Sabaskong Bay

Anyone been up there in the last week? I was up there fishing on the 4th and 5th for muskies and really had a tough time with it. I’m not the most experienced out there but I casted a lot of good rocks all the way from the Hay Island area to Painted Rock. We caught a couple dinks and lost two decent fish in two days. Probably only moved half a dozen others. My only thoughts were that they weren’t on the rocks yet at all and were still spawning in the bays. The water was really high, but I doubt that had too much to do with it. Clarity was not very good at all with the west winds cranking bringing in the dirty water from the main lake, but again it was still clear enough to not ruin the trip. Water temps fluctuated from low 60s to upper 60s depending on the area. Miles bay had the clearest water, and we had some pretty good luck smallmouth fishing there, but only moved a few fish.

I was just checking in seeing where I went wrong as it was only my 2nd trip fishing up there. My guess is that it was just a little too early.

The fish should have been done spawning a while ago. That said, while there are generally fish on both rocks and weeds all year the focus seems to shift from weeds to rocks at some point in mid to late July. Even in normal years, you’d probably find more fish in weeds than rocks at this point in the season but probably not a month from now. In years past with high water, I recall the fish staying in the weeds longer and using the really shallow, thick stuff more than you might expect them do. So with hindsight being 20/20, I would’ve suggested focusing more of your efforts on weeds and trying the backs of bays where the water is so shallow and the weeds are so thick that you can barely imagine a musky being there. Boogerman buzz baits were a bait of choice for that and it wasn’t much fun fishing the spots until you found fish.

Yeah I know exactly what you’re talking about, I fished a few of these spots with spinner baits and it was no fun to fish in that stuff, it doesn’t help when you don’t have any confidence in it either to keep grinding it out till you find them. I think that’s what we needed to be doing as well, I just kept thinking we would find them on the rocks. Oh well, you live and learn.

I heard from a group that was there the week before me that they ran into a few spawning pairs up shallow. Crazy I know, but the water just never really warmed up that way since Memorial Day. It has pretty much stayed the same temperature.

@John23

You mention to use Buzz-baits. I’ve had some big fish strike Buzz-baits only to miss them “even with a trailer hook”. I’ve seen the fish come up from underneath and take the buzz-bait or porpoise up on the surface as it hit the Buzz-bait. How do you manage to hook the fish with these lures? Every time I’ve tried “except for once” I’ve missed, on some nice fish.

JOC

I have used the boogerman buzz baits a lot especially in the reeds on the lakes around Bemidji. They are a frustrating bait to fish because they are so light. A lot of times the fish come up to eat the bait and it pushes the water making the bait move away from the fish. At least that’s my theory! I seem to get okay hookups on them, but getting the fish out of the reeds without them getting tangled in them is another thing. I keep using them because they fish through cover better than anything I have used. So basically I don’t use them unless I have to. They just aren’t a high hooking percentage bait. I have tried putting single hooks on pacemakers and prop baits but they just don’t run through the slop like buzz baits do.

Pat:

I had friends just get back from the north end up Kenora way from fishing muskies. They mentioned that they were still spawning on June 25th!!! I know I am light years (Minocqua, WI) from being quite as far north as this, but we are seeing most if not all of our fish coming from weeds!!! They are in the shallower cabbage or the deeper sand grass… Then its just a process of finding the weeds this year… some lakes got it by the droves and in very good weed spots, there is not a strand of it!!! So far this year I have been the king of the sub 30, but I am still happy that I have boated three so far… one of my better starts for fish in years, even if they have been running a tad bit on the small side!!!

Mark

I have heard from two different groups, one who just returned and one who just finished up their first day.

The group who just returned from the NWA, composed of two groups, had 2 fish for four days….terrible. They were pretty accomplished LOW muskie anglers.

THe other group just finished up their first day, two or three boats I think, had 1 30″ class fish.

Not looking good right now.

I was fishing Sab Bay from July 3-7, strictly Musky fishing. We put in our time(about 15 Hrs/day) on the water….Had a “good” trip. This was our first time in this area of the lake. We boated 6 muskies total, but I punted on several nice fish. Had a new PB by far boat side but couldn’t get it in the bag before it popped off. We had in the area of 30 follows between 2 guys with 10 or so of them biting/nipping/lost. Day to day the lure selection was 1 sided…showgirls most of the action one day, next day not a follow on them. Crank/jerks caught most of our fish. Interesting place to fish for sure and will be going back as soon as I can. Oh the muskies ranged from lower 30’s – 49″ and we had a 48.5″ pig in the boat as well….

bigstick, thats similar to the program we were on, although I couldn’t move a fish on jerks/cranks. Everything came on topwater prop baits and small buctails. Did it seem to get any better towards the end of the trip? Like I said we were there the 4th and 5th.

If anything it was better for action (follows / misses) early in the trip for us, but we got 3 muskies on the 3rd, 1 on the 4th, 0 on the 5th, 2 on the 6th and 0 on the 7th….Of course had shots each day….

Was up in NWA from the 6th to the 12th. Worst year our group has had since we started going 6 years ago. One 27 in. ski on day 1, with only 5 follows the next few days before throwing in the towel and switching to all walleyes. Only seen one nice 40+ fish. The water is incredibly high, cloudy, and cool for this time of year. Hard to be down though when fishing in paradise!

Was up July 24-29. High water, short feeding windows and hardly any follows. Fish hit 20-30′ from boat. Heard there was a huge shiner spawn and that has fishing mixed-up. The fish are fat this year if you find them. Wasn’t the best trip but not the worst either. Going back Friday August 22 for another try. Smaller baits and some chartreuse seem to be the ticket. I don’t think fisherman size down enough of the time. I have seen really big fish taken on small baits.20-30 years ago, muskie guys were not using this big stuff. The baits are bigger, the rods are longer, and the boats are larger and faster. Does the muskie care???

I often dwell on that now days as well. It wasn’t that long ago that all I threw was muskie harassers and lilly tails. Heck even meps muskie marabou and funky chickens. My biggest fish ever bit a jointed shallow raider which is a relatively small bait as well. Makes a guy wonder if you should go back to the basics. My friend did a day trip this weekend and had a very good trip. I want to say they caught 5 fish. Hopefully you are having good luck as well.