Do any of you do remote fly-in trips for Muskie?

[Aaron-IN]

The reason I ask is I am an avid smallmouth fisherman. I did a remote fly-in to a lake in NW Ontario a couple of weeks ago. We had a party of six all targeting smallmouth for the week. In total we caught 28 muskie in a four day period, I personally caught 14, 10 in one day with the largest landed being one 48 inches and another I didn't even attempt to get in the boat for fear of hurting it. I can't even tell you how many follows I had. This was a unique lake for that area of Ontario in that it only had smallmouth bass, muskie and lake trout.

[Crusher23]

Ok - I will ask the question everyone is thinking, would you care to share the name of the lake?

The Crusher

[Aaron-IN]

Sorry, sure. The name of the lake is "Kishkutena". There are a couple outpost cabins on the lake. This was my sixth time on that lake in the past 20 years, it is truly an incredible smallmouth lake. Our group has used Northwest Flying Service out of Nestor Falls the last two trips. The reason I even made this post is because I was reading something in an outdoor magazine recently about Muskie fishing and someone was quoted as saying a good day on the lake fishing for Muskie was boating a couple good fish. I can't even imagine how many Muskie I could have boated in a day if I knew anything about fishing for Muskie and was actually targeting them. Not only are there good numbers of Muskie in this lake but there are some really big ones.

I also wanted to add that when we were there Muskie season was closed, we were not intentionally fishing for them but rather catching them on Senkos, tube jigs and torpedos fishing for bass. By the end of the trip I was really hoping they wouldn't go after my lure as I was tired of having my 20lb power pro bit off and losing baits as I refused to use a leader. In the cabin we stayed in there is fishing journal where you can write down your fishing results for the week. I read an entry from a party of four who fished Kish in early October one year and they claimed they caught 180 Muskie in a week, you know how fishing stories go though. If anyone has any questions about Kish feel free to PM me I'd be happy to help.

[superstockbigblock]

I talked with an older gentlemen last year on a resort at Vermilion and he had told me about catching 8 muskie in a day from that lake. He said they weren't as big up there but plentiful, good to hear it from another. Sounds like a fun time.

Hi Aaron. Was wondering how crowded you felt fishing lake Kish. In your 6 years fishing there. Loooking at the layout of the. Lake it seems 3 outposts are a bit much??

[Mojo1269]

I have not yet but I nkow people who go here and love it... Multi species fly in fishing at its finest...

http://www.nielsensflyinlodge.com/fish-species/

[Hawker]

I've only spent half days in there on and off for the past 15 years and it truly is amazing, the number of Musky's . Have only once "targeted" Musky's there, boated 3, lost 3 and had follows on "almost" every cast, on a half day trip!

Smallmouth fishing is nothing short of phenomenal there and if targeting smallies, either "leader-up" or get bit off a ton by Musky's! Haven't seen anything much bigger than a 42" personally, but I'm sure there are some big girls in there. I've only once seen any boats on the water on Kish the times I've been there which is usually at the end of May, first of June. Young's Wilderness Camp has an outpost on Kish (sleeps up to 8), 4 boats, beautiful view, located on far south (I think it's south) end of the lake. Lots of deep water, lots of "primo" smallmouth banks, lake fishes bigger than it is!

[Bill Krejca]

Back in the 1970's, some of us portaged into Kish and camped there for a few days. It took 5 portages to get in. Interesting lake, in that instead of floating into a bay and seeing cruising pike, the fish we saw were mostly muskies. We caught a bunch of muskies, and many smallmouth. A very pretty lake. Aren't they all?

Bill

[rpieske]

I started fishing Kish in 1953 and it has remained a super smallmouth/muskie lake all during the time since then. It is a great numbers lake for muskies and you will have lots of action. You can still portage in to Kish, but it's not as easy as it used to be. I helped rebuild all those portages in 1962 and we had a whole lot of fun. Just 5 guys from Arrowhead Camp and three boats....one for the beer....LOL

If you go you will have a memorable trip.

[skindzier]

Quick question on Kish and Northwest Flying. On their website it says that departure is between 10a and noon. So day 1 is a half day basically. For a 3 day trip do they pick you up on the morning of the 4th day? (so you get one half day & two full days on the water?)

Thanks!