September 30th, 2007
Here it is the end of September and the fishing is just rocking. The casting bite is now in full swing and multiple fish nights have been very common. With the water temperatures still in the high 60's the fish are feeding very actively. Some days they are so easy to catch and other times you got to work for what you catch. The last two weeks have been outstanding.
The best action this past two weeks has come from the weed beds and weed lines. Bucktails and top water baits are the best producers. Most of my guide trips have ended up with two or three legal muskies boated on the 1/2 day trips. I have not fish the last two weekends because I was out of town getting ready for the deer season on my new property. I can tell you that the fishing is going stay great as long as this slow cool down keeps up. The longer it takes for the water to go from 70 to 60 the better the bite. After the water cools in to the 60's and 50's the number of fish caught will drop but the bigger fish will start showing up more. As for now there is a lot of upper 30's and low 40's being caught. The last two weeks 36 to 40-inch fish are common with some tankers showing up to get the knee's shacking.
I will share a few clients story's and pictures from the last two weeks so you can see what's been going on in my boat.
Ted was looking to gain some trolling tips from me so he can effectively troll Pewaukee lake with confidence and success. We got out on the 17th of September and I explained to Ted the importance of knowing where your baits are running and how deep to run them. I set up the lines and we trolled the flats off Rocky Point while watching the graph looking for fish and bait. I explained to Ted that you must keep an eye on the graph to know where to run you baits. I try to keep my baits just under the bait fish and above the predator fish like muskie, walleyes, northern and bass.
We trolled for about a half hour and a rod started to strip line. "Fish On" I yelled, Ted quickly grabbed the rod and was into a nice three foot Pewaukee muskie. After a good fight Ted got to hold his fish for a quick picture. Nice job Ted, good starter fish.
Well after trolling for an hour more with no more action I suggested we start to cast the weed lines looking for active fish. This was a good call because we were on fish the second spot we casted. I had Ted in the front of the boat casting the first water and I was working behind him casting the new proto type Llungen DC9 I got from my Sponsor Llungen Lures. As luck would have it a 39-incher ate my DC9 at the boat and the fight was on. I offered the rod to Ted but he declined and watched as I worked the fish until it was tired enough to unhook at boat side. I like to release fish without netting them if a picture is not going to be taken. This is best for the fish. We had a fish blow up on another bait and I caught a mid 30's on that same proto type DC9. I offered the rod and bait to Ted for the rest of the night but no more fish for us that trip. One trolling and two casting is not a bad night. I marked up Ted's map and told him what lures were best to pick up for Pewaukee muskies after we finished fishing
The next day was Ben's turn to get out on the water with me. Since we caught a fish trolling the day before I started to troll with Ben using that same pattern.
I was not 10 minutes before a rod started to strip line and Ben was into his first fish. This ended quickly because the fish came unhooked as it head shook on top of the water. The rods went back out and we were back at it when the second hit came as fast as the first one. This time the fish got off before we got the rod out of the holder.
Now I was getting pissed because we just lost two chances to boat muskies. 
I quickly set up the lines again and we did catch two sub legal muskies in the next hour.
I decided to cast after the action slowed and had Ben throw that new DC9 and I casted the Reefer by Llungen lures. Ben was the first to score and it was fun to watch his excitement as he battled the muskie back to the boat. I ended up catching a legal muskie on a Llungen Reefer bucktail shortly after Ben released his muskie and that was it for us. Four muskies, three for Ben and one for me equals a happy client and guide.
The next hot night was when Adam and a friend booked a casting outing looking for some top water action. They wanted to learn the lake and catch some of the muskies while doing it. The muskies were following but not hitting their baits. They raised some good fish and had some close calls as it got dark. After dark the hits started to happen but no hook ups. We had seven fish follow before dark and six hits after dark without a single fish getting hooked. Action from 13 fish with none in the boat is just nuts. Finally We managed to get a 40 inch muskie in the net. This fish ate a DC9 at boat side and gave us the battle we were looking for all night. I ended up catching the fish from the back of the boat behind both of them. This is typical when the fish are finicky.
The next day I was out with Scott for his 1/2 day gift certificate.
We planned to cast from the start since the day before we had lots of action from fish in most of my hot spots. Scott was using his own rod and it was too small to handle the hot DC9 that I offered him. He wanted to use his rod so I set him up with a Skimmer bucktail that was catching fish.
