Day 3 of our UP trip we decided we were happy catching 6 Tahq clones in the first 2 days and wanted to switch things up a bit from the little river fishing we had been doing to some big water fishing with a chance at a giant. Neither of us had fished this water before so it was pretty intimidating going into it. Thanks again to Duke and JP for some advice on where to start out there. Took some time to find the access. Went to a launch that showed up on my county map to find that it wasn't there anymore. Luckily a local noticed we looked lost and told us where we could put in at. Funny it ended up being the access that Duke suggested all along, we just couldn't find it at first.

Water temps were around 64 degrees for most of the day and clarity was real poor close to shore but cleared up to about 5 feet where we fished. I will be honest this place looked nothing like I thought it would in my mind. I pictured something more like the Traverse Bays but a little shallower. I didn't realize that most of the western portion of the bay was a giant marsh. The scenery was amazing though and was worth it alone to fish there. Did not have much expectations for catching fish but I was excited to fish water like that.

We fished mostly 7-12 feet of water and there was cabbage patches everywhere. It was a beautiful sight. Made us confident to know that we had to be fishing the right areas and there had to be fish there. Probably an hour or so into fishing I had a big fish come out of no where to nip the tail of my bucktail. It did not come from behind but came from my peripheral vision and I did not see it coming. Unfortunately it did not get hooks and did not stick around after nipping the bait. Moving a fish like that right off the bat was a huge confidence booster on water like this. Did not see anything for several hours after that until I had another fish come up from under the boat and missed my bait boatside. Another chance from a fish that was not following and came from a completely different direction than my retrieve. This one came up from out of the cabbage directly below the boat and just missed the lure and like the first fish was gone immediately following.

That was all the muskie action we got all day out there but I would consider that first trip a success having moved 2 fish in giant water that we were fishing for the first time ever. That type of water is my favorite type of water to fish. It reminded me of the cabbage flat in Skegemog mixed with the size of Anchor Bay with less clear water. I will be back and this place might just be my new "yearly" trip.