Kawartha Musky = Frustration

Try a topwater approach, globes or top raiders should work well this time of year. It just might do the trick.
Good Luck

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Originally Posted by mox72

Catch a perch and rig that up.

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Don't do this.

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Originally Posted by mox72

Don't do this.

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LOL sorry Mox, I know I don't know my fishing regs as well as most, but I was pretty sure on that one :)

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Originally Posted by TurkeyRookie

LOL sorry Mox, I know I don't know my fishing regs as well as most, but I was pretty sure on that one :)

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I don't either and never even thought of it as being illegal. Caught a nice little muskie in sturgeon lake as a kid on a perch that took my worm. Just another one of those things that happens all the time that somebody might have to prove was unintentional someday.....

I have also caught pike with a pickerel that I was fighting and had a muskie attack (but not get hooked) on a sunfish that I caught.

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Originally Posted by cuda

Hey guys just got home after 3 days fishing piegon and buckhorn lake for musky. Have fished these lakes for many years targeting bass, walleye, musky. This year we concentrated on musky managed to raise 9 fish over the 3 days not one commited, doing the figure 8 by the boat etc they would follow then sink back to the depths. What are we doing wrong? any thoughts. Heading back up in 2 weeks, hoping for better results. Hoping you seasoned musky fanatics can shed some light on this. Thanks paul

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I also wonder if the baitfish population this year has anything to do with it. I was on Pigeon a few times this year and I have never seen so many massive schools of panfish. There were clouds of them on the fishfinder. Why chase a piece of wood or plastic when food is so plentiful?

Some days when fish aren't moving very fast (following low and slow) switch to a bait that has more of a triggering affect, glide bait, jerk bait, walk the dog topwaters can all do the trick. If you see a fish following one of these slowly and non comittal just stop the bait about 5-10 ft from the boat and watch how the fish reacts. A lot of times they will just angle up, line up the bait and go for the kill. It's pretty awesome to see.


Adversely in the heavily weeded up kawarthas if you switch to blades and burn them as fast as you can it sort of gives them the option to strike or miss it... Less follows that way but more hook ups. Some days speed kills.

The more time you get on the water seeing fishes behaviors on follows the better you get at reading their mood and reacting to it.

Im heading to the kawarthas for the first time this year on Friday I'll let you know what works or doesn't for me.

fiftyquest: nice bit of info.
let us know how you do this weekend.

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Originally Posted by Andy2

I also wonder if the baitfish population this year has anything to do with it. I was on Pigeon a few times this year and I have never seen so many massive schools of panfish. There were clouds of them on the fishfinder. Why chase a piece of wood or plastic when food is so plentiful?

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X2 on the baitfish

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Originally Posted by fiftyquest

Some days when fish aren't moving very fast (following low and slow) switch to a bait that has more of a triggering affect, glide bait, jerk bait, walk the dog topwaters can all do the trick. If you see a fish following one of these slowly and non comittal just stop the bait about 5-10 ft from the boat and watch how the fish reacts. A lot of times they will just angle up, line up the bait and go for the kill. It's pretty awesome to see.


Adversely in the heavily weeded up kawarthas if you switch to blades and burn them as fast as you can it sort of gives them the option to strike or miss it... Less follows that way but more hook ups. Some days speed kills.

The more time you get on the water seeing fishes behaviors on follows the better you get at reading their mood and reacting to it.

Im heading to the kawarthas for the first time this year on Friday I'll let you know what works or doesn't for me.

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Awesome advice fiftyquest will try that next weekened. Hope you have better luck post your report.

Sounds like you just hit a time when they just weren't willing to commit. You must be doing all the right things if you are raising fish and getting them to follow. Funny, I have fished the Tri-lakes for over 30 years and have never had one hit on a figure eight. They will follow it forever, but never munch. The lakes were also super busy this summer and the fishing pressure has definitely increased. Maybe that guy from the other post about the muskie killer was visiting our lakes this summer.
Hang in there Cuda, they will reward you if you put in the time.