Musky and Pike Pondering

I find myself thinking about the New Year and what fishing adventures await this year. My friend Dave wants to continue a pseudo tradition of fishing on New Years. We were introduced to perch on Seneca Lake last year, but not just any perch, MONSTER perch. The smallest perch we caught was 14". I guess there really are Jack Perch. We might go there on New Year.

My friend Shu and I are contemplating a return trip to Canada for some pike fishing. I am seriously considering a return the Cochrane as we always catch big pike up there. The picture below is of a 45" pike caught by Shu's nephew Dave. On the first cast! The newest In-Fisherman magazine purports the new Rapala X-rap Xtreme slashbait is THE bait for big suspended musky and pike. I think I might see if I can grab a few for my tackle box this year.

I love the New Year and planning out the strategy for the year! I am going to go back to the Ohio Musky show in Columbus with Jake again this spring. They had some good speakers and I learned quite a bit. I digitally recorded the speakers last year and listened to them on my iPod before every Musky outing. I found that I learned quite a bit from that.

I need to have my Abu Garcia reels. I have been using them for about three years now and I could really tell that they needed to be lubed by the end of the fall season. I am going to have to do my homework on who I can find to tune them up. I used a 7.5 foot St. Croix musky rod for the first time this fall. I LOVED it. I always kind of poo-pood the notion that there was a major difference in heavy casting rods, but there really is. If you like you can find St. Croix rods on the clearance rack at Gander Mountain during certain times of the year.

The Chautauqua Lake Musky Hunters Club has been quiet lately. I hope things are well with the group as they serve an important mission for those of us who love musky fishing on Chautauqua Lake.