Fishing Fury » Musky

Happy Fathers Day!

Clive Mathias — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 23:29:57 +0000

Happy Fathers Day to all of you dads out there! I’ll be making my second annual solo muskie fishing trip to New Brunswick. Last year I spent most of my day fishing from shore, but this year I’ll be in a kayak and hopefully I’ll be able to find some productive water. The weather doesn’t look great, but hopefully the fishing is!

My NB muskie from last Fathers Day!

Wish me luck!

Reaction Strike Home Wrecker!

Clive Mathias — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:52:08 +0000

I got to try out a few Reaction Strike baits while muskie fishing in New Jersey – but sadly I never got to try out the “Home Wrecker!” Looks like a good lure to me!

Click the image to see a close-up of the lure! (possibly NSFW)

Rockstar Muskies!

Clive Mathias — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:33:40 +0000

When I originally started making Rockstar Lures, the target species was pike. Since then, the lures have evolved and grown in size and strength. I’ve put them to the test on some nice muskie but never any this big…

Out came my box of Rockstar inline spinners. The clouds finally cleared away for a few moments, so I switched my chartreuse inline spinner to one with a big silver blade to create some flash. First cast with the silver one and I was on. And it was big! A nice fight and soon she was in the cradle, which this time was handled like a PRO by Albert. Once in the cradle, I realized that this was another really long fish – and the tape measure proved me right, another 47″!

Albert and Marco immediately dove into my box of Rockstars and clipped them on. I had not even picked up my rod yet after my release when Albert, on his first cast, shouted out “There’s one… there’s one… right behind my lure…SHE’S ON!!!”. She had followed him in and then nailed it right at boatside! She fought hard, and kept trying to dive under the boat or head towards the motor, but soon she was cradled, and Albert had smashed his old PB of 36″, with a 42″! While helping unhook her, she got me good with her gill rakers, but I hardly noticed at the time. Some first aid would have to be administered soon after so I didn’t bleed all over Albert’s boat carpet! A few pics of the happy camper with his prize catch, and she released well.

It’s a great feeling to know my lures are helping people catch big fish!

Back From New Jersey

Clive Mathias — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:34:30 +0000

It’s been over a week since I returned from New Jersey, the so called Armpit of America. Before I had visited Jersey I’d heard several stories about the filth and the smell, and I’m not just talking about the freakshows. I flew into Newark International, and at first glance Jersey lived up to the stories I had heard. After a week in Jersey, my opinion of the state changed greatly.

I worked all week, but as soon as the weekend arrived, I woke up early and took a 45 minute drive down highway, exiting at a small town name Hope. Ironically I was hoping to catch some muskie. I met up with a fellow Muskies Inc member name Cal, and after a quick introduction we headed out to Mountain Lake. When we arrived at the lake I was amazed how small it was. A lake this size I would usually refer to as a pond, but regardless of its size, Cal assured me that there muskies here that exceeded 50 inches.

One look at his Jeep and boat and I knew we’d get along just fine.

View Larger Map

Conditions looked great. It was warm, sunny with a few clouds in the distance, much nicer weather then I am accustomed to at this time of year. We set out casting Phantom Glide baits toward weed beds in about 5 feet of water. It didn’t take long to hook the first fish, a healthy 38-40 inch muskie caught within the first hour.

A beautiful New Jersey Muskie, caught on a perch pattern Phantom glide bait.

Things slowed down after that as the wind picked up and pushed us around. We tried casting a few other lure and then started trolling Bulldogs. Only electric motors can be used on Mountain Lake, and the strong winds were working against us. Having to use the electric motor constantly to reposition ourselves, ate up the batteries fairly quickly. We called it a day with one muskie and one bass boated, and a couple more seen, but not hooked.

We had talked about fishing another nearby lake that had a healthy population of tiger muskie, but I was was hoping to stay on Mountain Lake the next day since there were a few spots I wanted to fish again. The next morning I climbed into the car and I took a look at my window. The condensation on the window formed an unmistakable pattern of a tiger muskie, so I when I met up with Cal I suggested that we chase some tigers!

