Deer Lake and Spider Lake (Itasca Co)

[noturfault]

I'm fairly new to muskie fishing and have yet to catch one. I am fortunate enough to live in Northern Minnesota and have my summers free for the most part, but with a young child I can only fish between daycare drop off and pick up (so between 8:30 and 2 roughly). Not the most ideal time of day, but I can't tell the wife after being free to do whatever I want all day that I'm going fishing when she comes home from work.

I have fished both Deer and Spider several times over the last couple of years. Deer is large, very clear, with lots of what looks like good places to fish. It has a reputation of being a good muskie lake. Spider is nothing like Deer it seems - not as big, clear, or deep, and tons of weeds. It also does not have a reputation of being a muskie lake, but apparently there are some there.

So how do I fish these lakes and try to find some success, especially during the morning into very early afternoon? What lures and tactics? If anyone has any specific info on these lakes it would be much appreciated!

[Musky Buck]

1 tip if you can see the sun go to spider.

[mainbutter]

Late morning through early afternoon is a perfectly fine time to musky fish. My sample size is small, but 9-10 AM sure has been good to me a few times up in Canada.

[tearin' lips]

I have never fished a musky lake in Minnesota. I always fish in Ontario because there are many lakes within an hour or so drive from the falls. I have begun to find out that time of day isn't really an issue. Even fishing clear lakes like Manitou, most of our muskies have come between 9-5 this year. Playing the moon rise and moon set are good times of the day to fish. So I would say just go for it, if thats the time that you can get out on the water, then I would take advantage of it.

[Nick Kuhn]

One thing I've noticed on this forum is people making waaaaaaaaaaay too big of a deal about water clarity. I fish lakes that range from seeing cribs in 20 feet of water to "can't see a bright pink cowgirl 1 inch under the water it's so green" and honestly fish bite mid day on both. Clear lakes you just generally want the deep weed edge, whereas dirty lakes you can work right over the top of a weed bed.

[Capt. Quicksteel]

I've spent quite a bit if time on these lakes. I had a cabin on Deer. It's a better muskie lake than Spider most of the time. There are weed beds all over with a well defined shallow and deep edge. Because it's so clear the deep edge can really be down there! Also the bays like Sunset have lots of weeds. You can fish them during the day and do just fine. I use crank baits and deep running bucktails such as Giant Killers. Just learn to count them down a bit and run them deep. There are also long edges you can fish by trolling. Some are weed edges and some drop offs. There are deep reefs that I troll with very deep running cranks.I have also caught fish by casting to shallow reefs like in any other lake. Deer is a complex lake as far as structure is concerned so you can fish all summer trying places. My best colors always had some silver, such as black and silver or yellow and silver or some kind of natural but I didn't really experiment too much. Keep on fishing and you will do fine.

[fishuhalik]

I've only fished deer once, never fished spider for muskies. From the guys that I've talked to that fish deer alot for skies, it sounds like the deep water bite is best. If you have the equipment, I'd focus there. Find schools of tullies in 60-100', then look for big marks underneath and outside the schools. Or just try trolling a deep-diver through open water if you don't have the right gear.

That being said, the one fish we did get on deer was caught on a xrap in the middle of a blue-bird day in 6fow after we gave up on the muskies and went to smallies...

[ZebraMussel33]

Fishuhalik,

Are you saying those guys CATCH muskies that are underneath the 60'-100' tullibee schools? Or did you mean troll the open water and focus on areas where the tullibees are (which is generally 60'-100') but not neccesarily get your lure that deep...

If you do catch the muskies out of that deep of water, what is the mortality rate? I would imagine it has got to be close to 100%.

I have never heard of this tactic so that is why I'm asking.

Zebra

[Capt. Quicksteel]

I think he meant the water is 60-100 feet, not the fish. The fish go down to the thermocline or get out of the light.

[Greg Clusiau]

Try Moose Lake. I've done well there, guiding a few to there first musky ever. On Deer, I've done well in the fall, pulling deep-diving cranks in the basin areas. Caught five one day there, lost another good one. Spider - it seems like it's better than it used to be. Another to try is North Star.

[Musky hunter 82]

I grew up right next to Deer lake. If you want a good shot at a musky and are not worried about the size try Moose, and Little Moose (my brother and I caught 10 skies out there one day, the biggest was only 32" but still fun and no pressure). You can also try Spider, North Star, and don't forget the Mississippi and the Prarie river systems. I pulled in a 50 1/2" out of the Rivers up there. If you want any other info. send me a message and we can talk off this site.

[Gordie]

I would also consider little moose just down the road from Moose I was fishin pannies there a couple weeks ago and had a 40 incher grab one of my sunnie on the line fought it for a bit saw it then it let go. also watched a couple guys trolling for them and they seemed to do alright

[fishuhalik]

just to clarify, yes, fishing about 30ish ft down over 60-100fow