Fished Skegemog and Clam all weekend
Water Temps were very warm, I dont have a gage but I would have to guess upper 70s and maybe even into the 80s
Weeds in Skeg were thin but near surface in 6-8 feet of water and about 5 feet down out to 12-13 feet of water
Clam had very heavy weeds in 2-7 feet of water and tons of surface weed debris from all of the party boat traffic which made it real hard to fish without fouling your baits on weeds
Winds were heavy all friday and saturday at around 15-20mph and boat traffic was insane later in the day which made it really tuff to fish in my little 6horse boat in the constant waves and boat wake…Sunday morning was much calmer with some rain and it cooled down a good 10-15 degrees to 68-72 in the morning
Saw no muskies but we did catch a couple pretty good pike in both lakes and on Sunday morning we got a ton (9 or 10) of smaller pike around 24" in Clam…fished for bass in the middle of the day when boat traffic was too much and caught 10-12 good smallies on Skeg, a couple in the upper teens and one a bit over 20"
Tried going into Elk Saturday but wind was too much on the big water for the boat to handle so we retreated back to Skegemog…
In close to 20 years of fishing these lakes I have yet to catch a muskie, and Iv only seen 2 of them on, both were lost…Iv only started targeting them in the recent years but these are some tuff lakes to crack for skies, Im determined to get one tho and looking at my schedule I should be able to hit them again this coming weekend and the next as well so we shall see
Those lakes are very tough to fish in a small boat. The biggest danger on Elk or Torch is not being able to get back to the launch due to huge waves. You must have the best intel available such as weather reports and forecasts before you ever go long distances on those big lakes. Even in our 18 footer with 115 horse we have been worried on torch. Those lakes can kill you so be careful. You should try the upper chain instead with the small motor as those lakes all hold Muskies as well. They offer much better shelter from winds. I am always available for information on fishing these lakes. Michelle and I will be up there several times in August and September. Good luck on any future trips there. Mike and Michelle
Yeah, Elk was definitly a little too dicey for the boat we had, we didnt go far past Skegemog point before deciding to turn back…luckily the wind was out of the south-west so we were fighting it to get as far as we did and had it at our backs on the way back
I have fished some of the upper chain lakes like Benway and Wilson but they seem to be over populated with small pike…Im pretty sure some of the lakes further up the chain past Wilson even have special limits on pike with no size or bag limit to try to lower their population
I have never been to Intermediate tho and would like to try it sometime…I might go up that way this coming weekend and check it out
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