Why big water?

[PDXFisher]

Since I'll actually be able to fish big water this season, I'd like to ask why it appeals to people? Many of the lakes I've fished I would have had multiple fish days if they stayed hooked, many up close to 50 inches and a few over. I used much less gas and generally less hassle than I would on ML or Leech from crowds, parking, wind, etc.

Yet when I ask some Muskie folks where they like to fish, or places I have to try, they emphatically throw out Mille Lacs and Leech. So please tell me folks, what is it that makes the big water so much fun? How do you approach it differently? How do you fish Leech differently than Plantagenet or Mille Lacs differently than Minnetonka? Is it worth fishing this big water early in the season, or wait until July?

[50inchpig]

I have yet to arrive at a launch at ML where the sheer size of the water doesn't amaze me and get me pumped up. No matter how long you stare at the map and visualize things, it's always bigger than you can imagine. Muskies can be tough anywhere, but some lakes just don't put up a challenge, and fighting big water and scoring just feels good!

[PDXFisher]

I'd love to know of a Muskie lake that doesn't put up a challenge!

I did spend half a day on ML once. Got blown off. Yes, the size is incredible, but I feel that every time I go to the ocean, so maybe it doesn't hit me as hard as you inland types (though you can always go to Superior, I s'pose).

[MUSKY18]

I think that one of the big reasons that folks are drawn to the "big" waters of Mille Lacs, Leech, etc. is because of their proven track record of monster muskies. Yes, there are many lakes that will hold big fish, but the smaller lakes just can't put up the sheer numbers of big fish that these big bodies of water can. Just take a look at all the pigs that have come out of Mille Lacs in the last few years. A smaller lake can't produce that many monsters. Plus, with all the pressure fishermen are now putting on lakes for muskies, bigger water can handle more fishermen and still offer tons of spots. ALthough somedays on Mille Lacs it is so crowded you could walk from your boat back to shore and not get wet. But like I said, when it gets like this, you can always go out to another spot on the lake and fish where it is less crowded. As long as these lakes keep producing the numbers of monster fish, I feel that the masses will want to go there, heading out for the chance to catch a fish of a lifetime.

[DHanson]

The state record is in Mille Lacs. It will be broken this year, if not, the following year. I am pretty confident about that. Also, small lakes tend to get boring to fish when you hit them often. Mille Lacs has its community spots, but it would literally take years on the water to really learn the lake. You can always go to the community spots and see fish, but its a different story to get them to bite.

[b1gf1sh1]

i've fished mille/leech/gull/vermil/pelican, and the time it would take to get to know those bodies of water requires alot of time. personally i'm nethier able or even willing to put that kind of time into those lakes. there a long way away from me. i fish almost every day in the spring thru ice up.

that said, if i lived near one i'd be there alot. everyday probly. in the metro theres few choices for bigger bodies of water. peppin is a good sized body with all the backwaters included, a person could fish that and never get bored, and there's quality fish to be had. the populations of fish are constant and never needs stocking, although if your going to eat it's not a really good choice. then minnetonka if you can fish inside the week and not the ends. eating these are iffy too being heavily populated with green lawns and plenty of fertilizers.. then the mississippi river with it's miles and miles of water, eating unless you go north is inadvisable.

the st. croix river is about as big a water around here and it's only 12 miles away from me. so that's my choice. one problem really is the traffic on the ends but i've learned to adapt to that over the years. another problem is after fishing the croix i've pretty much been turned off to anything small because as you said Hanson ''small get's boring''. so be warned all who enter big waters. you may never fish a small lake the same way again if you spend too much time on big waters. a plus to fishing lakes like say mille/leech is the sheer size makes reading that small lake a cake walk in comparison. like WBL for example. after one of those lakes( WBL would fit in a small bay there) run and shoot is a whole lot easier. again, just beware.

[Muskiefool]

Leech is like going home for me, I just love, it also the fact that 1 Leech fish is is the equivalent of 5 fish anywhere else, it ain't easy, all are tough but Leech is another story all together.

[b1gf1sh1]

 Quote:

Leech is like going home for me, I just love, it

so do ever invite total strangers to mabe sleep on your couch for a few weeks or so? just wondering.

[PDXFisher]

If I were to try to fish the St Croix for Muskies, where would I launch from?

Generally, in the small mount of time I spend in Minnesota relative to y'all, I'm trying to C&R as many fish as possible. You all make it sound like the little lakes are just too easy for ya. The little lakes are plenty hard for me still. Sounds like I'd be smart to get a guide for a big lake, which I'm pretty much done spending my money on. I know I could just pick a bay on Leech and concentrate on that. Of course, I would like to pick a good bay.

