Minnesota River Musky

[smeese]

Are they in here? Rumors spilled about a guy catching them on the blue earth, and I found this person with pics of him there, how common would this be? Blue earth spills into minnesota so I assume it swan up the blue earth from there.

[smnduck]

I have caught a few pike but have never heard of muskie being caught.

[JRedig]

Is the blue earth connected to the waters the hatchery down there are on? That would be my guess.

[goblueM]

not very, especially since the guy on the blue earth kept his

[smeese]

He let it go, it was like 30 inches

[goblueM]

ah we're talking about different fish i guess

[Scott M]

There was one caught below the Rapidan dam in the Fall some time in the '00's. I've seen a newspaper clipping from the Mankato Free Press about it. Unsure how it got there, that's anybody's guess.

[smeese]

http://mankatofreepress.com/features/x519250158/Muskie-a-big-one-that-didnt-get-away/print

too bad both stories have a bad ending.......

[smeese]

Would these guys survive long term and stick around if stocked in the area rivers? Or just head up stream? I would assume the MN and blue earths improved conditions would help, but not sure how that would work.

[Scott M]

If they could inhabit the MN and BE, they would do so. Not the best conditions for a muskie to prowl in. Those rivers have a long way to go to be at the point at which they could harbor a stable muskie population. Stocking at this point would be a waste of fish, time, and money.

[smeese]

Kind of figured, just dreaming of closer waters......sounds pretty wet huh?

[hanson]

3-4 years ago, there were about a half dozen muskies caught on the Red Lake River in Crookston, MN. Couple were nice size as well, mid 40 inchers 25lbs or so.

Hard to figure out how they got in there but they were obviously surviving, and that water is as chocolate milk as the Minnesota River.

[Shawn Kellett]

Most of the rivers are historic muskie waters. It wasn't until we started adding dams everywhere that things started to change. I'm not that surprised that there's some being seen down there. They inhabit the Mississippi in Pool 2 in unknown numbers and it's connected to the Minnesota.

[Nick Kuhn]

Shawn is correct, and muskies have been known to move several hundred miles in the great lakes so going 50 miles up a river isn't a stretch by any means. I think of river muskies as preferring stained water, not muddy water. That's why they don't do very well in the lower Mississippi and Minnesota.

[BEEFEATER]

Ive seen several come out of the Mn River And its tributaries such as the sand creek watershed,various mill ponds and creeks, etc. Also have caught plenty of smallmouth bass in there. That being said there is no where close to a fishable population of either species in there.

[BEEFEATER]

Ive seen several come out of the Mn River And its tributaries such as the sand creek watershed,various mill ponds and creeks, etc. Also have caught plenty of smallmouth bass in there. That being said there is no where close to a fishable population of either species in there.

[brad coin]

hey guys wanna see something cool?? today 7-3,,if you go to Minnesota river at the Bloomington ferry bridge,,,cross over and go down path to where 169 passes overhead,,,the sidewalk is flooded its about 8-10 inches deep "could get deeper or shallower",,,the carp and catfish are swimming on the sidewalk between the slough and the river,,they look like torpedos crossing the sidewalk or salmon swimming up a river,,there constantly doing it has its like a little rapids,,my yellow lab had a blast chasing them on the sidewalk,,,dont know how long it will last if the water recedes,,,,,,sidewalk is flooded in a couple different places so go down to the area just east of 169 overhead,,,not musky but kinda fun to watch