October Blast and Cast

There's no doubt in my mind that fall is the best time of the year.  There is so much to do in the outdoors, with open hunting seasons and the years best chance to catch a giant muskie.  

October got off to a tough start with muskie, however.  My good buddy Mike Owen and I chased dragons for a few days and despite some close calls we came up empty handed.  Water temps were in the low 50's and I always find that time of the fall to be challenging.   

The Rice brothers from Barrie arrived just in time to see the water temps cross into the 40's.  We were facing an awful looking longterm forecast with rain, snow, cold and wind coming our way.  We caught a window on the first afternoon and put 2 muskie in the Beckman.  

The same bait, a 12" white Big Game, got crushed again an hour later and both the Rice brothers were on the board.  

The weather turned nasty and those were the only muskie we caught.  We did get some nice pike, including this monster for Jim.  

Next up was our annual moose hunt on Lac Seul.  I figured it would be a good year after I got a limit of ruffed grouse on the way into camp.  

Some years you really work for a moose, and some years it happens fast.  This year was the fastest I've ever seen our bull tag get filled.  Cory drew our groups tag and fittingly he filled it - about 2 hours into the first afternoon!  Great bull!!   

There's still more muskie fishing to come and deer hunting to look forward to in November.  

Here's some more exciting news - another awesome muskie cover shot.  This time it's Hooked magazine.   Thanks to Mike Owen for snapping this awesome picture and to Steven at Hooked for putting it on the cover.  I'm honoured!