The very first spot we casted I had a nice fish follow my DC9 to the boat and take a swipe at it but quickly disappeared
Scott was next to have some action as a muskie smashed his bucktail as he went into the figure 8. This fish left as fast as it showed up after it shook free at the boat. After a few more lookers Scott hooked into a low 30's muskie and quickly man handled it to the net. A quick picture and back to fishing. I had the next action from the back of the boat as a 39 3/4 hit my DC9. I offered the rod to Scott and grabbed the net to scoop up the waiting muskie. 
A 36.5 inch muskie also hit my DC9 about ten minutes later in the next spot we fished. What a good night; nine fish raised and some quality fish caught in four hours.
I wish I could go on with the story's and pictures but the month is over and I have not fished the last two Fridays and weekends because of getting deer camp ready. Now that all of that is set I will be on the water more this next few weeks. My guide seclude is 95% full with only a couple week days left for the month of October. If you got some dates from me lately and are still waiting to see what works for you please contact me asap. Almost all my available dates are now booked up.
If you were looking to get out yet in Fall please keep in contact. I might be able to get out with you on a weekend if my bow hunting gets cut short with a huge buck meeting one of my arrows. If this happens I will take on a few more weekends with clients. I have a list of people that are "on call" if I have an opening. This list can be added to if you choose to be on it. I love to fish but the end of October and beginning of November is all deer hunting in my world. Then I turn back to muskies until the deer gun season and then back to muskies again after the gun season. With the day light hours getting short and the water temperatures dropping I can't guide much more during the week after work after October.
Good luck to everyone this October. I will see you on the water catching muskies I hope. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me via e-mail or by phone.
September 15th, 2007
September is here and the fish are starting to show up back in the weeds. This is a welcome site for those of us who love to cast. I for one welcome the change after trolling for almost three months. Not that trolling does not still work because I have had some great trolling guide jobs in the past two weeks. August ended with some multiple fish outings trolling and September lst was no different for my client Bob and his two sons. 
We trolled both Saturday and Sunday and boated 6 muskies and lost three others. Trolling the flats, breaks and even open water was working. The key was to work the correct pattern at the time it produces best. Bob's son landed the largest one on Saturday so he got to heckle his dad and brother until we got back out the next day. Bagley's, Ernie's, Depth Raiders and Rapalas all were working that day. They were back that next morning ready for more muskie action
but the weather was hot, not a breeze to be found all day and the barometer was ski high. I explained to them it was going to be a tough day and we were going to have to work multiple patterns to find some active fish. We worked the breaks, flats and deep water looking for a hungry muskie. As it turned out we got hungry before the fish did. After lunch we worked the three patterns trolling until one of them kicked out three muskies before the day came to a close. No big fish but some welcome action on a slow day.
Russ, Rick and Ralph were next to get out for some trolling action.
Ralph was first to get his hands slimed and Rick caught the second fish just about an hour later. Both fish were sub legal's but a great start to an afternoon guide trip. Russ finished up the night with a solid 40 in class muskie. Russ had to prove to the boys he could let them catch the small ones and he would take the last one. Im just glad I could get that third fish to hit so Russ could rub it in on them. Russ is no stranger to big fish in my boat. After all he was with Perry when we boated and released a 53-incher a few years back.
The next multiple fish trip was Saturday the 8th. I was out with Stan and Scott. This was a donated trip Stan was kind enough to bid on and win the bidding war for a full day on Pewaukee Lake. I was going to do everything I could to make this trip one he and his son would remember. Looking back on that day now I am sure they both with remember it for years to come.
Stan let his son Scott catch the first two muskies that ate our crank baits we were trolling off the breaks and through suspended bait in deeper water. Scott's first fish was a 31-incher caught around 8am less than an hour after we got started. The second fish hit around 9am and was a very respectable 43-incher that didn't want to come up from that deeper cooler water. After a great fight Scott worked the fish close enough for me to slip the net under her to seal the deal.
After a quick picture we released her to fight another day. Stan was ready for some action after watching his son score two Pewaukee Lake muskies. He did not have to wait long because before 10am he was battling a very nice upper 30's muskie to my waiting net. Stan was all smiles as he got his fish out of the net and held it up for a quick picture. After a great lunch at the Golden Anchor we got back to trolling. I explained to them how we were going to target the huge schools of crappies and blue gills that were set up in deeper water just off the Rocky Point flat. We finished up the day with one more muskie around 4pm. With 5 muskies caught all I could think of was the three that got away. One of them flattened out the treble
hooks on the crank bait. That was one powerfull fish that did that to a 2x strong hook.
