Waconia Help

[Shoot2Kill]

Okay...little background here...I'm a sales guy...in the 4 years I've been here my company has done very LITTLE for team building/morale etc. Out of the total BLUE my boss tells myself and the other 2 sales reps that she wants to hold a "team buildling" day this Thursday. We were like...oh great...now what. Well....she wants to do a "brief" meeting in the morning off site and then move to her pontoon on Waconia for the remainder of the day for burgers/beer/and fishing. I nearly shat myself. We are all in denial that this will really happen and feel there is a hidden motive somehwere......but in any case....for work on Thursday I will be on Waconia with an 8 foot rod in my hand! HOOYAH!

The 2 other reps and my boss will probably just be relaxing and fishing for anything that will bite....I've told them anything they catch I'm using for bait...haha. None of them have ever seen a muskie and want me to catch one in the worst way. So...here is my question....can anyone point me in the right direction on that lake for where to start tossing baits?

I realize the odds are greatly stacked against me, but I'll be out there so I have to muskie fish...there is no way around it. We'll be in a pontoon with no trolling motor and 3 women and myself, not even sure there is a depth finder but who knows...I'm fearing what will happen if I do happen to lock into one and one of them wants to net it...haha...guess I'll worry about that when the time comes.

We'll be out there from approximately 10am to 3. I have the MN muskie book with the general spots on it, but can anyone elaborate? I've never been on it...is it clear, stained??? Any go to baits?

You can email me if you don't want to post it publicly...any info shared will be on lock down you have my word.

Thank you!!!

Ryan

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[50inchpig]

I'd fish the spots in your book but move up shallow inside the milfoil edge, otherwise look up shallow on the flats. Tis the season for surface baits over shallow sand on these lakes and you might provide your audience with some excitement.

[JimBuck]

That's pretty great. I wish my company had "team building" exercises on Wac. As for musky fishing. It sounds like it might be a little problematic casting for ski's with a bunch of other people on a pontoon with beers, grilling etc. Maybe a better option would be to troll? If you insist on casting, I'd shy away from the pounders and dinner plate size blades just to keep things a bit more safe and manageable. Topwaters would be a good idea as it gives the other novice anglers a visual as to where your bait is and can be entertaining to watch a strike. I haven't been out there in a few weeks but last time I was water levels were low and the algae was thick. It's not the easiest lake to fish when a good wind is clipping through either so have a few spots already in mind in case some areas aren't manageable. Bring your net, tools etc. and enjoy yourself out there....I'll be in the office.

[bonefish]

Like the others mentioned, your activity is going to be in or inside of the Milfoil - which is OK for big boat that will be hard to control. Last one I caught a few weeks ago on Waconia was due to my daydreaming and I accidentaly drifted over my target weeds and got on the inside of where I wanted to be:)

That millfoil is THICK so surface baits or spinner baits that work in weeds (Grinders, single rad dogs, slopmasters, etc) are going to be your best option.

[HooknHorns]

I fished there on the 18th from sun up to sun down. Thats the first time on that lake. The weather made tough conditions. I did get one mid-forties that come off at the boat at about 3pm. Spinnerbaits will go through the weeds better so alot of guys might throw those for that fact. It will be frustrating cleaning off the weeds but bucktails will still work. We even caught some nice bass on bucktails and swim baits. Let us know how you do. Good luck!!

[crix]

they like blades out there had a big one come unpinned a couple weeks ago on a spinner bait

[crix]

to be on the safe side bring your boat and offer to bring a few in at time to try their luck at the toothy ones

If theyre interested It would be a team build event itself

Oh yeah all the hotspot in the mn muskie book hold big fish!!!

[Shoot2Kill]

to be on the safe side bring your boat and offer to bring a few in at time to try their luck at the toothy ones

If theyre interested It would be a team build event itself

Oh yeah all the hotspot in the mn muskie book hold big fish!!!

I would call it teamwork if she just let us have the day off and I could go to any lake I want with my own boat. hahaha.

Thanks for the help guys...it will be interesting...the biggest obstacle I may have is getting the boss to get the pontoon on the spots and not just go out for a cruise. It would seriously be awesome to get one to the pontoon for them to freak out over though. haha.

If any of you are out there I'm sure we'll be easy to spot, come on over and have a beer! (or let me crawl in your rig so I can actually fish...haha!)

[marine_1]

Lots of weeds, and green water here. Work the Island should be easiest spot to find in a pontoon.

[Shoot2Kill]

Just returned from my "team building" day at the office. Haha.

Got on the lake at 10:30, my boss said I had till noon to fish muskies and then she wanted to fish sunnies after lunch...okay fine, her pontoon...what's a guy to do! We launced out of Lulas restuarant....wow....great food BTW.

I had a hot tip on a particular weedbed so we headed there since we had zero time to do any exploring! I am not kidding - it could not have been more than 12 casts and I had a SOW up on a Lil Darlin Shooting Star...she was nearly pushing water right behind it and I saw her from about 10 feet out with her nose right on the back of those hooks....she came right in and stopped right as I started the 8 and I sware to god she looked right up at me, thought for a second or two and then turned and vanished as fast as she had appeared....it was AWESOME. This summer I've seen one other fish in the same size category that I know was every bit of 50 and that one startled me so bad I didn't have time to think about it....this one I had time to process what could happen and honest to god she made me start shaking....haha..rookie! She was an absolute tank. Both of the other reps saw her..one of them didn't even fish, she just wanted to watch the bait every time I was bringing it in and she saw the whole show and loved it. The other rep just had time to see her turn and leave. I had to sit down after she left and calm down.....dang....all of that over a fish...I love it! haha!

I fished my butt off during my "aloted time" but nothing else...I was happy as could be at the follow on a new lake I'd never been on, the day was a complete sucess.

We had lunch....and then fished off the dock for sunnies....well...they did...I watched and kept the beer flowing.

Not a bad day at the "office".

Thanks for all the tips!