August, 2008

WOW, was the month of August great for trolling on Pewaukee Lake. Up to 5 fish outings were the usual catch. Not one time did the Ranger come back to the launch without a muskie being released. Looking back in my books I can see that every client caught a muskie while fishing with me. Most caught multiple fish on a half day trip. Water temperatures got into the high 70's most of the month with a few days of 80. Lots of 76 to 78 degree water temps made the fishing great. Not as many pictures as I wish I could have taken but the health of the fish is very critical during this high water temps. The stress on the muskies is noticeable when the water is warm. Water releases is the way to go at this time of the season. I only used a net when I had to and most fish never came out of the water. Unhook them and dip the net down so they could swim back to the cooler water and recover quicker. With no real 90 degree days this August the water was only in the danger zone for a week, then a good North East wind cooled it down two days later. What a perfect August for catching muskies!

Thinking back on the past month I remember quite a few outstanding dates. The 4th of August was a very good night with a 31, 40, 38.5, 36, 32, 31, and a 34-inch to top off a 5pm to 8:30pm fish frenzy. That afternoon outing was a perfect night with ideal conditions that had the fish feeding hard core. Besides the 7 fish that did make it to the net two others got off. That is some outstanding muskie action for under 4 hours of fishing. The best day I had was 16 hits with 13 fish being caught on Saturday the 23rd of August. Here is the fish sizes in order from largest to smallest(42, 41, 38, 35.5, 34.5, 34, 33, 33, 32.5, 32.5, 32, 31.5, 31-inch). Actually the whole month was very good, some days were tough but we always found a way to boat a muskie or two before the outing was over. 60 muskies over 30-inches in 17 trips with 5 bonus walleyes and a few pike was the count as I look at my records. I wish I could have fished more but a few family trips up to my land was needed and enjoyed by my whole family. It's hard to get away when the muskies are that active but I also must keep family time in the schedule for quality together time. Being a guide with a full time regular job takes lots of hours away from the family, getting quality family time in each month is very important to me and the family.

I have some pictures I would like to share with everyone from this month. I will try to add a picture of client fish in the text of this report when I type it up. This can be tough because of all the restrictions I run into using this html. I do my website work myself and do not consider it easy but I always seem to get it done sooner or later. I am sorry for the long time between updates but with fishing so good and guide jobs booking up faster than ever I do not have the time to do this like I used to have. One thing you can be sure of is if my site is not being updated often the fishing is outstanding. It will take me about ten hours to get everything done for this website update, that's a few days work for me after work so I hope it works out.

Agatha's first muskie

Lots of first time muskie anglers got to catch their first muskie or muskies with Mike's Extreme Guide Service this past month of August. Here is a few of the client names, pictures and dates from last months muskie action. Laura's first muskie Agatha Dawson got her first on Aug 7th, her husband Vergil also got to catch and released a muskie. Laura got to catch her first muskie on the 11th of August. She got a nice fish on a tough night, congrats Laura. Steve, his dad Bob and son Robby got to catch Robbie's first muskie multiple muskies on the 12th. I think Robby's 35-incher was the most memorable to them since it was his first legal muskie, I know dad and grandpa were very proud of Robbie's first muskie. "Musky Ron" as I call him now is another client of mine that always seems to boat multiple Ron's new personal best muskies every time out, Ron caught his largest muskie to date on the 14th with me, he also got a nice 21-inch walleye for dinner. If I add up all the times Ron has gone out with me I would bet he has a 3 or 4 fish average going during half day trips with me over the last three years. Ron books multiple trips with me each year and I am glad to have him out with me. The 15th, 16th and 17th I didn't fish due to out of town guests and reunion party's. But the 18th I was out with my boy Mike and we stuck and released 5 muskies all in the low to mid thirty's.

Vinny's first muskie Jonny's first muskie

John and his two sons(Vinny and Jonny) were out on the 19th to try and catch their first muskies. They were both under 8 years old and loved to catch fish. Both of them got to catch their first muskie without much help. The only help from dad was holding the fish for a quick picture.

Sam's first legal(37-inch muskie) Bill and Sam with a 36-inch muskie Bill Rupp and his son were out the 20th of August for some action and that is what they got. Sam and Bill with a 36.5-inch ski Bill's muskie Within the first half hour Bills son got a nice 37-inch muskie at the age of 10. They ended up catching 5 more muskies by the end of the trip. Sam with his 3rd muskie of the trip Sam with his 4th muskie out of the 6 fish caught Bill got 2 and his son 4 muskies(37, 36.5, 36, 34.5, 32, 31-inch were the sizes).

Adam and Scott were out the 20th for some trolling muskie action. They ordered a pizza from the waterfront to go with a few cold ones while trolling the deeper water looking for a larger muskie. Adam is no stranger to my boat and has caught multiple fish with me. This trip we Scott scores a nice 39-inch muskie decided to target deeper water and larger fish. Scott was first to get action on his side and after a good fight he got to hold a nice 39-inch muskie for a quick picture. Adam was quick to get into the action with a very respectable 41-inch well feed Pewaukee muskie. Adam catches a quality deep water muskie Scott did get another chance at a quality deep water muskie when a deep set crank bait got slammed by a 38-inch muskie, he had a great fight to remember that included some awesome jumps and extra runs at the boat. I have to say that was one of the toughest 38-inchers I netted all year. Scott scores a tuff 38-inch muskieA quick picture and she was back into the lake to make someone else's day.

Craig and Billie were next to get out with me on the 22nd.Craig get his fish The first fish hit a inside planner board rod and got off somehow. The second hit was a violent hit with lots of line stripping from the screaming reel, after a few seconds this fish also got off. A 17-inch walleye at dark made us feel a little better but we were still muskieless. With minutes left in the trip a rod started to sing the sweet sound of drag and Craig quickly man handled his muskie into the waiting net. I had to thank him for keeping my muskie streak going. July 8th was the last time I did not boat a muskie for my clients, a 21-inch walleye was our only catch that night.

41-inch Pewaukee muskie caught trolling The 23rd of August was my all time best day on Pewaukee Lake because I counted 16 hits trolling and boated 13 muskies that day. All of the fish were over 30-inches with the top 5 being 42, 41, 38, 35.5 and 34.5-inch. 42-inch Pewaukee muskie, the biggest of 13 caught that day The best part of it all was myself and a friend got to catch all A nice 39-inch muskie those fish because of a last minute cancellation. The next few days I had off from guide jobs to get caught up with yard work and pack for my family vacation. I did sneak out a couple of those days before my trip to take advantage of the extremely good trolling bite.

As you can see by some of these trips multiple muskie days are very common in July and August. Kids can and do catch muskies at a very young age with me because of quality equipment and a very careful watchful hand when needed. I pride myself in helping people make dreams a reality while in my boat. Extreme attention to small details and being on the lake every day helps me to keep up with changing patterns. Its the small things that make a difference like lure colors, lure depths, lure type and sizes, that can all change from week to week. One thing I will do is run two of my six baits as test baits while trolling, these are lures that I know will be working in the future. One sure thing about fishing is the progression from Spring to Fall and the baits that work best during certain time of the year. Learning that takes years and years of consistent fishing or just hiring the rite guide that can teach you the baits and patterns that work the best. Every lake has its hot baits and patterns throughout the season, learning them is half the battle, catching the fish is the other half.