Crane Lake Musky, Wow!

[MNBIGBEAR]

Heres a picture from the Voyageur Sentinel paper. I wonder how many other fish like this are swimming in Crane and the other lakes around there.

[Hockey Guy]

That's a sweet fish. I know there are Musky in Crane but very few. The DNR report on the lake from 2002 netted one 1.5 lbs. Musky.

I even know some very experienced Musky guys that went up there for a week fishing for them and didn't even get a follow. They fished it hard because they were convinced that it was a secret Musky haven. Most of the fish you hear about are caught by people Walleye or Northern fishing.

Crane is fished pretty hard for Northern and Walleye and very few Musky are caught. I think there are more in the lake now but the number of fish per acre is still going to be way, way below any lake considered a "Musky Lake".

[walleye1957]

I seen this picture and my god, what a beast, Then looked at the name, it's like hey I know this kid. So I called Beau and he caught it on 10 lb test line and he is bummin a bit....he has the Musky down a Corcoran's in Hampton but $8.25 an inch is killing the kid!!He is waiting by his phone, he has the idea that someone will be calling to offer free taxidermy and Berkely calling for endorsements.I told him that's what he get's for not CP & R. But..to each their own!

[MuskieMojoTackle]

Quote:

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He is waiting by his phone, he has the idea that someone will be calling to offer free taxidermy and Berkely calling for endorsements.

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Methinks he will be waiting by the phone for a long time.

[buzzin for bass]

O.k. I know the following question has no absolute answer, but here goes anyway...how long would it take a 45 lbs. musky to turn into a 54 lbs. musky (i.e. state record)? I'm guessing at that size its only worry was old age and/or people. Or do you all think it was already at the top of its game? I'm just interested in general what everybody thinks about how big these beasts actually get in MN.

[jkrash]

It would take 2 Five pound white fish and a 3 oz Jake bait

[Silver Scale]

A fish like that may not get any longer but if it left the weeds and went out in the big water and started to feed on high protien forage like whitefish and tulibees instead of perch and small northerns in the weeds it could bulk up to be a record right before ice up, or maybe not....

[RK]

Hiya -

Always been some muskies in Crane from what I'm told. Knew a guy who used to run one of the mechanical portages up there and he said they'd see them from time to time.

Lots of places like Crane around - systems with extremely low density muskie populations. Offically there are 80-some lakes in MN with muskies, but in reality, it's a triple digit number.

As far as how big the fish might get - it's all a matter of genetics and math. Some fish have the genetic 'recipe' for large growth, some don't. It varies from population to population, and there are a lot of variables. Basically though, the larger a population of fish with high growth potential, the better the chance that an individual fish will attain maximum potential growth for that population.

If you ever want to read a fascinating study on muskie growth, go find a paper called "Growth and Ultimate Length of Muskellunge from Ontario Water Bodies" by John Casselman, Ed Crossman and C J Robinson. In the study they analysed growth rates and age from a bunch of different Ontario systems and calculated the potential ultimate size.

Reading this paper really made me think about how anglers percieve value of a catch based on size. We have an arbitrary standard - 50 inches. But on some bodies of water a 45 incher - even a 40 incher - is at the upper end of the potential size for that system. In terms of where the fish is relative to its population, catching a 45 is every bit the accomplishment catching a 50 is. It's all relative.

A huge digression here, but go find that study...

Oh - Baldy's right about waiting for the phone to ring offering endorsements and so on. Ain't gonna happen.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm