Musky Fishing , the Fox Chain of lakes

Hi there,, I fish the Fox Chain on a regular basis and thought I would start posting reports here. It looks like the PMTT Ranger World Championship is going to be held Novemeber 4th and 5th 2006 on the Fox Chain !!!
The northern lakes of the Chain , Channel , Marie and Catherine are alomost completely turned over . We were on the lakes 10/29 and found the water temps between 48 and 50 all day , clarity is about 2ft now. We did not boat a fish and only had one explode boatside on us. We worked the shallows in the early am and then moved out to the weed edges and then to the deep edges,, even tried trolling. I will be fishing the Fox River Valley tourney next weekend FRV is a chapter of muskies Inc. We have a weeks worth of 60 degree days and 40 degree nights so hopefully this stable weather will make for a good tourney,, last years fall Challunge on 6 fish were registered !!!
Tight lines everyone , I’ll report how we did at the tourney and how the overall tourney went ,, ~~T

Sunday the 30th brought warmer temps and strong winds, water temps held between 50 and 54 for the day,, mile high skies too. No takers Sunday , October is over and fishing was not that good this October,, well I hope November will bring us some good fishing,, the girls should be putting on the feed bags for the long winter nap !!!
I’ll post the results of the tourney next weekend ,, ~~T

The weather down here in the Chicagoland area has been warmer and windy, Thursdays high is going to be 72 , the weekend looks to be 65-67. The Guys out pre fishing are seeing musky action in the shallows. Man this weather is screwy !!!!

Well , I fished the FRV Challunge on the Chain Tourney with my long time friend and esox partner MG (muskygun) , 1st my hat is off to the FRV guys , they did an outstanding job . 2nd a big thanks to the “Thirsty Turtle” They gave us a break on launch fees and only charged $5 and the food they supplied for the buffet was outstanding !!!

The day started out chilly and breezy , then the drizzle and rain started , time to put on the rain gear , which by the way did not come off all day !!!

The Tourney started off without a hitch and blast off went smooth , 65 boats were registered , we started in position 39. We headed to “go to” confidence spot on Marie , we found water temps to hold throughout the day at 50 degrees, MG started out throwing hair and I threw some top water over the weedy breaks. . We worked the breaks from 3ft- 17ft , nothing,, not even a sniff !! MG suggested we work the long weed flat , I threw a white and nickel bladed spinner and switched off with a crappie pattern shallow invader , The invader awoke a huge “ski right at the boat , we both immediately started throwing back into the area and could not raise her again Well we trolled and casted the northern lakes and did not raise another fish. The day dished out some strong wind , heavy rain periods along with hail , lighting and thunder !! Hey was this November ??? or was it April ???? dang !!! Well all in all we had a good time , out of the 65 teams only 8 teams registered 9 fish , the winning team took 2 fish , 0ne I think was 36 and a 40 ½ the other fish were in the 30’s , these fish cam from FOX lake and Petite lake !!! That team went against the grain and it paid off !!!! A variety of baits were used to catch the fish , plastics, jerks and spinners were used All the fish came from shallow water , 3-5ft deep !!.

It figures , all week we had mild to warm weather and it remained stable , but then on tourney day we get hit with a cold front and all mother nature had to offer !!! But that’s what separates the good fisherman from the rest , they took the day , and adjusted to it and fish movements.

I won’t be back on the water until Saturday and maybe Sunday . long range weather reports say rain and chilly again !!! I’m taking Friday off to do a little pheasant hunting with some Buds , I am getting the chance to hunt over a dog that I may purchase , My springer is going into retirement and time for a new hunting buddy !! I’ll be checking out a german shorthair .

Tight lines everyone ~~~T

Well it figures,, the working man is back to the 9 to 5 grind and the weather clears up for the week , long range outlook for the week show mild weather again until ….. you guessed it , the weekend !!!
Most of the northern lakes on the chain have turned , if you could get out say Wed thurs, or friday you should have some decent fishing since the mild weather will have been stabile for 3 days , if you go on the weekend you might be fishing the cold front senario again !!!
Well we will have to wait and see. I hope to get out this weekend , Friday I’m hunting , saturday “honey doo’s” so maybe sunday,, oh sh*&$T it’s the wifes birthday and my Moms birthday this weekend,,, whats a guy to do ??? and don’t say bring Ma and the wife fishing !!!,, , ~~T

The turn over has completed on most of the lakes on the Chain,, Now they have started the winter “draw down” and this is producing current in the channels , acroos the lakes and has the river flowing good !! Looks like we should start hearing some good walleye reports soon !!!
Take advantage of these last few weeks of open water and hit the chain !!!

Nasty winds kept us off the lakes over the weekend,, will have the snow suits on this weekend !!! Sucker bite should be good..

TJP Do your tourneys have a weigh in on shore? I have heard some or all Musky tournaments weighin on the water by boat to insure safe release. I’d like to see the weigh in some time.

Hi there Dman,, most of the Musky tourneys are based on length,, and most of them are done on the water to insure a safe release. Some tourneys all you need are 2 witness to sign a release, some have judge boats on the water and you call them with a cell phone or marine radio.,, I see that your in Norhtern IL,, this spring on the Chain,,FRV chapter of muskie Inc will have a tourney,, you can check out the leader board and see how the finish goes.