July 15, 2005
The fishing on Pewaukee Lake has been outstanding the last few weeks. Water temps have been in the upper 70's and the fish have gone into a feeding frenzy. Some great multiple fish days have been enjoyed by most of my clients. Tonight (July 15th) was just another great afternoon on the water for Gary and Travis.
Gary wanted to take his father out for some muskie action with his son Travis but the heat was just too much for his dad. So we decided to schedule another date for dad and Gary and Travis went out with me looking to catch a muskie. We set up trolling the deeper water looking for baitfish, once we found what we were looking for we worked the area from deeper water to shallower water and back out to deeper water. It didn't take long before a reel started to sing the sweet sound of drag and Gary was into his first Pewaukee Lake muskie. After a good battle, an exciting tail dance behind the boat, the 41-inch muskie was in the net and ready for a picture. A quick measurement, a photo to preserve the memory and the fish was released to fight again. Now it was Travis who was looking for his first Pewaukee muskie.
We worked the south side of the lake due to all the floating weeds on the north side. The boat traffic was bad but I assured my client that it doesn't bother the fish. Actually it help rock the boat and gives the lures added action. After we worked up and down the south shore we found a sweet spot loaded with baitfish. I talked to a past client and he scored a fish and lost one in that area. This just made me more confident that we would score if we worked the area. Travis was pumped to hear the drag screaming just before dark and gladly grabbed the rod ready for action. This was one of the weirdest fights I have ever seen. The fish actually charged the boat and swam under us and around the motor. Quickly I raised the big motor and cleared the line to make sure the prop would not cut it. Travis worked the 42-inch muskie into the waiting net, a brief but scary battle and his first muskie was ready for a picture. This was just one of the multiple muskie afternoons that have common this past month.
With water temps getting into the dangerously high mark I have been unhooking almost all of my fish in the water without even netting them. If you don't need a picture of the fish, please try to keep the fish in the water and remove the hooks by cutting them or reaching out with pliers and removing them. This is absolutely the best way to keep the fish health in this high water temps. The time out of water is deadly for these fish when the temps are in the high 70's and low 80's. One way to measure how long you can keep a fish out of the water is to hold your breath as soon as you pick up the fish, when you need air so does the fish.
Besides the great muskie action, the walleyes have been active also. Greg caught and released this huge Pewaukee Lake walleye on July 9th early in the morning. Greg was working the outer weed line with slip bobbers and jigs. This walleye fell for a night crawler suspended on a slip bobber just off the weed edge. I have been telling Greg about all the walleyes I have been seeing while working the area for muskie. I was out with my clients that morning and scored two muskies in that same area. Greg called me and asked if I could take a picture for him before he released the 27-inch walleye. He wanted to release the fish so other people could enjoy catching a trophy walleye also. Catch and release work for all species.
Well I would love to tell you it's been easy trolling on Pewaukee Lake but the weed cutters have been working hard on the weedy East End. This coupled with wind coming out of the east has allowed major amounts of floating weeds to spread all over the lake. This with all the boat traffic has made trolling harder than I have ever remembered. There are times you can set up the lines and go for a mile. Other time you set up the lines only to run into an area of floaters that almost stops your boat.
I hope everyone had a great 4th of July and please keep in mind that freedom was earned. Please support our fight against terrorism and thank the people who are risking their lives to keep our country safe and free. God Bless America. Now get out and enjoy the great outdoors with Mike's Extreme Guide Service.
Sorry for the lack of reports but business has been so good that I have had no time to do the reports. Please feel free to e-mail me if your wondering how fishing has been. I have a full time job working from 7am till 3pm and guide from 5pm till 10pm almost every day. With a schedule like this you can see why I don't have time to sit down and spend time on the computer doing my web site updates. It takes long enough to get through all the e-mails and phone calls. Maybe August reports will go better.