Muskie Fanatics Needed! Please help

[b1gf1sh1]

answer to question number three. i'd like to see a statewide ban on keeping any muskies. none, zero. but i also need to be realistic. so, i would settle for a 50'' limit. a 40'' muskie is not a trophy anymore. mount a 45'' fish and it's sad and laughable at the same time. 50''s is widely considered the goal of any true muskie hunter. tiger muskie should stay the same if for no other reason than 95 percent can't breed anyway. just a thought. yes to muskie stamp. can't even fish on a designated muskie water with a lure over 4 inches or line over 17 pounds without one. heck can't fish a place that even has trout. but their requirments differ because few lakes will support them. but hey, 15,000 lakes and what? 250 lakes with muskies stocked? think that was the number last i checked. with the stamp you get a tag, like a deer tag. don't have your tag no keepa da fishy. only one fish per year and must register it. just like a deer. CPR (catch photo release) campaign on a massive scale to teach people proper fish handling. on all fish not just muskie. paid for from part of the stamp. just a thought.

[BID2]

I too support the stamp idea. However, It would get tricky. Example: Anglers who fish designated trout lakes need to have a trout stamp weather or not they are fishing for trout. So if an angler was walleye fishing on Cass or millaces, would they then need a muskie stamp even if they were not fishing muskies? Im not sure how that would work. It would be very controversial, to say the least.

[bubs]

I like the Idea of a muskie tag no tag no keep. as for question #1 I am slowly fishing less in mn and more in other places where you might see a few boats on the water. It costs more but there are way too many fishing muskies in the state for how many lakes there are with them in it. Even in the fall now you have to compete for prime spots. Try to be the first one on the north end of the pond: . when I started musky fishing we would go to indy on opener and there would be maybe 15 boats fishing for them and you would have some fishing for other speicies. I haven't fished indy on opener since We got out there at 12:00 am and left at 7:00 that was 2003 when we left there wasn"t a parking spot left. So yes I have changed tactics greatly. as to over fished lakes imo they all are in the metro and any that have a reputiation. We need more lakes stocked and more information given to other anglers about muskies what they actually do for a lake and how to handle a fish if you catch one. I think that the dnr sould make it 50 in state wide and have millacs catch and release only there is way to much presure on that body of water and there are alot of big fish being kept out of her.

[Write-Outdoor]

Thanks for all the great posts folks.

When I mentioned sleeper lakes, I was looking for lakes that might have been one time great muskie lakes but rumors were that it cooled down.

Big Detroit might be considered a sleeper lake by some.

In my opinion, a true sleeper lake is one that you could search for on this site and search for in the muskie books and never see mentioned.

So if you have an opinion about a lake that used to be great but is now considered slow that you feel like mentioning, go for it.

I'm not looking to ruin anybody's hotspot...just looking to help get information to anglers looking to get hooked on this great sport we all love!

[cjac]

Hi Ron,

Well, hardly a "sleeper" but I think Leech fits the description of a lake that is not regarded the same is in the past. Last year was tough for a lot of anglers. Plus, the tough walleye bite has swayed some away from going there for a multi-species trip or as a vacation destination.

Compare a map of Leech to Mille Lacs, ML is essentially a bowl, while Leech has all kinds of bays, arms, islands, etc. Both are over 100,000 acres, but Leech has far more "structure". I'd be very interested to see a comparison of anglers per acre between the two, especially looking at angler/boat density. For example, the north shore of Mile Lacs can look like a giant "congo line" of boats. Yes, it's a productive stretch across many miles, but how wide is that band of fish holding water?

In general, Leech doesn't always roll off the tongue when talking about today's "hot" muskie lakes.

Chris

[setterguy]

Chris - I was going to post the very same thing. Leech is one of my favorite lakes, I learn something new every time on the water. I love fishing rocks, and Leech has some beautiful rock piles, many that aren't on any map.

[Write-Outdoor]

Great choice....my thoughts exactly about Leech.

The current record comes from Winnie and I know that there are still muskies swimming around there but not quite the numbers like our other major MN muskie lakes.

Anybody consider Winnie a sleeper? It's no secret that it's a muskie lake so you aren't outting some crazy secret if you weigh in on this issue. Just don't give us waypoints and you can talk without ruining the lake! There's a lot of water out there.

[cjac]

Well Ron, I think this clearly proves your point.......I have not fished Winnie other than for late ice perch! Furthermore, I've not talked about Winnie muskies lately with anyone!

