Bone Lake

[Grant Pearson]

I'm just wondering how things are doing on Bone Lake in Polk County. I'll be fishing there in mid October and am wondering where to start looking for muskies and maybe some walleyes. I'll be fishing with a friend who has yet to catch a musky, and would like to get them on one. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

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[Walleye Guy]

Bone has alot of muskies and I hear the size structure is improving with some bigger fish available. I don't have any specific spots for you however.

The walleye population on Bone is very low to non-existant. I would not count on having a big fish fry if you are planning to eat your walleye catch. Good luck!

[trimbelle22]

I have been fishing bone quite a bit this summer and it has been pretty tough. We had one trip where we boated 3 fish with the biggest being 41". Otherwise the fish have been few and far between. The lake gets quite a bit of pressure, I would suggest getting out on a week day if at all possible.

I dont want to give away too many specific spots, but fishing around the two big islands as well as the small islands marked by buoys on the north side are good spots. The south shoreline is also a good spot.

[Grant Pearson]

any lure suggestions for bone? Nothing specific, just something to get me going. color, topwaters versus bucktails, etc. Something to get me started and I can fine tune from there. Thanks

[trimbelle22]

i havent had a lot of success with bucktails this summer. I think those fish see a lot of bucktails. glide baits and jerk baits, or anything with an erratic motion tends to work best from my experience.

[Nick Kuhn]

I was out there yesterday. Saw several fish up in the weeds chasing baitfish right to the surface. I threw just about everything in the box in, over, and outside the weeds with little success. Had one follow on a top raider, but once it was within six feet it looked as though it figured out it was a bait and not dinner and did a quick 180.

For as active as they were chasing baitfish the fishing was surprisingly slow. tried downsizing to bass size baits to match what they were chasing and only managed a 20" northern (first northern I'd ever seen caught out of Bone). Someone forgot to put the pin in on their winch at the ramp, resulting in a boat on the ramp. That was the most eventful moment of the trip.

[trimbelle22]

thats interesting you caught a northern...i have never caught one out of there but i saw a large (35" or so) dead bloated one by the landing last summer.

i am thinking about trying bone this weekend. i might try the apple though now that all the weeds are gone. ill be sure to report either way...

[Nick Kuhn]

In about mid-June I pulled a 40 out of the Apple, but in 4 trips at various times since I haven't had as much as a follow (though they can be tough to see in that water). Fishing was difficult as the weeds were insane (more than usual this year I think).

I seem to have all my luck in the southern end. Do you spend more time north or south of Cameron Bridge (I think that's what it's called)?

Also my dad said he remembered the Apple as always having some northerns in it, but since I've been going with him the past 3 years we haven't caught a single one.