Shell Lake, WI

[St_Croix_Banks]

Anyone ever fish Shell Lake, WI? I'm up there for a casual family trip 1st week of August and heard the lake is Musky positive. Any advice/starting points would be appreciated.

[Cold Front Pooch]

Theres alot of spots on Shell that I have fished and have had success with... I personally would start off on the Big Island and work it shallow to deep... there are numerous weedbeds and reeds on the southside of the lake that hold fish on a regular basis.... the smallmouth bite is good on that lake too so if you get skunked on the esox grab some small spinnerbaits and you can have a ball with the smallies....

[St_Croix_Banks]

Appreciate it Cold Front. Have you been out there this year yet? Any success?

[Cold Front Pooch]

Negative... I actually havent been out there in 2 years my uncle owns a cabin up there... Ill give him a call and see whats up... if hes even been muskie fishing... thats where Ive had my success in the past...

[Cooter]

You can pretty much divide Shell into two - from the island into south bay you'll be fishing fairly shallow weeds/reeds. The main lake would include deep, open water with cribs and rock bar/points. I would suggest focusing on the island/south bay - if thats a no go then you could explore the rest of the lake. If you go that route I'd target the cribs by either trolling or working jigs/dawgs. Clear water - I'd give the night bite a try if your schedule allows.

[scsavre]

i heard that lake has Leech lake strain, and a few have gotten pretty big. someone said a 50 pounder was boated not long ago.

[Nick Kuhn]

i heard that lake has Leech lake strain, and a few have gotten pretty big. someone said a 50 pounder was boated not long ago.

I believe it was supposed to be on a comparison of the strains, but funding fell out and I think a total of 200 fish were delivered to Wisconsin and the program has since been dropped. The only year the strain has been specified they have been upper Chippewa fish. And yes over recent years the number of big Wisconsin fish has been increasing.

Code:

Year    Lake      Species           Strain            Type       Number Length
2007 SHELL LAKE MUSKELLUNGE UPPER CHIPPEWA RIVER LARGE FINGERLING 1,290 12.20"

[St_Croix_Banks]

Thanks for the feedback boys. It will likely be a casual 3-4 hr tour as we have alot of other family business to attend to. Fishing is secondary this weekend unfortunatley. Bringing out a couple of Musky virgins. But thats usually when Sht happens. Some green horn hooking up with a 50 or something. But.....that's what keeps us all going.

[NCLaker]

Banks, I'm suppose to be on Shell on Monday. First time on that lake. A freind has a place on the lake. We'll be fishing out of his Red 17' Mr. Pike. Plan to target mostly ski's, but may do some bass fishing too.

Good luck out there!

[St_Croix_Banks]

Laker....I'll look forward to your report. Good luck.

I'll be out there Aug 8/9th

[Cooter]

Speaking of the Leech vs whatever strain our DNR has been stocking comparison I believe it went belly up due to the VHS junk. Pretty sure they stocked some in '06 and '07 - I have no idea how many went into Shell. Certainly not enough time for them to be very big - however, Shell has produced some big fish in years past.

[dudeness]

Several years ago there was a 50 pounder speared out of Shell. I do not know what strain it was, but was under the impression that Leech lakers have been in there for a while.

[Nick Kuhn]

Well, you call it. This is the only Shell Lake fish I could find.

Compare to LCO fish (ie Wisconsin)

Compare to Leech Lake fish

[St_Croix_Banks]

NC Laker.......any luck last week on Shell?

[NCLaker]

5 follows, none landed but still had a great time. All using various bucktails. Saw most action early morning (6-9am) and late afternoon (3-6pm).

Had a great strike boatside, but got a little excited on the figure 8 and came up too high in the water on the turn when I saw it coming (my bad). Half it's side came out of the water when it tried to strike - very big girth, definitly 40" class, guessing mid-40's. Lots of fun despite not hooking up. I was using a single blade crappie colored dream catcher. The other 4 were pretty lazy follows - I think they were more curious than looking to eat.

Caught a bunch of pike (all in the 20's), when we tried using smaller bucktails (show girls, beast teasers).

Good luck this weekend!

[St_Croix_Banks]

Thanks for the report. I've heard chartreuse and black were good colors our there. I'm bringing a guy out with me that's never fished M's before. I would love for him to raise a fish. He just doesn't understand my passion for this...that would go a long way for him. I'll let you know how it goes.