboats.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Re: Great trip, great fishing hole, great memories!

Good deal JB. That is a nice fish there.The grandson looks mighty happy. Glad to hear all went well. I would venture to guess the memories of the fish will fade alot sooner than the memories of time spent with the boys. Sounds like a text book trip you had there.

 

[gonfishn]

Re: Great trip, great fishing hole, great memories!

Glad you had a good trip JB...Glad to see you found some warriors. Got skunked for the first time up north in my persuit. Plenty of other fine though. Although Neaumans did not catch the gator he did manage to haul in a very huge anchor with 30 foot of rope attached to it..<br />Glad to have you back....

 

[ebbtide176]

Re: Great trip, great fishing hole, great memories!

good story! congratz on the wonderful adventure

 

[ebbtide176]

Re: Great trip, great fishing hole, great memories!

i had told my neighbor's son that i would take him fishing, long ago. i was off last week, so we went tues in the rain. it was so bad we anchored under a bridge, but zero'd and left by 11am. had other plans wed, but went all day thurs. caught a zillion bream/sunfish with worms. <br /><br />the young man is 13, was so excited to be fishing, i let him spend wed night so we could leave earlier. we were up at 4:45am, on water at daylight. i was a little handicapped for really searching for good bassfishing structure, since he could only use my zebco 303. so i had big & small minnows. we didn't catch anything with the minnows. but as the day heated up, we anchored and swam. he noticed the baitfish were following him around, so we had a fun time castnetting some. <br /><br />next, i got him to try some of the worms we'd dug up and brought along on a mid lake hump. he caught some small sunfish. they were all over this place like flies on a twinkie.<br /><br />after that, he just wanted to catch bream, or anything that would pull the bobber down so we did that, and swam again. about noon, i thought we should probably go in. i could tell he really wanted to stay, so we called his parents & my wife... he got the ok to stay as long as i wanted to. we ran all over the place, with worms & bobbers testing shallow places. <br /><br />he learned how to put a minnow on the hook, then how to cast with an openfaced reel. then, how to get fish off the hook, and how to thread a worm on the hook. the last few hrs of the day, he was totally independent! he still had a little trouble getting untangled off the rod when casting, but really caught on quickly. we even boated up to a marina with a restaurant and got some hot grub & more sodas & worms. went through 3 cans of worms! <br /><br />we were on the lake all day . got home at 9pm that night. left all the fish at the lake to enjoy catching another day. only lost maybe one bream to a deep hook. <br /><br />it was a wonderful memory. its still as fresh as the roasted skin on my body. he didn't even burn, although we both put on lotion 3 or 4x...

 

[NOSLEEP]

Re: Great trip, great fishing hole, great memories!

The pictures worth a thousand words. Looks and <br />sounds like every one had a great time. Good<br />to see you had an excellent and safe adventure.

 

[snapperbait]

Re: Great trip, great fishing hole, great memories!

JB and Ebb... You guys really know what a fishing trip is all about... I'll bet that even if you came home skunked you would'nt care (well, maybe a little).... <br /><br />Sounds everyone involved had a blast... My kind of trips...

 

[crab bait]

Re: Great trip, great fishing hole, great memories!

JB,,that's a goodlookin' grandson you have there... looks like a good kid...<br /><br />EBB,,, wonderfull story.. <br /><br />you keep doin' them kinda things,,an all that does is cracks heaven's gate open a wee bit more...

 

[cammydog]

Re: Great trip, great fishing hole, great memories!

Great stories guys'. Got me to thinking about some of the fishing trips I had with my son when he was growing up. Thanks for jogging the mimories<br />

 

[mellowyellow]

Re: Great trip, great fishing hole, great memories!

glad to see some of us are catchin 'em JB.<br />stold 2 days at beginning of week and helped<br />my cuz and his family set-up camp on Wellesley<br />Island (1000 islands).<br />caught some nice smallies and snakes but NO<br />muskies... this was secondary of course to<br />enjoying the outdoors and the company of my<br />family.<br />one guy at the camp did bring back a 53"<br />monster <br />may you and yours repeat this for many years to<br />come JB!<br />M.Y.

 

[enriquepagan]

Re: Great trip, great fishing hole, great memories!

Thanks for the story and pic.. Made me even more anxious to get out on the Cheasapeak this coming week with my son and wife.... <br /><br /> Keep up the good work with the young one,, it Does pay off........<br /><br /> Also easy with the picture you made me jealous heheheheh. see ya.