The next day I had Bruce and his son Jake out for some post packer game muskie action. 
We started out around 4pm on Sunday afternoon trolling the outside of the breaks looking for the schools of bait. Once we found them we worked our baits through the bait and then under it. Jake was ready for action but the fish were not cooperating. I increased my speed a few tenths and a reel started to sing out drag. Jake jumped up and was more than ready to battle his first muskie. His first legal muskie was now in the net and some high fives were shared by all of us. A quick picture and his first legal muskie was released. Jake and Bruce did catch two other muskies before it was time to shut it down since it was a school night. My hats off to Bruce for spending some quality time with his son on the water. We now have a new muskie fishermen in the making.
The next day the rain, cold and wind came all at once. Craig and his friend were looking for some muskie action but all we could manage was a shorty and a missed opportunity when a reel started to sound off but it was off by the time we got to it. The next day was cold and still windy but the muskies were a bit more active. Ron and Dean were my clients that were looking for some hot muskie action. I explained to them that the recent cold snap and wind has the fishing somewhat slow. We discussed casting but the waves were to big for the slow easy fishing needed to target lethargic muskies.
I set up the trolling rods and we were ready for business. To my surprise we scored a low 30's muskie in the first hour and a mid thirty's muskie shortly followed after we worked that same spot again. I thought we were going to have a great night because of the fast start but the next few hours were long and cold with no action. I tried changing depths, lures, colors and speed but we were only washing the lures. I explained to my clients that once it got dark we might have a chance to get one on the flats. Well, this is just what happened at the end of our trip.
With only a hundred yards left to troll for the night a planner board rod started to bend and the welcome sound of drag started to sing out in the otherwise quiet night. Dean was quick to get on the rod and battled his 40-inch class muskie while I cleared a few lines out of his way. A very respectable muskie was now in the net and three happy muskie fishermen were exchanging some hand shakes. After a couple quick pictures she was set free to make someone else's day or night. Ron and Dean managed to catch and release three muskies on a tough day. Congratulations to them for keeping the confidence and keeping me laughing during the time between fish.
The next night Sept 12th was slow and cold. We did manage to catch one small one but otherwise it was a all around bad night. The 13th was some of my repeat clients looking to get in on the casting action. But first I had to teach all three of them the basics of bait casting reels because they never used that kind of reel yet. I set them up at the muskies shop with top of the line G-Loomis rods, Diawa Luna reels and Power Pro line. I started out with the basics with them and showed them the proper way to cast, retrieve and work the figure 8 once the bait got to the boat. After an hour they were casting like champs and we were off running and gunning my hot spots. Before long I hear a bunch of grunts and excitement as a 38-inch muskie chases the bucktail up to the boat, around the first turn of the 8 and takes a swipe at the bait. The muskie continues to follow all the way around and then loses interest. I explained what was done correct and what needed to be done better. About an hour later I hear the water explode and the fight was on. A 39-inch muskie was all Brian's dad could handle in the dark as he held strong and kept working the fish closer to the boat so I could slide the net under her. A sweet top water fish on the first day of there new casting experience. I have to say they are now ready for action, I can't wait to hear the story's.
Well now that I got some of my client trips spelled out for those who like to see what an average guide trip is like. Not all days are great days but I will always do my best to put fish in the boat, teach you how it's done and even mark up a map for you to use for years to come. The casting bite is on and the trolling bite is also very good. Now what do you do? Cast or troll? Well, I can tell you I will be doing both with my clients. I learned a long time ago that if you only limit yourself to a few patterns you will catch fish some days and struggle others. I will use all my techniques all the time to produce fish.
My open dates left for this season are just about full. I am sorry if you were looking to get out yet this Fall with Mike's Extreme Guide Service but just about every available guide date is booked. I do have some open dates available that I have sent out to a few people recently. I will send out my open dates and the first one to confirm the date gets it. This is the only fair way to work out the last few open dates left.
Now get off that computer and go get a lure wet. This is the best time to score a big fish while the water temperatures are still in the fast action range. By this I mean 60 to 75 degrees water temps. The fish are still eating every day and the big fish are showing up trolling and casting. Enjoy the action while it's hot. But first you have to pick the best pattern for that time of the day or just keep plugging away and the fish will come. Remember to keep a positive attitude and don't give up hope. Muskies don't eat all day, they have feeding windows throught the day. Check the moon charts, lunar tables and weather to stack the deck in your favor. Good luck to all of you, I hope your next day on the water is a sucess.