Tiger Tactics

[PDXFisher]

There are a couple of lakes close to me in Washington that had Tigers planted in 1996 (and the rumour is a couple times since). If you knew a lake only had Tigers, how would your approach change, if at all, vs. regular muskies?

They were planted to eat Pikeminnow (a trash fish in no way related to Northern Pike, (http://www.pikeminnow.org/ ) and apparently do their job very well. Studies have shown that 80-90% of captured Tiger stomach contents are the trash fish and not the Kokanee or Trout in the 14 or so lakes they've been planted in statewide.

So given that's what they eat, and that the reservoir is mostly very deep water, would you fish it any special way?

Supposedly the Tigers are in the 30-35lb range now, the state record of 31.25# is expected to be broken this year. Hell, it may already have been, but who wants to kill the fish?

[TurnUpTheFishing]

I like fishing tigers and fish several lakes that are stocked with tigers and have found smaller lures work the best. Ive thrown traditional muskie lures with little success, one on a topraider and one on a M&G spinnerbait. Most the fish I have caught came on smaller lures that you probably use bass fishing. Though on a different body of water this might not hold true...

If most the fish are preying on these pike minnows you would probably have success "matching the hatch". Use lures similiar in size and color to what they are feeding on. Since its a body of water stocked with trout it might be a wise choice to have a trout imitation. Stocked trout are easy prey, or so I hear.

If it is deep and clear water (im guessing if its a trout water) I would spend time trolling deep in the open water looking for suspended fish in the cooler water.

[PDXFisher]

There are two lakes. Lake Merwin is exclusively stocked with kokanee, which normally are mostly deeper than the tigers and like it much colder. There may be some trout incidentally, but I'm sure they mostly dine on pikeminnow.

The other, Mayfield Lake, is stocked with trout, landlocked Coho Salmon and also has bass. I tried Mayfield once and actually found a big cabbage flat there, but no luck. Too many wakeboarders everywhere. The vast majority of the lake is 40-120' deep, up to over 200'. Supposedly there is a huge drop in water temp after 6 feet, but no one could tell me what the temps were. Since they're both fed by rivers that are snow runoff and have rather large rivers coming out of them, they tend to stay cooler than lakes that have no flow. Some of the tigers have actually gotten out and down the river, surprising the hell out of the salmon/steelhead guys. Most people around here don't know what they are. A old guy in a bass boat asked me if I was fishing for bass, I had to yell "Musky!" three times before he believed me..."You fishing for bass?" "Muskies". "Bass?" Muskies." "Bass?" "MUSKIES!!!" "Musky???" He just shook his head and puttered away, saying nothing more.

On one lake in northern WA, Lake Curlew, they are having their best trout season in decades and give credit to the Tigers getting rid of the Pikeminnow and Tui Chubs that eat the small trout. That tells me that as long as there are things to eat other than trout around, that's what the Tigers prefer.

Since MN DNR stopped the Tiger breeding program, Washington has to find a new source for their Tigers. There was a proposal to breed Muskies in Newman Lake, about 6 hours from me. I hope it happens...

BTW, fishing reservoirs sucks. I lost a bunch of gear on stumps. Finding decent lures out here ain't easy, either.