Posts tagged Archibald Lake

Gretchen and I decided to make our annual “Columbus Day Trip” up to the Sobieski home.  She did not have the Monday off of work, so the trip was to be a shorter one.  On Saturday morning, I decided to hit Lake Archibald for my first ever Muskie.

I arrived at the lake before sunrise and was on the water while it was pretty dark.  The water temps were in the low 50′s, while the wind was calm with air temps in the mid 50′s, warm for this time of year.  At launch time, there was only one other boat on the lake, and they were working the point immediately off the launch.  I decided I would work some areas that had weed beds in the summer and see if I could locate any green.

I set up a drift in about 10 to 12 feet of water.  The weeds looked pretty spotty, but I decided to give it a go.  I started by throwing bright yellow jerk bait and worked a bright colored topwater.  Just as the sun was peaking through the clouds, I saw a fish break the surface, not near my lure.  I watched the area some more, and sure enough a decent size musky was chasing bait fish.  I immediately cast near the area, but was unable to get a fish or a follow.  As the sun rose higher, more boats began to appear at the launch and set-up all around.  I decided to make a move to the other side of the lake (Northeast corner) and work the old weed beds between the islands.  It was considered a “musky hotspot” according to my guide book.

Off the point of the western island, there were some green weeds.  I decided to work a big bright buzz bait.  I was casting into shore and bringing towards me, over the weeds, and into deeper water.  About halfway through the cast I noticed a swirl behind my lure.  I kept retrieving and saw the outline of a smaller musky.  I quickly did the figure 8, and then worked the area harder.  That was the last I saw of the fish.  After working this area for another hour or so, I decided to try some old weed beds back on the eastern half of the lake.

I noticed that when I got back over, there were a ton of guys soaking suckers and casting larger baits.  I decided to throw something smaller, maybe that’s what the fish were looking for, and maybe that is what they had not seen for a while.  I put on a silver bladed Mepps #5 spinner with a brown bucktail.  As I tossed over the weeds for a while, I was able to get a surprise largemouth bass.

The only fish to be had today was this bass.

I continued to cast for a while longer with no other fish caught or seen.  I decided to pull out the boat, as I had a long drive back to the house and the lake was getting crowded.

Fish Totals:
1 Largemouth