muskie fishing vacation

[iceman16]

i have a week off in Oct and will be fishing muskies as long as i dont pull a moose tag. just wondering where some of you muskie nuts would go if you had a week to chase them? i was thinking mille lacs, leech, vermillion and LOTW. spend a couple days at each lake and if they are popping stay, no set plans. maybe head to WI. what would you do. thanks for info.

iceman

[Esox_Magnum]

Oct I stay home and chase the big girls, when I do travel it's to V, so far not alot of luck but not an easy lake to fish, still learning it and will figure it out but only having a week a year might take some time. If your just learning pick 1-2 close lakes and learn them first then apply what you learn to others.

[muskymaniac4ever]

Yeah i would choose one them lakes for sure, But i would just fish one of them for the whole week, should be able to figure out a pattern in a week. Tonka probably wouldn't be too bad of an idea either.

Now how about if you wanted to take a muskie trip in march april where would ya go? Cave Run?, Kinkaid? maybe Webster?

[brad coin]

Bring the shotgun anyways,,Oct can be tricky especially early OCT,,,you risk the possibility of running into turnover depending on the weather in the fall,,Mile Lacs however dosent turn over.

[50inchpig]

for sure, i'd stay on mille lacs for a week and hammer it

[guideman]

Lake Vermilion rarely has turnover until very late in October and it doesn't have what you'd call a typicall turnover. Only the main basin areas stratify, the rest of the bays don't experience the turnover. October is typically pretty good whether you are trolling or casting. The weather is always the bigest factor when going north to fish in the fall.

"Ace"

[guideman]

Hey Esox,

You might find Vermilion a little easier to figure out if you spent a day with a guide. Think about all the hours you have fished without much success, it might be a worth while investment to shorten that learning curve and get on some fish. JMHO.

"Ace"

[10,000 Casts]

for me it would depend on if I wanted to beat myself up and go after the state record or have a nice leasurely numbers trip or just fish new lakes.

If you want to go after a Hog, Mille Lacs is the place to go but you better have the boat for it.. Don't be surprised if you get skunked... Don't be surprised if you catch a 40Lber and see 3 more..

A sampler trip would be fun too, start on Miltona, then Big DL, then Mantrap, morning on Elk, afternoon on Plantangenet, then Bemidji, Leech and finishing on Alexander. All the lakes are easy to fish and if you really get into them, stay there.. Cheap motels and bars and hopefully lots of Muskies..

Vermilion because it's vermilion..

[iceman16]

thanks guys for the input. i really wanna go after some hogs this year. now that i have rig that can handle big water i wanna get into mille lacs and vermilion this year. and really study and get to know big water muskies. i have been fishing a lot the last couple years on eagle forest and very little on tonka. went out on mille lacs about three years ago with my dad on a weekend we should have stayed home. the weather was really bad and i didn't have the boat for the weather that weekend. thanks for all your info really appreciate it.

iceman

[Esox_Magnum]

For your rig Vermilion would be the better choice, not as rough as the pond, enough sheltered areas to get out of wind if needed. I run a 17' glass boat and works great on V but I would be leary of the pond or Leech in it. FYI I love V so might be a bit bias LOL.

[Muskiefool]

No mention of Canada? haha you could flip a coin on your first mentions and have the fish of a lifetime.

If your not acquainted with those lakes I would take Ace's advice and get a guide for a day or 1/2 at least. Those big lakes have a million spots you could fish for 10 days and never see a fish, but they look so good.

[iceman16]

i am starting to lean to the big V with getting a guide the first day i am there to learn the lake a bit and then go from there.

iceman

[Esox_Magnum]

Hey Esox,

You might find Vermilion a little easier to figure out if you spent a day with a guide. Think about all the hours you have fished without much success, it might be a worth while investment to shorten that learning curve and get on some fish. JMHO.

"Ace"

We see fish, thats not to much of a problem, had a few hooked first year up ther last year was tough. I would like to do the guide thing but never seem to have enough extra cash or my partner doesnt want to chip in and I'm not giving him my boat for the day and feel bad leaving him on shore LOL Maybe this year I'll have a little extra, my main struggle is night fishing.

[10,000 Casts]

Just make sure that the guide that you hire has been on the water the previous few days and is having some success.. I have hired 2 guides for Muskies..

First Guide - Mille Lacs, got his name off of here and he had good reviews, when we got to the access, he was just getting back from the TC and we were his first trip in about 2 weeks.. needless to say, we saw one little fish in a community spot and didn't learn anything and he tried to show us some pictures of fish his "buddies had caught out there..

Second Guide - Jason Hammernick, absolutely pounds the water every day all day.. Caught a monster, saw the state record and boated a fat 44. And now we can go to ML anytime in the fall and fish it like we know what we are doing..

BTW, we were supposed to go out a couple weeks earlier and he called us and told us that fishing was really tough and asked if we wanted to switch our trip and we did. That was a huge + in my book.

[iceman16]

Jason Hammernick is my first choice for a giude. ill be calling him here soon when i find out if i am getting a new job or not this summer.

iceman