Metro Muskie Tournament

[38poundbeauty]

How many of you are going to be fishing the Metro Muskie Tournament on Saturday?

[38poundbeauty]

Apparently no one! haha

[MuskieJunkie]

I will be but I just found out there are 400 people swimming in a race on Independence Saturday Morning. I have been planning on that lake for weeks, now we are less than 24 hours away and I have to find a new one to fish. SON OF A ......!

[38poundbeauty]

Fish it anyway and see if you can hook a 200 pounder. ha.

[Random guy]

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I will be but I just found out there are 400 people swimming in a race on Independence Saturday Morning.

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I hope none of them have a cut that is bleeding, they may have to swim faster then they thought. Dunna dunna dunna

[DitchPickle13]

I can already picture 6 VW's with yakima roof racks and peace stickers nosed into the boat and trailer spots in the morning. : )

[Random guy]

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I can already picture 6 VW's with yakima roof racks and peace stickers nosed into the boat and trailer spots in the morning. : )

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[mtreno]

man that really sucks - thought i had more to say about it but all i can think of is how that really sucks. do you kknow where there swimming from/to? maybe its ok..... work your bait right behind the smallest/slowest/worst swmming guy and maybe you will get a monster!

[MuskieJunkie]

Cars without trailers parking in the boat trailer spots is one of my many pet peeves about metro lake boat landings. Or there is this classic rookie move: "OK honey you just wait here on the dock and let the boat float above the ramp while I go take my sweet time parking the truck." Sorry for the rant and thread highjack.

[Random guy]

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Sorry for the rant and thread highjack.

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I have an idea... Boats ramp...why?

[MuskieJunkie]

Good idea Jonny.

[9joey1]

Yeah those peace stickers are annoying. Peace is so overrated...

[CommonSense Guy]

I say arm the world in hugs. Except us, we get to keep the B1 bombers.

[jda53]

Anyone out there know the officical results? We boated a 39" at Forest and lost a 40ish fish so we had nothing to claim and skipped the weigh-in. Pretty slow at Forest, but we talked to some guys at the landing that watched a guy pull out two 40's back to back, and he said they had caught four that day. A buddy of mine watched some nice fish being caught out of Indy. Looked on mnmuskietournament HSOforum and no results yet.

[DitchPickle13]

Yeah, there were 40 fish over 40" registered this year. The winner caught a 46" and 42" out of Forest. There were 2 different 50" fish caught and were only good for 6th and 7th place. There was also a 52" fish registered; I think it took 3rd.

We boated a 41.5" and a 38" and missed another one. By "we," I mean I netted 2 for my partner(MuskieJunkie). I'll just claim the "guiding" services. : )

A lot of guys were pounding the shallows/shorelines, and it appears that has worked for some guys. All 4 fish that have entered my boat this season have come suspended over 18-24 FOW.

[jda53]

Thanks Ditchpickle- Lots of fish, and big fish it sounds like. We've put 3 in my boat this year- all 3 likewise deeper, spent sometime last weekend and on tourny day throwing a fair amount of hair, not even a follow yet on the hair.

[Doonbuggy]

Wow, Saturday was an incredible day for muskie fishing and for the tournament. I was one of the guys who boated a 50" fish and finished 7th. I saw a photo of the 52" out of Waconia and that fish was a monster.

I don't know if it was the weather, the 542 contestants or what, but I couldn't believe the number and size of fish pulled out of metro lakes. The lack of pleasure boaters no doubt helped because of the cool weather, but it was a heckuva day and tournament.

I started out on Indy and the week before we found a new spot that we felt would hold a fish or two. Sure enough I got spit at 6:15am by a low 40" fish. That was our plan, catch one early on our #1 spot and then have the rest of the day to try to grab another one. I had blown it!

The shallows got pounded hard so we decided to change things up by trolling. I boated a 39" around noon, lost a big fish that we never even saw and then with less than an hour left in the tournament I bagged my biggest ever, a true 50" beast.

We didn't see the fish for a bit, then it surfaced by the boat and we knew it was big, but then the fish went vertical out of the water, like a marlin! We saw it's white underbelly and its gaping mouth as it tried to spit the hooks. I could not believe I was battling something so big. It wasn't a fish, but some huge creature! We finally got her in the net.

This was my first tournament and to see five fish, hook four, and boat two is unbelievable. I have never had a day like it.

Forest Lake evidently was on fire with lots of people losing fish and having fish that just failed to qualify. Quite a fishery and quite a day all around!

DB

[TurnUpTheFishing]

How is the winner determined on this tournament? Total length? number of fish? Im guessing these fish were released and just a photo used, but how did they keep people honest?

Ive never heard of this tournament before but I am a rookie when it comes to muskies. I think its cool that they have a tournament over the entire metro.

[strike indicator]

THE WINNER IS DETERMINED BY THE LENGTH AND POINTS SYSTEM

40"=10PTS 41" = 11PTS ETC.

TO KEEP IT HONEST YOU HAVE TO HAVE A WITNESS SIGN A WITNESS SHEET THAT VERIFIES LENGTH AND TIME CAUGHT ETC... ALSO ALL LEGAL FISH HAD TO HAVE A PHOTO. IT WAS FUN THIS WAS THE FIRST YEAR I FISHED IT AND CAUGHT A 40" OUT OF WACONIA.

[MuskieJunkie]

Doonbuggy,

How did they determine which 50" got 6th and which got 7th. It looks like you got shafted out of a vacation. Doesn't it kill you that the 39 you caught doesnt count? Lets see a pic of that 50.

[LunkerBaitCo]

Doonbuggy, were you trolling when you scored the 50? Shallow? Deep? Lure? Details?

[Doonbuggy]

The other 50" fish was the first one registered (of all fish) and if there was a tie the one registered first got the nod. Fair enough.

The shallows got hit hard so we figured perhaps the fish had moved deep so we figured we'd try trolling. Caught him on a phantom in 20'.

I had never trolled for them before, but I am a believer now! However, I lost one in shallow water and raised another one on a flat so they seemed to be in different areas.

P.S. - my boat does not have rod holders so you can imagine what it felt like!

I'll try to get a photo up.

DB