The possible new world record Muskie (65lbs.) was caught in Georgian Bay by the lucky happy fellow above in The Moon River Basin which used to be one of the hottest fishing holes in all of Canada but the last time we visited the area it was full of cabins & people & not really what we wouuld call wilderness as compared to the Key River Area or French River Provincial Park but top Canadian Fishing none the less. The Moon River is famous & has been written about in many outdoor magazines for years & years long before computers came along. It had the best big walleye (yellow pickerel) runs for many years until gill netters wiped them out for $6.00 to $9.00 a pound profits. That is being corrected as I understand so hopefully they will come back again & so will the really big Muskies that love to follow them & eat them. If you want to catch the world record find the yellow pickerel & troll the area over & over. The big Muskie will be following them. An old time muskie fishermen out on The French River told me that years ago.
Big Muskie also love to eat pike in the same manner & ciscoe.
I have no idea whether they like panfish & I have never had a pike or muskie hit a crappie, bass or bluegill while bringing one it in but I have seen them bust pike & yellow pickerel after being hooked by fishermen while they were reeling them in.
For some reason they like to grab them when you get them right next to the boat.
Muskies like to follow lures sometimes but they will not always grab them & sometimes pike do the same.
The Creek Chub Pikie resembles both yellow pickerel & pike & Muskie love this lure in Georgian Bay.
The bigger the better.
Troll it as fast as you can without pulling it out of the water.
A live sucker a foot or more long fished on a big bobber near where the big ones are known to feed would probably be a better bet in the long run for huge pike & muskie if you like that kind of fishing.
Checkout European websites on bait fishing for big pike.
That is their thing over there & you can learn a lot from them.
They have all kinds of special bait rigs not available in Canada or America & you can purchase them on their websites along with books about the subject.
I have heard of Muskies caught in the upper & lower French River & upper Pickerel River that equal this size but have never personally seen one of them except swimming in shallow clear water chasing bait fish which for a Muskie this size can be a 5 to ten pound pike or walleye (yellow pickerel).
Personally I have never caught a muskie like this in The Georgian Bay but I have gone out in The French River area near Dallas Rapids & trolled for them before.
I had a big Rapala bit right in half & only got the front end of the lure back trolling on The French River not far from Dallas Rapids & you should have seen the look on our faces when that happened?
They have powerful jaws that act like wire cutters if you get your lure or leaders into the right part of their jaws.
I have had many wire leaders bitten right in half cleanly over the years & have no idea the size of the fish that did that.
I have also seen big pike cleaned at Key Harbour Lodge that had the 7″ Rapala & 18 inch leaders all the way in their stomach.
That is one reason I prefer solid s.s. wire over cable for leaders.
The couple pictured used to go up & fish out there for big muskies by trolling all day in a big boat with a ten horse power trolling motor.
They always used 60 to 100lb. line & heavy stiff rods just in case.
They used the largest silver flatfish you could buy & also caught a lot of big pickerel & pike in the process of trolling for big muskie.
They used to catch more big fish than anyone up there with their flatfish.
They caught many big muskies over the years & I took this picture of them.
The one they are holding is in the forty pound range.
They told me they hooked a muskie one time that went at least 80 to 100lb.
They hooked it on the bay & it headed up the French River To Dallas Rapids & got down in the rocks under the rapids & got them snagged up & they finally lost it after following it for over an hour.
These people were not the type to exaggerate & were experts with years of experience fishing muskie in this area.
The lodge on the French River used to have pictures of all the big fish they took over the years while staying there in the summer.
If really big muskie is your thing the world record lurks in these waters & is waiting for someone to hook into it.
65 lb. muskies have been taken in the past in the upper & lower French River areas.
I have heard stories about world record size muskies being netted & released by wildlife people out on The French River near Gull Rock.
The best thing to do is get a hold of a fish camp & hire a guide that specializes in muskie fishing to find out where to troll & what to use & all that.
Very few really big muskie are caught in the area the Bass Hole is in.
I have caught nine pound muskies & have never seen any taken there over twenty pounds but I know forty pounders are around occasionally because I have seen them in clear shallow water feeding before.
I have caught hammer handle muskies there fishing for bass so they do spawn in the area.
Generally pike & muskie do not mix well & the area I fish is mostly pike.
If you know what muskie weed looks like you will always find them around it somewhere.
Pike beds look different than muskie beds so a guide would be best if you really want to catch one.
There are good places on the upper French River also if you know where they are.
Some fishermen cast the really big Mepps spinners for them there & get forty pound muskie all the time.
Art Lawton that held the world record bought a cabin on The Upper French River because it was so good & used to guide people there.
Someone caught a 65lb. muskie there a few years back on a Creek Chub Pikie trolling.
Most muskie fishermen troll very fast with big lures & do that for hours on end with lures like the Creek Chub Pikie in muskie sizes.
If you get one or two on your trip you are doing good.
If you are a serious muskie fishermen you would be best to book with
Georgian Bay Fishing Camp as these people know all about the muskies out on the big water & they know where & how to catch them.
Big Creek Chub Pikies in perch color are also good for big muskies in The French River & Georgian Bay.
You can not go wrong talking to a pro & especially Muskie Heaven for Georgian Bay Muskies.
Both of these Muskies were caught in Georgian Bay recently & emailed to me by local fishermen that really know where to find them & how to catch them.
Notice the smiles on their faces.
They were released after the photos & will grow bigger.
I can not imagine hooking up with a muskie this big on my fly rod.
One of the muskies above was taken on a three inch long orange Rapala.
Dear Mr. Dice: I was reading your story about musky fishing in the Georgian Bay and French River areas, and I noticed that the photo in your article was taken on the dock of Camp McIntosh, a camp the I used to visit with my father back in the 70’s. I was visiting the camp back in 1976 when they netted a 68 lb. musky just a few hundred yards from the very dock where this photo was taken. I haven’t been back since, but I wondered if the news owners display a picture of that fish for visitors to see? I did see a newspaper photo of the fish (back in the early 80’s) while attending a fishing show in Cleveland. The interesting thing about this fish is that it was released just below the Dallas Rapids that same day. And, while we were fishing this area that evening we witnessed the fish jump completely out of the water in an attempt to catch two fleeing seagulls (that had been sitting on the water). This occurred only about 10 yards from our boat and it was quite a site to see. Others had witnessed similar events earlier in the afternoon so, as you might imagine, there were about 15 boats trolling in a big circle just below the rapids in an attempt to catch this fish. As hungry as the fish may have been (after spending a few days in a trap net without food), she wasn’t going to be fooled by someone’s artifical muskrat lure or giant creekchub bait. Best Regards, Rick