Chris

[Bemidjifisher]

I read through the whole post and couldn't believe that Winnie wasn't mentioned. It would be my #1 pick for a sleeper lake. I also know of one caught on Bemidji last summer longer than the state record, just didn't have the weight.

[10,000 Casts]

How can you call Big Detroit a sleeper lake? have you been out there? 3 years ago, yes now it gets absolutely pounded. But there are some sleeper lakes in West Central Minnesota.

Leech is a special lake for sure and it is under fished. Last summer was my first summer on the lake and by comparing what people tell be about the lake and what I see, it has certainly changed quite a bit. The muskies are there, you just have to find them and they aren't where you think they are. June and July were dead and I still can't figure out where they were, In August, all of a sudden they turned on for us and we had some unbelievable days. Leech is not a lake for a novice fisherman and thats what I like about it, it's big water and big wind.

IMO, Big Winnie doesn't have a fishable population of fish, I may be wrongbut I have talked to people that fish it alot and there expectations are really small, so small that I think that my odds are better elsewhere. Yes the state record is from there and yes walleye fisherman catch some amazing fish out of there, a 60"er rings a bell but, it just doesn't have a fishable populalation.

Other Sleepers...

I have heard of an old Logging pond Nw of Duluth that is supposed to be unbelievable, but I have never heard the name of it.

Rainy Lake is certaily a sleeper.

Jeez, any real sleepers that I know of, I just can't give away. Most of the lakes in Minnesota I don't consider them sleepers at all, not after the last few years.

[muskyjim]

I don't think winnie is considered a "sleeper" lake, afterall it is mentioned in the MN musky book. I think it's more of an "every once in a while lake". there are muskys in Winnie and some are big, there is just not a lot of em. it's a walleye lake that has musky in it. there are not a ton of musky anglers on it because there are not a ton of musky in it. plus look where its located, right next to 2 top class musky lakes. winnie is far from a secret its just that anglers have to put in a lot more effort to have a limited amount of success. this means sacrificing more time on their higher success lakes to fish winnie. i think more people want to spend their valuable time away from work catching musky not looking for them. this is what makes them drive by winnie to go to leech, cass, lotw, etc...

does this make it a "sleeper lake"? No, it's just a lower class of musky lake.

another thing, people are all worried about raising the min size limit to 50, 52, 54, 60". the dnr has already or is in the process of raising it to 48" on alot of lakes/rivers so lets just wait a few years and see how this change affects the fisheries. then after a few years reaccess the lakes individually.

Total catch and release? I don't know. like it or not, there has to be some sort of predation on every level of the food chain. that's what helps make an ecosystem healthy, right?

1. overfished lakes - vermillion & mille lacs

2. underfished or "sleeper" lakes - all rivers

[fishgutz77]

Way to get it started Ron!

1. Small Lake over presured = Sugar in Wright Co

Big lake over presured = Mille Laces

Muskies aren't like any other fish, so pressure doesn't detour me in the least. Iv'e had people pounding spots that I like and move in after them and boat fish on the first or second cast. the only thing that maybe pressure can spoil is the type of experience that you have, with muskies, for me it's always been

" don't expect much and you won't be dissapointed"

If you love to fish them, just keep hammer'in away.

2. Sleeper Lakes = Woman or Wolf. no records here but can be just what the Muskie junkie can use on a good day.

3. Muskie Stamp is a great idea to expand the fishery, but only on lakes that are over 2500 acres. this is a personal/biological/ecological thing I have my own reasons for not pertenent to the thread.

what we should be doing is restoring the original Muskie waters of the big rivers back to a decent fishery before expanding to any other lakes. this would offer more fishing opportunity for bank fisherman and small boat owners and river rats a great shot at a big fish from one end of the state to the other.

And this is coming from a guy who usually only fishes the big water. Again only my view. Great thread keeper up.

P

[MUSKY18]

Sleepers.....how about Spider and Planteganette?

[ptkane]

Dang! Someone had to mention Plantagenette! I was hopin' that one would slip through...

[Write-Outdoor]

Plantan is no secret!

I fished that lake for muskies a decade ago....it's hardly a sleeper!

Please keep posting on here if interested otherwise feel free to send me an e-mail message. Thanks to everybody who posted something constructive and informative. Like I said, there's nothing you wrote that a guide or baitshop wouldn't have otherwise given up. Being a muskie angler myself and member of Muskies Inc. there's nothing that I'd write that would potentially ruin a lake.