New musky fishing video out

Just a teaser. Working on the big video.

Good job. I'm ready for the full vid now!

Just finished a night time walleye vid, working on that next!

The video I want to see if spearing a pile of them and batter fried.

Best I can do is walleye

Looks good!

Are the musky good to eat? Looks like everybody puts them back. I sure do enjoy eating pike best fish ever. Larry

Nice can hardly wait till next June to go up to Canada musky fishing on Lake of the Woods missed the last two years because of Covid.

I am told they are a notch up from pike.

I havent eaten one, since up here you might see three fish in a day...our population wouldn't support a harvest. You can keep one trophy over 54", but no one does.

I hear of places with incredibly high populations. While we fish them here for the sport challenge only, if a population is high enough to sustain a harvest, why not?

Some like to kill them because they eat walleye and other fish we like to eat, but here anyway what musky eat pales in comparison to the hordes of cormorants and the far more common northern pike.

Catching them is just good fun up here!

Sorry to hear. People's reactions to covid have screwed up a lot of things

I have a trip planned to the legendary eagle lake in Sept.

So excited

That should be a great trip one of the best lake for 50"+ muskies,I have not fished it myself but have friends that have caught 50+".

Excellent videos on your channel. "Life on the trapline episode 1" is pretty cool.

Mac

Some of those look like St. Clair fish, do Georgian bay fish have the similar spotted markings?

Good eye Bernie, but nope. Never fished st clair.

All the fish with the spots or tiger markings came in the fall, in one specific area.

Mt first year targeting musky and out of 11 fish I personally caught only two had those markings.

Thank you Mac.


Episode 2 is still coming! I promise! Lol

I got to 48". Saw some tanks though. Goals for next year, a legal fish: 54"

Nice video Hutch. Some of those are water wolves!

Excellent teaser!

WS

Hutchy if you ever want to get to Sunset Country I'll take you to a lake where you can catch muskies until your arms hurt. Fish over 40" are rare but I have caught as many as 11 in one day between 30-40.

Here's some pics of typical fish from this lake. I can also take you to quite a few lakes where you'll catch way more numbers but not as big of average size.

Very cool videos. Looks like a great time for you guys!

Those are incredible numbers. I will keep that in the back of my mind!

Just curious are those two places you talk about in Minnesota or Canada?

Sunset Country Ontario. The lake the two photos were taken is near Vermilion Bay.

On one lake I caught 50 muskies in one day. Not kidding. But you'll never find it and you'll have to get a boat in there with an ATV somehow. Probably hasn't been fished since the last time I was there in 2017.

Bernie, I am going to be fishing Eagle in September of next year. A friend goes every year and gets tons of mid 40s and several fish over 50 every year.

I am told that if it doesnt have blades, you are wasting your time up there lol

Bernie, do you happen to be somewhere in the Indian Lake Chain/ Canyon Lake area? Maybe Cedar Lake? Fun area

I have fished eagle a few times, but it's not my favorite place. There are some big fish there but I haven't been able to shake them loose, I need to hire a guide sometime and learn the lake and it's tendencies better.

I have never in my life hired a guide, but am getting the best in the area for the boat I am going to be in.


Apparently they like blades just burned at mach 3. lol They follow from 40 yards out apparently. Should make for good underwater filming the near misses.

Not too far from there. There are two Canyon lakes, one is closer than the other (hint).

I fish about 15 different lakes, only a couple you can actually drive to. None of them have actual boat ramps. I love the unspoiled wilderness and being the only one that fishes some of these lakes. I stashed a 14-foot boat on one of them a few years ago and I don't think it's been used since I was there last.

The one these photos were taken at, it called TABMFLITW. I named it that. It actually has a name on the maps, a lot of the lakes I fish do not, except the names I give them. Here's an example.

NIce video, Bernie. I like your approach of fishing the backwoods lakes that don't see a soul too often! We've got a group of guys that go up in early June each year. We make basecamp at Blue Lake Provincial Park and fish lakes within a 50 mile radius or so. Mystery, Evening, Twilight, Cliff, Clay, Ely, Caribou, etc. etc. We try to find a new lake or two each year to fish.

I mostly fish LOTW for muskies but we've caught enough incidentals on these lakes in early June that it's pretty evident the potential some of them have as muskie fisheries.

Do you do much laker fishing in the area? Of course we haven't been able to make the trip the past two years but previous to that it seemed that laker fishing was becoming more and more difficult. Maybe we were just hitting it wrong and getting there too late?

I have fished Mystery, Evening and Twilight. Surprising numbers of tiger muskies in Evening, it's worth spending some time in there if you can get your boat across the beaver dams.

You're not that far from TABMFLITW and if you can get your boat into Mystery, you can probably get it into TABMFLITW. If you like walleyes and smallmouth bass, try Segise.

In some lakes I catch lakers incidentally, which is fine because they are wrapped in foil with butter and put on the campfire. I usually go there to fish muskies, but occasionally I spend some time with walleyes.

