Minnetonka Reports

[musky5555]

I'm planning on heading out to Tonka Wednesday, and wondering how the fishing has been, water temps/lake conditions...

Thanks

John

[muskiemanAD]

My buddies that have been out there a lot recently have had success on twitch baits and fishing the side where wind has been blowing. Sounds like every depth has been seeing some action.

[musky5555]

Thanks for the info!

[JackPineGuy]

i put the trolling sticks away and am all in on live bait from here on. the actions been hot and heavy. 2 big pike today and 47 inch muskie and a forty inch. after a lack luster summer i gotta tell ya october could not have been better. trolling and live bait were the main methods. only got 2 fish all year on top water baits and one of those was a buzzbait which is kinda cheating. buzzbaits never fail.

[JackPineGuy]

right now the clear water on tonka is the place to be.for live bait

anyway. dont forget to reel them suckers in slow on the way back ta the boat cuz lots of times there may have been fish eying yer bait. also, in the ultra clear water i prefer to stay seated cuz the boat side fish are very leary. I had a lower forty just nock my split shot and rubber core weight 2 feet above the sucker and take off. im sure he seen me aswell. not ta worry, they can be fooled. just keep quit and be patient.

[musky5555]

I'm really not familiar with fishing with suckers. Do you bobber fish them, or drag them behind the boat?

It's funny how seasonal experiences can differ from one another. I consistently catch fish from early summer until early fall on Tonka. But once late fall arrives, I can get several follows in an outing, but very few that eat. And these cold water fish seem more than willing to follow around several times on a figure 8.

[JackPineGuy]

personally i still fish suckers with a bobber. that being said lots of guys drag suckers slowly behind the boat with bobbers or without bobbers.... I like to still fish areas i know have potential and wait them out. might wait 4 hours or so without moving or just move a slight bit in the area. after four hours ill possbly move to another area. i have caught a couple throwing a sucker out with a rubber core weight to feet above

the minnow just letting it sit off the botom with my bait clicker on like the catfish guys. i prefer the standerd cork method tho

[musky5555]

I might have to try that yet this fall. I still have a quick strike rig I was using to hang a sucker off the side while casting with a couple other guys in the boat. Never did have one hit the sucker, but I would definitely like to try that again with a third person in the boat.

[crix]

If your fishing the fall with no sucker then your doing it all wrong if I fish with someone else I always have 1 guy cast and one watch the sucker if there are 3 guys then 2 suckers 1 casting...4 guys 2 and 2 or 1 cast 3 suckers dragging till its too cold then all use suckers

I think we fish the suckers a bit different though I don't use a weight and use a slip bobber to control them from running too deep down also the bobber will slow the sucker when they run giving the muskie a chance to catch them... If the bobber doesn't slow them enough then clip their tails cause eventually they will run for the boat with a 50+ behind them and the ski will spook

I only will add a weight when fishing multiple minnows to change up the presentation a bit but only down 5-10 ft I drag them with my i pilot at .7 mph @ 12-16ft allows you to cover a lot of lake

this weekend we moved maybe 5 fish on baits and had 7 fish hit the suckers caught 5 of 7 so it was a good weekend