Rare catch - Tiger Muskie!

The 2013 fishing season has been excellent so it was a fitting end to see a very unique catch during this last week.  Tom landed a 31" Tiger Muskie on Red Lake.  This is only the second Tiger Muskie we have seen this season.

  

Tom was by himself when he landed the Tiger Muskie so here's a shot of the angler that caught and released the elusive fish.  

Here is a photo of the first Tiger Muskie this season.  My brother Carson landed a massive 41.5" fish with a growth on top of its head.

A Tiger Muskie is a cross between a Northern Pike and a Muskie.  Pike usually spawn first, but once in a great while a Pike will spawn late enough to match the Muskie spawn and presto - the Tiger Muskie.  Tigers grow faster than either pure strain parent and are usually infertile - part of what makes them so rare.  The dark bars on the light background can look similar to a pure "barred" Muskie, but the giveaway is the more rounded tail lobes (same as a Northern Pike) which are unique to the Tiger Muskie.  A barred Muskie has sharper pointed tail lobes.  

Need help identifying your catch?  Most fish caught are Northern Pike.  I know you didn't forget what a Pike looked like, but here's a refresher - Tom's 43.5" Northern off Red Lake.  See the light spots on a dark background and rounded tail lobes.  

Muskies are rare, but we do see a few each season.  Pike spawn earlier than Muskies do and young pike will prey on the baby Muskies which is one limiting factor to the muskie population.  There are three distinct patterns of pure Muskies (clear, spotted, and barred) and the cross between Pike and Muskie (Tiger Muskie).  Most Muskies caught here are the clear variety.  A common factor in all Muskies is dark markings or no markings on a light background which is the opposite of Pike.  

See Mike's 41.5" clear Muskie caught earlier this year as an example.  

Below is a barred Muskie that Carson caught last year.  It is similar to the Tiger Muskie, but note the pointed tail lobes.  

         Cosmo wants to remind everyone that he is a "Tiger Lab" since he has a rounded tail lobe as well.  

A rare breed puppy for sure!

Another way to identify Muskies vs. Pike is to count the pores on the underside of the jaw.  A Pike will have five or fewer on each side while a Muskie will have six to nine pores on each side of the jaw.  You can't use this to distinguish a Tiger Muskie though since they can inherit the pore count from either parent.  

As a side note, Tom's Tiger Muskie pushed us to a new season high for muskies caught and released - nine!  Carrie and I have a few more days left to see if we can make it double digits!  

Lake Trout might be Grandma's best friend

Hello!

It is suuuuuuper hot here today.  And humid.  And sunny.  Did I mention it was hot?

I travel many miles to avoid this type of summer weather.  I thought mother nature and I had a deal.  Looks like it may stick around for a few days too.  Yuck!  I predict it will be miserable for the next few days, then it will be pleasant and perfect for a split second, and then it will move right onto freezing.  I'll be begging for warmth by the end of next week.  Oh Canada.

This is where Travis and my mama would tell you I have a tendency to be a bit dramatic in my predictions, and dramatic in general actually.

But!  The weather has nothing to do with the title of this post.

In last week's post we shared an awesome picture of a lake trout caught and released on Red Lake.  Caught by accident while trolling for northern.  With a GIANT stick bait called a "grandma".  We all found it a bit odd that a grandma lure would bring in a lake trout.  Its definitely not something the guys fishing last week are used to seeing with that method of trolling.  Well, Tate's 33" lake trout was just the first!  We had two more really nice and healthy looking lake trout caught last week on grandma lures after Tate caught his.  Take a look:

Gene's 32" lake trout

Jason's 34" lake trout

 What an awesome fish!

Please remember that lake trout are catch and release only on Red Lake, and if you are specifically fishing for them you must use a single barbless hook with no live bait.   They tend to like deeper water depths and are mostly found on the west end of Red Lake.  I've never even seen one outside of pictures!  They aren't a dime a dozen, but I think we can all agree there are some nice ones in Red Lake.

Side note:  As great as this post title is, wouldn't it have been better if it was MY grandma catching a lake trout using a grandma lure?  Gran and Grandma, we may just have to spend some more time on Red Lake next summer jigging for lakers.  Just for fun here is a picture from well before my Eagle Falls Lodge days of me with my gran and grandma.

 I come from good people, I tell ya!

Tomorrow is Monday, which means.... Fish Fry!   Be jealous.

Northern Pike have been plentiful and plenty BIG!

In last friday's post (which you can read here) I hinted to everyone that there would be some nice fish caught in the coming week.

Ladies and Gents....enjoy!

 Kevin - 35" northern

Kevin - 35" northern

 Austin - 41" northern

 Gene - 41" northern

Jim - 39" northern

Mike - 37" northern

Greg - 41" northern

Jerry - 36" northern

J.J. - 35.5' northern

 Ethan - 42.5" northern

Donnie - 35" northern

 Bill - 34" northern

 Dave - 36" northern

 Joe - 35" northern

Joe - 38" northern

 Mike - 37" northern

 Dan - 35" northern

Dan - 39" northern

Mark - 32" northern

 Mark - 32" northern

 Matt - 38" northern

 Tate - 39.5" northern

 Tate - 40" northern

 Tate - 42" northern

We also had three 44" northern pike caught this week in Red Lake.  What beautiful fish!

 Ethan - 44" northern

Troy - 44" northern

Tate - 44" northern 

We definitely had a camp full of northern pike fishermen, wouldn't you agree?  I think they had a good time.  They saw all types of weather: rain, heat, fog, and finally some cooler temperatures.

Some walleye fishermen arrive tomorrow, so we will see how they do out on Red Lake and Parker Lake in the coming days.

Have a good weekend!

One heck of a Lake Trout!

I believe in the last post I hinted to the fact that the group this week would most likely bring in some very nice fish.  Well, they aren't ones to disappoint.  Most of the group front troll for northern pike during their stay.  Apparently Tate was getting tired of catching northern pike (he caught a 44" northern on the FIRST day!) and decided to mix it up a bit.  

Tate landed a 33" lake trout on Red Lake!

Who knew you could catch a lake trout front trolling a giant Grandma lure designed for northern pike and muskie fishing!  Tate's lake trout was nice and healthy looking too which we like to see.  Lake Trout are catch and release only on Red Lake, so this lunker went right back into the water.  

We don't get any guests that specifically target lake trout during their fishing trip, but as seen above you can definitely find some big lakers in Red Lake!  This is actually the first trout a guest has "accidentally" brought in the boat this season.  

We will have more pictures of BIG fish at the end of the week.  

Two completely unrelated comments:

1.  Who turned the heat back on?  Holy hotness!  It is going to push 90 degrees today, folks.  I will remind you that less than 2 weeks ago I was wearing my long underwear around camp.  Not cool.  Good news is it doesn't look like it will stick around.

2.  We have reached over 30,000 hits on our blog!  I know that is virtually nothing, but we can't help but believe some people are actually checking in on us.  We feel humbled.  Please let us know what you would like to read about or see on the blog in the future!

Northern Pike Galore!

Howdy folks!

We just dropped off another group this morning.  I know right?  It feels like I just typed this exact statement like 2 seconds ago.  The weeks continue to fly by and we are now down to just three groups left!  I guess I should feel lucky, though, because it seems like most people back home are starting school this week.  Isn't summer supposed to last until Labor Day (or Labour Day if you are a Canuck)?

As the post title suggests we had A LOT of nice sized northern pike caught on both lakes this week.  Several slot fish and 40+" fish, which is always exciting to see.  They saw plenty of walleye as well, with a couple of particularly stellar days for walleye fishing on Red Lake.  The guys swore by floating jigs this week for walleye - one guy used a purple one and could have made some quick cash if he had been willing to give it up!

Don't just believe what I type, here are some photos to prove it:

 Chris - 35" northern on Red Lake

 Chris - 33" northern on Red Lake

 Denise - 38" northern on Red Lake

 Denise - 40" northern on Red Lake

 check out that tail!  Ouch!

 Bob - 39" northern on Red Lake

 Bob - 42" northern on Red Lake

 Bob and Denise had a nice double on Red Lake as well!

 Pete - 32" northern on Parker Lake

Big Fish of the week! 

 Scott - 44 1/8" northern on Red Lake.  

He caught this just before supper on the LAST day!

 Here is Chris with some nice eater sized northern off of Parker Lake

Pete and Chris with plenty of walleye for the weekly fish fry.

One of many walleye caught and released on Parker Lake

Perhaps the best fish story of the week was this "once in a lifetime" fishing double off of Parker Lake.  These guys were fishing right close to the lodge and brought in a nice 22" walleye - but as they were bringing it to the boat a 40" northern clamped on!  They quickly boated back to the dock where Travis helped them get some pictures of both fish and successfully release them both back into the water.

Way to go Dave!

We have to give a shout out to Dave's fishing partner, Walt, who successfully netted both fish!  

It remains to be seen if someone can top that this coming week.  There will be a lot of fishermen arriving tomorrow that target northern pike, so I'm sure we will have more monster pike pictures to share soon.  

Looks like summer isn't over yet!  The temperatures will creep back up into the 80's this week, so we will see how that affects the fishing.  We have some veterans coming in to camp, though, so I'm sure they will do great!

Have a good weekend!