Musky Hunter fishing report August 19/21

The border has been open to Americans now for close to two weeks and camps are starting to fill up to normal capacities. Some area lodges have chosen not to open up for the remainder of the 2021 season, so some lakes are still seeing very little pressure. As a side note, forest fires in the northwest area of sunset country have still been burning, causing road closures. One popular musky lake, Long Legged/Stork Lake is off limits and no access is given to this lake system. Also, some of the area north of Kenora is under road closures as well. Please check with local authorities before assuming all areas are accessible. 

The first Americans to cross on August 9th were greeted to the first cold front of the summer and sustained high winds for the whole week. Water temps dropped to mid 60’s throughout the area and the wind stirred the lakes up for the first time all season. Conditions were tough everywhere. Fish reports were showing catches were down and just moving fish was proving to be tough. One report from Cedar Lake Lodge was a group from Canada that only a month ago caught 13 over a weekend, and now could only get less than half that over the whole week. I had some American friends at the camp that first week and they struggled to put just a few fish in the boat.

As the weekend of August 14th came, conditions improved slightly, the weather warmed and the winds laid down somewhat. Water temps stabilized between 66 and 70 degrees in most areas. The Eagle Lake bite was still tough but some fish were caught.

My wife Kyla, and her sister Kendra hit the lake for a girls evening. While they moved a couple upper 40’s and a 50 class fish they one they got was a bit smaller. They got some cool video of a blind figure 8 strike, as the fish came from under the boat and hit a Bondy Royal Orba.

Hunter Macdonald and Wayne Papp, out of Temple Bay Lodge finished the weekend off with a fifty hitting the bag. She followed a medusa in and Wayne swung in deep in the figure 8 and she hit under the boat. A beauty of a fish and a sign that no matter the conditions some fish are gonna eat. You just have to keep grinding away.

Some friends from Winnipeg were fishing the area over the weekend as well. Mike Harris of Element Custom Baits, and his girlfriend Kelsey Sukich were looking for Kelsey’s first musky ever. Despite a stiff south wind that was not favorable on the lake they were fishing, they put some fish in the bag and Kelsey got her first musky! A beautiful tiger no less! In total they only moved 6 or 7 fish in the brutal heat and high humidity but managed to capitalize on three good bites. 

As Mike put it, Kelsey’s tiger hit a “tiger patterned” black and orange Muskie Munchies mini mega slurp bucktail out from the boat. The bait hit the water and she cranked twice and Mike saw it hit the bait. After a brief tussle she slid her first musky into the bag! What a great story on a great first fish.

This week has seen continued high temps, although a storm system is bringing some much needed rain over the weekend and with it some cooler temps. Next week looks like a mixed bag of weather with chances of rain forecast for most days. 

Look for a new report by mid week for the area.

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