Fishing Report #32 Pine and Pewaukee Lakes with Dee and a Pewaukee Flashback 10-21-12 Synopsis: Weather was sunny and pleasant with a high near 60. Water temperature was 52 degrees on Pewaukee, and 49 on Pine, indicating that the fall turnover has already taken place on both lakes. We started by fishing Pine for walleye but only got a few bite-offs from pike. We started fishing Pewaukee by casting and soaking suckers and finished up trolling crankbaits and spinners. We had no action at Pewaukee. I had planned on taking a friend out for musky but he had to cancel due to other obligations. Fortunately, my buddy Dee was looking for a partner as well so he offered to take me out in his boat, which I eagerly accepted. It had been a few years since we fished together. Dee is an accomplished multi-species angler and while walleye fishing may be his first love, he enjoys fishing for musky as well. In fact, I caught my first musky on my first trip to Pewaukee Lake with Dee about thirty years ago. Dee was working at a parking garage when I first met him. I was unemployed at the time and had to check in at the local unemployment office. I left my car across the street at the parking garage and when I went to pick it up, I noticed a dog-eared copy of a new fishing publication, In’Fisherman magazine on the desk. I asked the man if he liked to fish, which was quite apparent. We talked for a while and he introduced himself as Dee before he asked me if I liked to fish for musky. I told him I never had to that point. He asked what I was doing the following Thursday and since I had nothing going on, we agreed to get together to fish Pewaukee Lake. It was the in the midst of an August heat wave that we set out to try for musky. The heat and humidity had been oppressive with highs near 100 and this day was to be no different. Once we got to the lake, we rented a boat at Edde’s Boat Livery and Bait Shop (now taken over by Smokey’s Musky Shop). The owner told us that fishing was really slow with no reports of any musky catches for several weeks. Dee bolted on his 10 horse air- cooled Efka outboard, the transducer for his depth finder, and a couple of Down East Salty rod holders. We loaded in our tackle and a cooler full of beverages and off we went. At the time, the only outfit I had that looked anything like musky tackle was a heavy 5’ fiberglass boat rod with a big K-Mart brand baitcasting reel attached. I had loaded the reel with 20 lb test No-Bo trolling line. This was the recommended type of outfit needed to effectively troll Buck Perry’s Spoonplugs. These were and still are metal trolling lures made to troll at a specific depth with a certain amount of line out. They came in several sizes and depth ranges. Of course, I brought my collection of Spoonplugs along as well. At the time, Pewaukee was fairly turbid with the water being the color of pea soup. This was due to leakage from a multitude of old septic fields from the homes that lined the lake (this has since been remedied by installation of sewer lines). Dee already knew that the weedline was at 13 feet and we were going to troll just outside it. I selected a chartreuse with black spots #250 Spoonplug and Dee picked out a well-chewed Swim Whiz. It was sweltering and that fact kept most of the boats, let alone fishermen, off the lake. We set up to troll the north shore of the deeper west side. As we trolled, we would occasionally get a false alarm when our lures would slam into a humongous weed gob. Then it happened. My rod bucked violently and I was into a lively fish. Dee cut the motor and reeled in his lure as I did battle. As I got the fish to boatside, Dee scooped it up with his net. I had just landed a 35 inch tiger musky, which is a northern pike/musky hybrid. The fish was green and silver with green and yellow bars, quite striking. We put that fish on the stringer (as was customary for the day) and we continued trolling. After a while Dee’s lure got ripped and I was able to reciprocate the favor as he landed a fine 39 inch true musky. We were ecstatic! Also pretty hot and thirsty so we decided to call it a day and head back to the livery. When we got there, Edde was excited and a little astonished at our good fortune. He said he wanted to call the Milwaukee Journal to have them send out a reporter and offered us a beer to stay and wait for him. Sure enough, about an hour later a reporter arrived and took our pictures holding the fish and got the story. Dee still has the newspaper clippings. I have been a musky addict ever since. The weather was far more tolerable this time. Dee wanted to give walleyes a shot first and had a lead on a new lake. This lake was supposed to be receiving a large stocking of walleye fingerlings, despite its small size. We stopped at Dick Smith’s to pick up some walleye minnows. The fellow there suggested we try fishing nearby Pine Lake for walleyes instead of Dee’s secret lake so we decided to go there. We pitched jigs to weed edges and dragged Lindy rigs over some deep structure but the only action we got was a couple of bite-offs from some pike hanging around the weed edge. By 9:00 we were ready to switch to musky. We launched at Smokey’s Musky Shop where the proprietor, John Laimon, decided to waive the parking fee for us because I presented him with a nice cigar. With the cooler water, we decided to start out fishing the weed-edge by casting lures and soaking suckers on quick-strike rigs. Since our first outing, the catch and release ethic has taken hold and we now do everything possible to release our muskies alive and in good shape, including the use of quick-strike rigs that allow for non-lethal hooking of live bait caught fish. Dee used his trolling motor and we eased along the north shore from east to west. We gradually worked our way around the basin to the south side but had no pick-ups or strikes. At this point, we decided to try trolling to cover some ground. Dee selected a large Grim Reaper spinnerbait and a large inline spinner while I went with a 12” Believer and an 8” Slammer minnowbait. Dee put the spinnerbait out on one of his Rover planer boards while I put the minnowbait on the other one. These rods went in forward rod holders. The spinnerbait and the Believer went out on long lines directly behind the boat. Here is Dee off Rocky Point with a planer board in the background: Here is what the planer board on my side looked like: We trolled for a couple of hours without a strike. Here is another shot of Dee at the helm of his Musky Edition Crestliner: Next on the agenda is a week’s vacation to the Northwoods of Wisconsin to pursue big muskies on the Chippewa Flowage. Musky season in Wisconsin ends with the arrival of December. However, it is possible to extend the season another month or more by fishing lakes further south like Shelbyville in central Illinois and Webster, Tippecanoe, and the Barbee Chain in northeast Indiana. Unless we get some rain, the steelhead at the St. Joe will have to wait until we get some more water for my rig. Musky fishing will be my alternative. Give me a call if you’d like to get a shot at a big toothy critter. Stay fishy my friends! Capt. Guy Lopez Wild Dog Good Guyde Service (847)420-3046 .