Took my wife camping/fishing/sightseeing with the promise of boat loads of fish in a wild beautiful setting. I was right about the beauty at least! Anyways on with the show…

Water temps ranged from 68-73, clarity was 3-4'.

8-20 5-9pm. Set up camp at the state park at the river mouth. This is a great campsite and perfect spot for fishing the lower river. We launched and ran up river about 10 miles. I was in awe of how much good looking water there was here. Anyways started by dancing jerkbaits and twitch baits seductively around the 29832939283 logs and trees. This did not produce so I started burning bucktails and instantly encountered my first UP muskie. Tiny tahq tike takes 2 swipes and misses then enters figure 8 at warp speed and eats in the first turn. It then proceeded to jump completely over the bow of the boat bounce off my leg and into the water on the other side. Of course it then shook lose and became just the latest version of "steve loses muskie in dramatic fashion". Anyways ended up moving a couple mid 30s that swiped out from wood but missed hooks and then actually caught one. Which of course in true Tahquemenon form was around 27" long.

8-21 7-12 am. Launched at Mcphees in a tornado of mosquitos in what looked like a trout stream. Motored down a mile or 2 and started flinging baits that seemed bigger than any fish that could possibly live there. I instantly caught a muskie that looked like it had just got drained out of a wolf lake pond. It was maybe 15" long. I knew the river was known for small fish but this was friggen rediculous. An hour later in an impossibly narrow bend hole I think I was contemplating how absurd a giant lund must look in this marshy ditch when a 39" golden missle launched up from nowhere and grabbed a face full of little claw right at the side of the boat. Now there is chaos as my wife throws down her book and proceeds to find the net is tangled and full of food, clothes, and various cans of bug spray as apparently my advise of "just be ready to net a fish for me" fell on deaf ears. Anyways after what seemed like an eternity but was prolly 6 seconds we netted the fish. I ended up cathing one more around 30" and losing 2 mid 30s with a few other contacts before the sun and wind drove us away.

8-22 7-12 am. SUCKED! Post cold front. Saw 0 muskies and caught 3 dink pike.

Here is a Pic of the 39"
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And no trip to the UP with the wife would be complete without a walk to a waterfall.
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