River Musky

[buzzin for bass]

In the Photo Board one of the pictures is a musky from the Mississippi. How would one go about fishing for musky in the river? If muskies are in the big miss, are they also in the Minnesota?

[FigR8'EM]

ive never fished the miss for muskies before, but from people i have talked to, i guess the best place to fish them is on the northern part, becuase it actually has some fishable numbers. Im sure there are muskies in the minnesota, but whether or not there are enough to fish is a differnt question. Im guessing the muskies are very few and far between.

Kano

[Random guy]

This is a topic that I am very interested in. I watched the classic Musky films with Al Lindner chasing "Prides of Muskies"(I love that line) on the river.Of course he was pulling fish out from under trees and behind eddies, it looked like a blast. I thought about getting ahold of a river guide many times to give this a try. I think it would be an awesome late fall approach for some nice fish. Trouble is there is some secret society that never speaks of river muskies. I would be willing to trade some of my guiding spots on the fabulous five for some river pointers.

[Stratosman]

I am pretty sure that footage was filmed on the Miss. in Brainerd. There are some giant muskies in that stretch and finding them in the fall can be relatively easy if you know what to look for. Just like you saw in the video. In-Fisherman has filmed more than one muskie video on that water.

[river rat316]

I think anywhere north of the Sartell dam you will find a decent number of Muskies, the only problem there is the river is real shallow in spots and is hard to navigate, especially in fiberglass boats, I would recomend not to try it

[Royce Aardahl]

Pretty safe travel from sartell dam up to the rice bridge. Just take some time to learn it. up to the royalton brige it gets nasty about a mile down from the bridge. After that with a prop is a big gamble when it's this low. I chase smallies all summer and caught a nice musky last saturday. a couple friends target them once in a while. I was told somebody got a 53 incher last week by rice but I didn't see a picture. good sorce though.

[Random guy]

I heard about a large fish by Rice also. Those river musky must be able to just sit in a area and chow down as baitfish come by in the current?

[buzzin for bass]

Sounds like there is lots of interest out there, maybe even some FMers are hiding some knowledge. I think we may have a perfect opportunity here for a little get-together. Even if we cannot find someone with the knowhow, maybe having a few boats go out at once would allow us to speed up the learning curve by comparing notes after a little experimentation.

[markkstanley]

There are musky in ST Croix and Mississippi rivers. Species was originally a riverine fish. I've caught a few between Sartell and Monticello. Wisconsin river also has some great spots. Problem is that it doesn't take much to overfish them. The muskies are a little more restricted when it comes to location in a river versus a lake. Hence the reluctance for those who know to share the wealth. I am not a river expert by any means but I caught mine throwing the usual lures in deeper holes and likely looking ambush spots. A good sized musky in current is a real gas.

[buzzin for bass]

Mark-

When you mention that the river musky are more restricted do you mean that with less area there are fewer fish to be spread between anglers or that the fish stack up in select spots and are therefore easier to beat up once you find them?

[markkstanley]

Muskies are fewer in number per acre in rivers and get more concentrated especially in typical fall low water. Has to do with suitable forage and need for deeper water. Same logic behind big smallies schooling up in fall. Only so many places to be. That's why fall is catch and release for smallies on the Mississippi. The few spots I know of on the Upper Mississippi that hold muskies aren't that large and a knucklehead fisherman could really do damage to the population. Wish Pool 4 had a musky population. With all that shad forage and lots of deeper water you could have a musky fishery that would rival any other body of water in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

[FigR8'EM]

I have fished the Wisconsin River many times before. There are some big fish out there but finding them and knowing when they are going to eat is totally different from fishing lake muskies. Fortunatly, I was able to fish it with my good college friend who lives right by the WI river. If you are going to go out there go SLOW or go with someone who knows the water really well! There are tons of stumps and unmarked hazards that could really do damage to your boat and tear off your lower unit. My buddy actually brings his video camera out with him to film people going way to fast through shallow areas and you can actually hear thier props being ripped off. Be careful if you are heading out to the Wisconsin river, or any river for that matter.

Kano

[buzzin for bass]

Mark and FigR8'EM-

thanks for the replies.

[Cooter]

I love river fishing for musky, spend more time on em than lakes. A good way to access those hazardous stretches is to float them. A little 14ft aluminum with trolling moter is all you need. Main motor is nice as you can motor back up the good spots and hit them again. I put the motor up in the shallow rocky stuff. You still are gonna hit some, but at drift speed its no big deal - unless you are standing up casting and don't see em coming