[cjac]

While it can be intimidating, big water is fun.

Take Vineland Bay on Mille Lacs, that bay alone has weed flats bigger than my entire "home" lakes. I can spend an entire day in one area and just scratch the surface. Wahkon Bay is like a lake on it's own.

Fun stuff, a milk run on Mille can cover miles. Plus, the idea of a mid 50s fish is a rush in itself.....

Don't know much about the Croix outside the Afton area, hopefully that'll change this year.

[AWH]

For me, I fall along the lines of what DHanson alluded to. I tend to get bored on the smaller lakes. For someone that is just looking to pick a lake with plans to hit it for just a day or two, I almost always suggest smaller waters. They just take a lot less time to learn and are usually easier to nail down a pattern.

Aaron

[Muskiefool]

 Originally Posted By: b1gf1sh1

 Quote:

Leech is like going home for me, I just love, it

so do ever invite total strangers to mabe sleep on your couch for a few weeks or so? just wondering.

LOL the stranger the better, as long as they're female, loves to cook and clean is a plus but not a requirement, any bay has fish on Leech, the key is passing over the most perfect spots that will never hold a fish no matter how much you wish they would be or should be the spot on the spot, that's where a lake like that is best approached with a guide for a day first, to eliminate unproductive water.

The key to Mille Lacs is similar to walleye fishing, go where all the boats are HAHAHAHA, not 100% but close.

[b1gf1sh1]

 Quote:

If I were to try to fish the St Croix for Muskies, where would I launch from?

theres alot of places to launch on the mn side. the boomsite above stillwater is ''most of the time'' a good launch, just durring shallow water times if you don't know it stay away. a guy could spend alot of time trying to find a way out. really the best place for a new guy on that river is Beanies, just north a block of the 94 bridge. it's 12 bucks for 18' and up and 10 bucks under 18'. baits right there, munchies, and you can get some good info if their not too busy to talk. really nice launch too. kind of the middle of everywhere you can go on that part of the river too. so that's where i'd go. nice safe place to park too. never launched at bayport but others may know that for you. hudson has a pay lot or two also. i do it at beanies when i'm going down or want to fish there more, and stillwater if i want to stay up more. as far as guides you could hook up with one in the st croix forum. lol i can't wait for next week end... or the next??? sheesh. global warming, global shmorming.

[hanson]

I think there is a mystique, or something very seductive, about fishing these classic, big water muskie lakes. Leech, Cass, Vermilion, Mille Lacs, Minnetonka, Lake of the Woods, etc.

Why do walleye anglers lust over Mille Lacs and Lake of the Woods?

Why do duck hunters love the flooded timber of Arkansas or the prairies of North & South Dakota?

I think these lakes have "something" that just draws fisherman to them.

[Tim_Anderson]

Truth be told, Mille Lacs is not always so "fun" to fish. I've had many a dry run out there. I know for a fact I could have had better action somewhere else. The wind beats you up, and the fish mess with your mind. So often, they just don't behave like muskies do in other lakes. They become conditioned, and feeding windows are often very short. Often, they only seem to bite at night. Fishing pressure gets worse and worse every year, from the landings to actual fishing spots. Sometimes, I really really HATE that lake.

But this is what keeps me coming back. 55 inch fish each of the past two years. Every forth or fifth fish we boat is 50 inches or more. Many, many big fish seen, and a few even bigger than 55 inches. There's always that "what if" every time you go out...you never really know what you're going to get. There's not many lakes out there you can say that about. When we're boating fish, I love Mille Lacs!

What I've just described to you is an obvious love/hate relationship I have with this lake! And it's not just me. All of my hard core musky fishing junkie partners (how's that for a description) feel exactly the same way. But you know what? We all keep going back.

[PDXFisher]

Proximity to your own lodging aside, if you had to pick Leech or Mille Lacs, which would it be? I've been hearing about ML being reduced to mostly "nite bite" only for a while now. Is Leech similar in that regard?

[DHanson]

Leech is under fished in my opinion. You will not find the crowds on Leech like you would on Mille Lacs. If you want to fish Leech, I would consider hiring a guide at least the first day. IMO, Leech is a lot harder to fish than Mille Lacs as far as finding where fish are located. It's usually not tough finding muskies on Mille Lacs....it's getting them to bite is the problem. I only spent one full day on Leech last year and no offense to the Leech lovers out there, but it was the most miserable day of fishing I had all of last year. I guess that explains why I never went back for a second trip, lol. Started fishing an hour before sunrise and quit an hour after dark and we saw 3 muskies all day with one being agressive at boatside but none hooked up. Also, the resort we boated at was a joke. One of the guys that worked at the resort wanted to beat me and my partner up for "pulling the boat out of the water too late (like 11 pm) and being too loud". After yelling and swearing at us for over 15 minutes telling us he was going to kick our you know what, we luckily escaped the scene with no fight.