We headed to Oxford Furnace Lake which was even smaller then Mountain Lake, and again we were limited to using an electric motor. We started using glide baits again, but the weeds here were much thicker. We changed tactics and used large soft plastics to avoid the weeds. I landed a solid bass after a couple of hours on the water but that was the only action we saw.

Furnace Lake largemouth bass

View Larger Map

We went in for lunch and got a quick charge on the battery before heading back to Mountain lake for one last attempt. Sadly strong winds again ended our day early. Despite some tough fishing I really enjoyed my time in New Jersey. All of the people I met were great, especially my fishing partner Cal who was an exceptional host on and off the water.

Bass Pro Shops: The Strike

Clive Mathias — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:22:30 +0000

There are a few new fishing games due out later this year, and Bass Pro has decided to release their first fishing game since Trophy Bass 2007 into the mix. The Trophy Bass series was pretty solid, so I expect big things from their new game The Strike. You can expect to see several lakes and species available as well as a unique controller.

Try not to let that bad acting take away from it…

Video Games | Bass Pro Shops: The Strike | Exclusive Gone Fishin’ Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

More From Lake Scugog!

Clive Mathias — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:53:36 +0000

Here are a few more solid fish caught by one of our biggest contributors, Paul Williams. He’s spent a lot of time on Lake Scugog and the Scugog River and his results prove it!

Hey guys,

Just wanted to send you a couple of new photos from September of 2008 from the Scugog river, and congratulate you guys on the great job you are doing on your website. I also won’t to thank you for highlighting me on the website, and the great comments. So thank you and congratulations. Here is a decent Scugog bucket and a 12lb musky my dad got into on the first week of September.

Thanks Paul, nice fish!

Muskie On The Fly

Clive Mathias — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:31:51 +0000

There are are only a handful of muskie fishermen out there who don’t think catching muskie is hard enough using conventional reels. To make things a bit more challenging, they rely on out smarting freshwater’s most fearsome fish with flies!

Check out this huge 52 inch muskie caught on a Swimtrue custom fly. Make sure you have a look at their site, they produce some seriously good looking flies for catching muskie.

Fly fishing for muskie!

via Swimtrue

Muskie Jaw

Clive Mathias — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:30:59 +0000

For those of you unfortunate enough to live in areas that don’t offer muskie fishing, take a look at these chompers! These teeth can do some serious damage if not handled with care. One look at these and you understand why the people who chase the most fearsome fish in freshwater carry some serious tools to get the job done!

What goes in, rarely comes out.

via Muskies Canada

Muskie Vs Pike

Clive Mathias — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:18:07 +0000

Have had a ton of discussions with various fishermen about spotting the differences between pike and muskie. I’ve even been told that the pike I’ve caught are muskie, which simply isn’t true. While there are some similarities between pike and muskie, there are many differences as you can see in the image below.

It’s important to know the difference becuase fishing regulation differ greatly for pike and muskie.

via Muskies Canada

Thank God For Muskies Canada!

Clive Mathias — Fri, 15 May 2009 22:27:58 +0000

It’s no secret I love muskie fishing. I used to live in Ontario, Canada where muskies could be found in almost any body of water but since I moved out to the east coast of Canada I haven’t been able to muskie fish because there are simply no muskie here (or pike for that matter). Or so I thought. I ran into a fellow by the name of Bruce Park while visiting my family in Ontario. It turns out he is the head of Muskies Canada for the Mississauga chapter in my old town. I mentioned my lack of muskie fishing in recent year and he asked me why I wasn’t fishing in New Brunswick, the neighboring province. Little did I know, but within a 5 hour drive from my doorstep there is some pretty serious muskie fishing around Saint John New Brunswick!

Here are a few samples from the Saint John muskie site.

I feel a road trip coming on!