Otter tail county muskie

[jts]

My uncle got a house on a small lake just recently in ottertail county. I was just wondering if anyone knows of any decent muskie or big pikes in this area. Several of the lakes i hear have a problem with those small snakes like star and crystal. Any help to avoid one of these junky lakes would be a lot of help for me since i'm new to these type of fishing. THANKS

[Gissert]

If you are going to chase muskies, West Battle is probably your best bet. Not a whole lot of muskie lakes in the area. One lake (I can't remember the name) in Maplewood State Park has muskies stocked.

For pike, Ottertail is my choice. Not much for numbers, but the size is good. There are special pike regs in place on Otter Tail now.

Check out the Alexandria and Detroit Lakes forums. There are muskie lakes in those areas that I am not familiar with.

You are correct that many lakes seem to have an abundance of small pike, but I would not consider them junky, just different. Not all lakes have the potential to produce big fish. I live on a small lake, and there are a lot of small pike. Yet, every year, some big girls are caught.

[whitewolf6647]

The one in Maple Wood State park is Beers lake. You may also want to check out Pelican there's a few monsters in that one.

[ellroy2]

Don't know about muskie. But as far as pike, OT Lake is pretty good. The size restriction on the lake is nothing under 30". My good buddy caught a really nice pike a few weeks ago on Ottertail. We were lindy rigging for walleye, but he set the hook really good so he was able to land it. If you are looking for a lot of pike, you might want to try a lake called Loon by Vergas.

[10,000 Casts]

West Battle is good but it is tough to learn, but there are some nice Muskies in there. My advice is to troll on the outside of the weed edges and along the breaks (alot of people like super shad raps). A good place to start on WB is throwing bucktails in 12-20 feet right in front of the wall. (in front of shoreline diner)then work your way down the south west side with jerkbaits)

Beers can be ok but mostly in fall.

Fish the east end of Pelican or open water troll it

Big Detroit Lake in Becker county is the best of all if you can handle the crowds, very easy to fish, lots of milfoil and cabbage. Throw purple or yellow bucktales in front of the holiday inn. (The best lake in the area is Big Detroit.)

Good Luck, I hope this helps,

John