Longville Area- Fishing Report

This past week I spent with the family up north at the cabin. The fishing was fantastic! Bass, gills, pike and musky all made their way into the boat. We also spent a lot of time just hanging out with the family. We went into Hackensack on Tuesday for a kids fishing contest, Wednesday we hit Longville for the turtle races. Both of these events put big smiles on the kids faces and mine too. It was a great family get away!

Alex and I fished everyday of our trip, our outings were not all day events, more of just hitting things during prime time, early in the mornings and again late in the afternoons. Alex learned to huck a baitcaster and you know what that means, he’s on his way to boating his first lunge. The day we were out huckin for muskies started out calm, then the wind picked up and we made the decision to troll over deep water. Our first run over a mid lake hump we hooked up over 37 feet of water, just off the break. The clicker started to sing and Alex jumped up and worked his mojo. I was in the back of the boat with the net just waiting for the fish to surface, when it did I could see it was a nice pike. A quick photo and it was back in the water. We continuted to troll but never got into any lunge on this outing. On Wednesday afternoon we had some prime weather move in for musky hunting. I ended up going alone because Alex was all turtled out and needed a nap. I managed to move a few good fish early on and noticed a lot of surface activity. I had a musky break the surface about 10 feet away from the boat, I made a cast in that direction and it was not until the bait was about 5 feet away when I watched the fish come up and hammer my bait, fish on! The net was in the back of the boat and ready to go, so I walked the fish around the front of the boat, down the side and scooped her up, not much of a fight until she hit the net and went nuts. It hit the bump board at 44 inches and is now the 4th fish this year I have had eat at boatside, also my 4th 44 of the year. Late that evening I had a shot at a big well built 48+. She came back 5 times very hard but just would not open up and eat. Fun to see those big gals!!!

Alex had never been in a canoe prior to this weekend. We did a little pratice run to get him comfortable prior to fishing from the canoe. He was a little concerned about how tippy it was, but that soon faded when the fish started hitting. We got into a mess of gills in the reeds, just the kind of bite you want to get a kid on. Keeping it simple and easy we used Crappie Candy and Power Wigglers under a bobber. I never fished, just sat in the back working us along the reeds watching my son catch gills almost non-stop, it was a wonderful night on the lake. Alex asked me what happens if we tip over in the canoe, my answer was simple. Stand up kid, we are only in a foot of water!

Its funny the things a little guy picks up in the boat. Alex and I came in one evening after bass fishing and mom asked how we did. Alex looks at her and tells her.. "We smoked em". Heidi looked at me laughing and she said "he sounds just like you, Dad". It was a great week of making memories with the family and I can’t wait to get back up and do it again.