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Mayfield Lake Report
Lewis County, WA

Details

06/04/2008
Tiger Muskie
Morning
06/05/2008
1
1580

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.


Comments

bob johansen
6/7/2008 7:12:00 AM
lol - With this cool weather I think there is a lot of "creative whining" going around the fishing world.
Rosann G
6/7/2008 8:36:00 AM
Congrats on your first muskie of the year. You should give Tapps a try since the water temp is a little higher there and the muskies have been biting sporatically for a while. We that fish Tapps as our main hunting grounds will join in with you on your creative whining though as the weather conditions have been the pits alot of days.
muskyhunter
6/7/2008 12:44:00 PM
Don....?
Still fish dead bait? Really? That must be the old school Wisconsinite lazy fishing method?Like draggin a sucker. Do you use the quick set strike method on something like that? I would think that if you did hook into a Tiger that might certainly increase the mortality of the fish..just sayin. You caught a fish on Wednesday?What was the length & girth? Todd
Don Wittenberger
6/7/2008 3:43:00 PM
No, I didn't catch a fish on Wednesday. This is 2008; the "2007 season" was last year. :) If I had caught a muskie this week, I wouldn't be griping about the weather, would I? No, it's only when I get skunked that I need a scapegoat. And no, I didn't still fish dead bait. I said that tongue-in-cheek. There's a factual basis for it, though. Still fishing frozen smelt has long been a popular early spring tactic for northern pike in Idaho, and that's also how Washington's largest tiger muskie was caught. I ran into the guy who caught it at the Mayfield boat launch last summer. He still fished with smelt near the hatchery just after rainbow trout were dumped in the lake. Tiger muskies gathered in the area to feed on the trout. His big fish weighed 34 lbs. on the hatchery's scale. Unfortunately for him, the state record slipped through his fingers because he waited too long to get it to a certified scale. He didn't know they shrink out of the water.

While we're on this topic, it seems kind of obvious that still fishing with dead bait should be prohibited because of the likelihood of hooking the muskie in the throat or gut, which results in 100% mortality. We could ask for a regulation restricting tiger muskie anglers to artificial lures, or at least limiting use of dead bait to trolling, where they're more likely to get hooked in the mouth. Maybe that should be our next regulation project.
muskyhunter
6/8/2008 11:50:00 AM
Hey Don,
You may then want to make yourself and your comments crystal clear. Your comments may have been "tongue n' cheek" but first impressions are some times what get folks in a tizzy.And we really do not want that happening.Same with telling folks were to and how to fish these critters.
And what a perfect way to get guys worked up.... Are you really sure the Tigers were bunched up to feed on the trout? Maybe they were bunched up to feed on the Pikie Minnows that feed on the Trout? I'm just saying watch what you say. And be clear on what you say.
As far as regulation changes.,.,we all need to discuss the issue. Before one makes it his/hers their own..
Don Wittenberger
6/8/2008 12:36:00 PM
There may well be some folks out there who interpret literally, and take to heart, everything they read and hear; but I respectively decline your invitation to live in their humorless world.
Don Wittenberger
6/8/2008 12:37:00 PM
make that "respectfully" ...
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Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service

Phone: (509) 687-0709