PRESCOTT RUSSELL - Ottawa River Musky Factory - MUSKY
Last Cast Musky on the Ottawa River
We have said it a thousand times this season. The single best investment you can make when fishing a new body of water or fishing for a new species of fish is hiring the services of a guide or local expert who knows the body of water and fish patterns intimately. Our latest trip to the Ottawa River to shoot a late fall Musky episode was no exception to this rule.
We have caught numerous musky in the past but only a few of them have actually been targeted. Most have been incidental catches while jigging or trolling for walleye in bodies of water co inhabited by the two species. So when the opportunity arose for a fully guided fall musky trip we jumped on it. John Anderson, owner of the Ottawa River Musky Factory guiding service, came very highly recommended to us through Loomis pro staff member Wally Robins, another prominent name in the industry and accomplished musky angler. John has an in depth knowledge of the Ottawa River and its musky population, with many 50+ inch musky releases to his credit.
We met up with John at 7 am on the first day of our two day trip and after exchanging pleasantries were immediately faced with a grim outlook - we had arrived on the coldest day of the week with unfavorable winds, changing water temps and transitional musky. This would make for a very challenging outing. The name of the game for day one was perseverance. Fishing shallow weed flats, humps, rocky shoals and shorelines and windswept points. We also paid very close attention to the movement of emerald shiners because, as John said, 'the bait balls are better structure than structure'. Everything feeds on shiners and the musky will relate to these schools and the fish foraging on them.
By the end of the first day we had logged a combined 33 hours of casting Bull Dawgs, Bobbie Baits and other jerk and crank baits. We had managed to catch and release a nice pike and an incidental sturgeon - but no musky. Day 2 started as day one had except the wind forecast for later in the day was worse. Things were not looking good for a trophy musky to be featured on an episode of The Fish Finders. We were on the water early again and started to cycle through the most productive looking areas based on the previous day's assessment. A glimmer of hope came late morning when Bill hooked into a small musky using a slow, erratic retrieval on a Bobbie Bait. This fish came off the top of a shallow weed flat adjacent to one of the largest bait balls we had seen. It was great to bring a muskie to the boat but it wasn't the one we had come here for.
The skies had partially cleared when Bill's fish was hooked and after a long, overcast afternoon the skies had started to clear again just as the sun was setting. The winds had also diminished and as we were making our final casts of the trip, John managed to attract a nice follower to the boat and continued to work it with figure eight after figure eight. About thirty seconds later the fish smashed the Bull Dawg and after a short fight the fish was brought to boat side. Like the previous fish, this musky came from a shallow weed flat adjacent to a drop. Unlike the previous fish, this one was the 50-inch trophy we were looking for! Our persistence had paid off and as John had drilled into us over the two days, 'always finish your casts'. It was figure eights at boat side at the end of each cast that had accounted for one third of the musky boated by John this year and it was the figure eight that worked for us this time.
Although Bill and I were not the ones to actually land the trophy on this trip, we were part of the team that did. And who more appropriate to do the honors in very difficult conditions than the man who has invested a good portion of his career into not only guiding musky charters but also working with Muskies Canada to study and conserve the musky populations on his home waters. This week Bill and I will be returning to the Ottawa River on our own to put into practice all that John has taught us. Who knows ... this musky fishing thing might just catch on ... !
Alan Gibbins, 2014
We have said it a thousand times this season. The single best investment you can make when fishing a new body of water or fishing for a new species of fish is hiring the services of a guide or local expert who knows the body of water and fish patterns intimately. Our latest trip to the Ottawa River to shoot a late fall Musky episode was no exception to this rule.
We have caught numerous musky in the past but only a few of them have actually been targeted. Most have been incidental catches while jigging or trolling for walleye in bodies of water co inhabited by the two species. So when the opportunity arose for a fully guided fall musky trip we jumped on it. John Anderson, owner of the Ottawa River Musky Factory guiding service, came very highly recommended to us through Loomis pro staff member Wally Robins, another prominent name in the industry and accomplished musky angler. John has an in depth knowledge of the Ottawa River and its musky population, with many 50+ inch musky releases to his credit.
We met up with John at 7 am on the first day of our two day trip and after exchanging pleasantries were immediately faced with a grim outlook - we had arrived on the coldest day of the week with unfavorable winds, changing water temps and transitional musky. This would make for a very challenging outing. The name of the game for day one was perseverance. Fishing shallow weed flats, humps, rocky shoals and shorelines and windswept points. We also paid very close attention to the movement of emerald shiners because, as John said, 'the bait balls are better structure than structure'. Everything feeds on shiners and the musky will relate to these schools and the fish foraging on them.
By the end of the first day we had logged a combined 33 hours of casting Bull Dawgs, Bobbie Baits and other jerk and crank baits. We had managed to catch and release a nice pike and an incidental sturgeon - but no musky. Day 2 started as day one had except the wind forecast for later in the day was worse. Things were not looking good for a trophy musky to be featured on an episode of The Fish Finders. We were on the water early again and started to cycle through the most productive looking areas based on the previous day's assessment. A glimmer of hope came late morning when Bill hooked into a small musky using a slow, erratic retrieval on a Bobbie Bait. This fish came off the top of a shallow weed flat adjacent to one of the largest bait balls we had seen. It was great to bring a muskie to the boat but it wasn't the one we had come here for.
The skies had partially cleared when Bill's fish was hooked and after a long, overcast afternoon the skies had started to clear again just as the sun was setting. The winds had also diminished and as we were making our final casts of the trip, John managed to attract a nice follower to the boat and continued to work it with figure eight after figure eight. About thirty seconds later the fish smashed the Bull Dawg and after a short fight the fish was brought to boat side. Like the previous fish, this musky came from a shallow weed flat adjacent to a drop. Unlike the previous fish, this one was the 50-inch trophy we were looking for! Our persistence had paid off and as John had drilled into us over the two days, 'always finish your casts'. It was figure eights at boat side at the end of each cast that had accounted for one third of the musky boated by John this year and it was the figure eight that worked for us this time.
Although Bill and I were not the ones to actually land the trophy on this trip, we were part of the team that did. And who more appropriate to do the honors in very difficult conditions than the man who has invested a good portion of his career into not only guiding musky charters but also working with Muskies Canada to study and conserve the musky populations on his home waters. This week Bill and I will be returning to the Ottawa River on our own to put into practice all that John has taught us. Who knows ... this musky fishing thing might just catch on ... !
Alan Gibbins, 2014
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