Mille Lacs Muskies

[wahoo]

I fished Mille Lacs this winter with the new relaxed restrictions on Northerns. Saw nothing at all except one perch AND a very large Muskie in two days. Angling with 12 inches suckers. The Muskie took interest but i did not wish to screw around with it and possibly hurt it so pulled my bait up. I have fished over 50 years thru the ice and have landed(and released) Northerns up to 30 lbs. (In MN and Canada.) This was, however, the largest fish I have seen thru the ice. I was fishing a spear hole(not spearing but love to watch). The hole was 4 ft long and about 2 ft across. It was larger than 4 ft probably another 4 inches, and huge girth very large. So, what is the largest Muskie caught on Mille Lacs? A gorgeous fish.

Thanks.

[tolle141]

Largest I've seen have come from Jason Hammernick of Muskie Breath Guide Service

https://scontent-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...amp;oe=559427A3

There was also this dead one this year

The muskies in that lake are probably one of the DNR's greatest achievements.

[MuskieFever]

Mille Lacs has some absolute freaks. Musky fishing has been tough out there the past 5 years. Have fish moved to mid lake structures? Have a lot of fish died from the musky boom or old age? Is it an over abundance of baitfish? I don't know.

[Jeff13]

There are fish in the lake that are so big people don't talk about them on the Internet, because if they did no one would believe them. Super tankers in that lake!

[pushbutton]

Have holes five ft apart apart and swear have almost seen head to tail....even jumped up and borderline eeeked and danced like a little girl when one biggin caught me off guard when it sauntered up to check out the transducer mere inches from my foot......

[fish_hunt_guy]

dam I know there are some super tankers in there Iv'e seen them myself. My question is why do they get so big on Mille Lacs at least when it comes to MN lakes? I know there are some monsters in other lakes including Leech, Vermillion, LOTW, etc, but it seems on average they get even huger on Mille Lacs. Why? Is it the most fertile water acre for acre to support this?

[mainbutter]

Age, environment, genetics, and of course there are the food sources.

I was astounded at seeing the sucker spawn there a few years ago, just incredible how huge it was. Having a forage that can consist of tullibees and suckers has got to do good things for growth rates.

[pushbutton]

Not much competition for that food source either. The large pike population density has never really been that high....there will be even less competition after this year.

[fish_hunt_guy]

Ya I forgot about those suckers. We spear a few every spring in the creeks and ya there are some big ones! That and the tulibees seem to run on the big side on the pond too. Makes for some big predator fish. I wonder where those suckers go during the rest of the year in the lake. Do they cruz around in big schools out in the basin? I wonder