I fished Mayfield for about 5 hours on Wednesday. Weather was cool and drizzly, and water temps ranged from 49 to 54 degrees around the lake . Under conditions like these, tiger muskies will be lethargic, and you should use small lures and fish the warmest water you can find. This usually will be in Winston Cove and the cove adjacent to the hatchery, which are at opposite ends of the lake. The latter area produced my first muskie of the 2007 season. This early in the season, when the water is still cold, maybe your best bet is to still-fish dead bait (smelt or herring) at the hatchery. Bring a copy of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" so you'll have something to do while waiting for a bite. You also might want a hatchet to knock icicles off your beard. (I'm a pretty good muskie fisherman, but I'm even better at creative whining.) I did locate a 36-incher on wood near the Tilton bridge, and worked him with a bass plug, but he wasn't interested even after I bounced the lure off his snout a couple times. The water needs to get warmer before we'll see consistent muskie action.

* I’m kidding about dead bait … I only put that in this report as a ruse to get you to read the book. The problem with dead bait is fish swallow it, get gut hooked, and die, so we don’t want people doing that. As for me, the last thing I did before going into the Army back in 1968 was to hole up in a friend’s camper for two weeks and read “War and Peace.” I swear this is true. Honest! I really did read that book, just so I could say I’d done it.