Who do you want to share the houseboat with? This is a very important consideration - the success of your trip will have a lot to do with the team you assemble. You will probably be on the boat in fairly close quarters for 7 nights with your fishing partners. In addition, houseboats come in many sizes and price ranges. Pick a houseboat that fits your budget and pick a team that is willing to split all group expenses evenly. For example, if you are planning a family vacation and the kids aren't old enough to contribute to expenses mom and dad will have to foot the whole bill. On the other hand if you are splitting expenses between 8 adult anglers the cost per person can be quite reasonable. Don't try to fill the boat to maximum capacity just to cut expenses. Every angler needs some space for gear and will need more space if you will be fishing during cold weather periods like late fall. If the maximum capacity of your houseboat is 10 consider a team of 8 anglers. Try to pick team members who are known to be compatible in most situations. It also helps if at least a few of your team members have fished the lake before and have been involved in a previous houseboat trip. If there are considerations that are important to members of the group make sure anyone considering joining you knows them in advance. For example, I like to make sure everyone agrees on a few basic premises before they sign on, such as: We split all expenses We split duties for meal preparation and clean-up No smoking or complaining inside the houseboat cabin - take those outside For a group of 8 plan on having at least 4 fishing boats. That way, if one boat breaks down during the week you can comfortably fit those anglers in one of the remaining boats. Pck a team that wants to catch Muskies and is willing to share catch details and locations each evening around the dinner table. Finally, pick a team that wants to enjoy each other's company, eat well, and have some fun. If you're lucky you'll even have some guys who like to take a few "walleye breaks" so you can have a great fish fry one night for dinner! What about meal planning? There are many ways to do this. You can assign one person to coordinate meal planning for the week and to prepare a grocery list for a group shopping trip as you near your point of departure. You can also just assign meals so that each fishing boat is responsible for buying and preparing their fair share of breakfasts and din- ners. We normally eat lunch on the water or meet on an island for a group meal when the weather is good. One great thing about having a houseboat in the middle of your fishing area is that you can quickly return to your base if the weather conditions turn bad. I really like the diversity of dinners we always end up with as each team tries to highlight a favorite meal. Great steaks, special walleye batters, venison stew and stroganoff, fine BBQ Cajun, Italian, you name it!! I'll offer two important tips on food and supplies. Prepare what you can in advance to speed up meals after a long day of fishing and to reduce clean-up time. Make sure you coordinate on items that you can easily have too much or too little of - bread, milk, eggs, butter, paper plates, paper rowels, etc.

Lets fish! Remember we came here to Muskie fish and we have put our houseboat in the middle of our target area. Fish hard, be flexible, and adapt quickly to new information. On our fall trolling trips we have had great success on day one during some trips or we have started off really slow for a few days, but, by sharing information and staying flexible we always manage some nice Muskies. In 2008 our team of Muskie men represented 5 MI chapters, 25 previous trips to Lac Seul, and had previously released nearly 1,200 Muskies. There is no doubt that the experience and diversity of the team helped us all to adapt to changing conditions. Our largest Muskie during any of our houseboat adventures was a monster 55.5 incher caught by Keith Ogden. In 2008 our big one was a very hefty 52-incher caught by Jerry Bucholtz, which graced the cover of our December issue. Here's a great shot of Jerry unhooking his 52-incher in the net and in the water. By following proper release techniques this big mama was ready to blast off to deeper water after a couple of quick photos by assistant editor Juris Ozols. While Muskies will probably be your main target, don't forget to enjoy every fish you catch. Encounters with other species will often give you some clues as to where to look (or where not to look) for Muskies. At times you may run into big pike, walleye, or even bass on your Muskie baits.

Think safety! You may have picked a houseboat adventure to get away from it all. With this in mind, make sure you have planned for safety as well as you have planned for meals or fishing. You may be well outside the range of phone and Internet service. If so, make sure the houseboat you rent has communication back to the rental headquarters. Normaly this means the houseboat will have a marine band two-way radio. I'd also suggest each of your fishing boats have marine band radios to facilitate contacting each other and your team on the houseboat. They also come in handy for sharing fish reports during the day. A good paper map of your fishing area is always essential, even if you have the latest GPS technology. However, if you are going to a remote location 1 would recommend that each fishing boat have a GPS unit. Your conveniently located houseboat can be hard to find in dark or foggy conditions! Even if you have a paper map and GPS - beware! In my experience the accuracy of any map is inversely proportional to the remoteness of the area you are fishing. I'm pretty sure I could spend the rest of my fishing days just marking unmarked rocks and reefs on the best available maps of some of our best remote Muskie waters. When thinking safety, there are two guys who were on our 2008 trip who I would like to have with me on every trip - one was a doctor and the other was a jack of all trades. Couple these guys with a good tool kit and a good first aid kit and you're ready to fix or stitch almost anything. Finally, I'll share a note about my favorite fall fishing safety gear. Here's a photo of me wearing my full-floatation survival suit. I had just unhooked a nice Muskie caught by Juris Ozols, who would rather operate the camera than the hook-cutters. These suits are warm and will keep you afloat and delay hypothermia in frigid water conditions. Making Memories! Relish every aspect of your houseboat adventure. Catch some Muskies but make sure you take the time to make some great memories and friendships. Enjoy the scenery near your special home. Spend some time on the top deck each night watching the northern lights or just enjoying the stars. You'll have a chance to encounter wildlife that didn't expect to see you in their world each night and, if you wish, you'll have a chance to stay out in your remote fishing area from before sunrise until after sunset. o:o We had one of the best and most compatible teams you could hope for. - Kevin