I used to fish LOTW a lot but it has really gone downhill from the pressure and the invasives. Last time I was there I ran into Doug Johnson and he told me he was glad he had guided there for the past 50 years instead of the next 50. I drive right by it on my way to Grassy Narrows. If I was to go back to LOTW it would be the Angle.

atrapper, One more video if you like walleyes. This lake is unreal for numbers.

Man, you're really getting the blood flowing Bernie! It's been a killer for me to sit and look at the border 5 miles from my house and not be able to cross to fish, shed hunt, and hunt the past two years. Your videos are keeping the dream alive!

I'll definitely take your advice on Segise. A guy could spend a decade of summers in the Sunset Country area and not touch the potential there. It's incredible. Especially if you're willing to put in a little time and effort to get back to some of those backwoods lakes like you do.

LOTW muskies have been good to us but like you said, every year the pressure seems to increase more and more. We go out of Morrison and typically work our way over to Painted Rock and Pony Island. There are very few secrets (hidden rock reefs, cabbage patches, etc.) on the lake anymore with all of the technology and fishing tools that fisherman have at their disposal. It seems now it's just a game of fish for a fish that's been hot for a day or two and protect that spot until the fish bites. I can imagine that this couple year reprieve has been good for the muskies on LOTW but it's going to be a mad show this summer again. I was amazed how how much pressure MN muskie lakes got these past two years. I wasn't really even motivated to muskie fish in MN.

Do you do a lot of your bear hunting in the Sunset Country as well?

Far as the bear hunting goes, It's a long story. I met a guy who had property up there, he had inherited it when his father was murdered. He also inherited a bear hunting concession. So I helped him get his bear hunting business going in exchange for allowing me to leave a trailer on his property for a few years. I also ran my own baits and took many family and friends up there to bear hunt and fish. I also brought him many things he needed from the states such as picnic tables, bear bait, barrels and coolers, all kinds of stuff. It was a great win-win situation. I have fished most of those lakes and I know how to get into a few of them that never get fished. Many of them are accessed by dragging a small boat on the ground behind an ATV. It was tons of fun and amazing fishing. I'm not done with the fishing up there but I doubt I'll do any more bear hunting there since I am now guiding for bears in Minnesota.

Good Stuff Bernie! You sure do know that area. Thanks for sharing. It appears that you've fished a lot of lakes a bit farther west of most I've been on. Gordon is about as far west as I've been but I haven't gone north from there.

You really did have a good thing going with your friend up there. You did it right!

Several Gordon Lakes in Ontario I'm assuming you mean the ones west of Vermilion Bay. The only ones I have fished in that immediate area are Upper and Lower Stewart lakes. Good for numbers of muskies but not many over 32 inches.

If you ever want to experience some of the lakes I have fished, I would be happy to fill you in on details. I have an Excel spreadsheet I have compiled with 74 lakes I have fished, I took notes on each of them as far as what fish are available, how to access it, etc. PM me if you need specific info on a lake, that goes for anyone reading this.

By the way I just remembered a lake named Carl Lake which is just east of Mystery Lake, I guess it's full of Lake trout. Haven't been in there, yet. Quite a portage I am told.

Everybody around here dreams or fantasizes about going to Minnesota for a fishing trip. I guess the people in Minnesota want To go to Canada. Lol

The grass is always greener I guess.

Hahah right on Bluegrassman! Don't get me wrong, MN can be very good. We're fortunate to have the resources that we do. However, the fishing pressure on MN lakes is just so high compared to many Canadian lakes. Just imagine fishing a lake that's full of whatever species of fish you're looking for and that lake only gets fished a handful of times over a number of years. It's incredible. I live just off the shores of Lake of the Woods. Thousands and thousands of fisherman make the three or four hundred mile trek spring, summer, fall, and winter to walleye fish here. It's ok fishing in my opinion but it's nothing compared to Canada. I'm just always amazed at why people wouldn't drive another 50 or 100 miles north of Lake of the Woods to get into Canada and experience a completely different kind of trip.

Bernie, I'll be P.M.ing you. Your offer is much appreciated!!! Thank you

So what’s it take to go fishing in Canada? Passport? You have to buy a Canadian fishing license? What all you need? They have certain areas you can camp? Are all the lakes open to the public? Etc

Passport or passport card, yes, but also right now you need proof of vaccination. You can camp anywhere on crown land (basically wilderness not owned by anyone, so it's owned by the government). However you need a crown land camping permit which is about $8 a night USD, you can buy them anywhere you buy a fishing license. The backcountry is wide open for camping and fishing. Tons of deactivated logging roads that are not maintained will get you close to some lakes, and in some cases will get you right to the shoreline. Don't leave home without a chainsaw.

There are millions of miles of old roads, many of which have been reduced to ATV trails. There are probably 100,000 lakes just in Ontario alone. Remember that 90% of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the US border so we are talking about several million square miles of uninhabited bush.

You have to take precautions and be careful. I remember many times thinking "If I break a leg here they'll never find my body." but that adventure is part of the appeal. Fear and danger are the spices of life for some of us.