[b1gf1sh1]

 Quote:

"pulling the boat out of the water too late (like 11 pm) and being too loud". After yelling and swearing at us for over 15 minutes telling us he was going to kick our you know what, we luckily escaped the scene with no fight.

lol. those Walker boys?? heard they bark but don't bite. i've been up to leech three times all different shores for some perch/walleye action. got plenty of fish and had a great time. might never go again but if i do i'll make sure i'm in at sunset,or sooner.

got a question for you hanson? i have a trick i use on the st.croix sometimes when i raise a fish. don't know if it's as feasable on mille because i know most muskie fishing happens way out, but here it is. when i get one interested near shore and it's just not taking, i park my boat a little away from where i raised it and walk back and cast from shore. does'nt work everytime but in the past i've had fish come up for day's and not get them, and they hit this way. i'm thinking it's the angle comming from deep to shallow not shallow to deep or at a constant depth, weird but it works for me. i only do this when it's a pretty nice fish, mabe 46''s or so. 'course on the croix smaller one's are more like northerns and usually just hit. ever tried this? just a thought.

[DHanson]

Sorry to take the thread off topic, but I'll answer your question. When fish (muskies) have been heavily pressured and have seen every lure on the market over and over....they become very conditioned. The average muskie fisherman will cast from deep to shallow.....very rarely shallow to deep. These conditioned fish IMO....pick up on that also. I actually quite often cast shallow to deep because of the fact that it is a different angle the fish are not use to seeing. There have been times that is the only way I can catch a fish. I also like to cast a lot deeper water than the avearage muskie fisherman. I may cast in 20-30 FOW depending on the lake of course.

The resort was not in Walker. It was on the south east side of the lake and I can not remember the name of the resort. I don't know if that is a good or bad thing. However, I do know that I will never go there again as I was yelled it in my ear to "never come here again". The guy was very drunk and it didn't matter to him how nice we were to him about the situation. It was a very strange place, a place you just don't know if a guy is going to pull a gun out on you. I have never in my life been so confused, scared, nice, and angry at the same time.

[PDXFisher]

 Originally Posted By: DHanson

Sorry to take the thread off topic, but I'll answer your question. When fish (muskies) have been heavily pressured and have seen every lure on the market over and over....they become very conditioned. The average muskie fisherman will cast from deep to shallow.....very rarely shallow to deep. These conditioned fish IMO....pick up on that also. I actually quite often cast shallow to deep because of the fact that it is a different angle the fish are not use to seeing.

As long as it's Muskie learnin', it ain't off-topic.

I've actually been doing this often after a guide had us do it. He called it "inside out" casting. We had much more Pike action that way, for sure. Haven't done it enough to really assess Muskie effectiveness, but I believe it's probably advantageous

[Muskiefool]

 Originally Posted By: DHanson

I only spent one full day on Leech last year and no offense to the Leech lovers out there, but it was the most miserable day of fishing I had all of last year.

Amen LOL

[cjac]

Too funny about Leech, that was a familiar response last year!

On the flip side, I'm still learning more about subtle little spots, edges, bottom composition, etc. on lakes less than a few thousand acres I fish a lot. Some of the lakes are less than 500 acres really....

[SJonesi]

Live and die on big water.Maybe too many reruns of the "Deadliest Catch" for me this Winter, but there is this romance that I can't deny.I read what Tim wrote and couldn't agree more, but fishery aside, there's something about the size, wind, and waves.I look at it as a challenge every day, both mentally and physically. If I can handle everything SHE throws, I can handle anything.On the water and off. Oh, and a world class fishery too??? I'm all in! Steve

[10,000 Casts]

Dhanson,

Sorry to hear about your launch experience. I have launched at both Trappers landing and Huddles quite a bit and we never had a problem. Stoney Point launch is also a good option.

For me, Muskies are Muskies no matter if it is a 200 acre lake or a 100,000 acre lake. I just want to fish. As already stated, a trip to Mille Lacs is fun because of the chance at a 50" fish. I also like the fact that in the same day you have 100's of options from cabbage to rocks to Mud from open water to bays ect. Alot of smaller lakes it seems like we are just fishing the weed edges on the shorline breaks. People are going to go where the most muskies are and right now, it is pretty obvious fishing is pretty good on Mille Lacs. A valid chance at the state record doesn't hurt either.

Big lakes = Big forage Bases = Big Muskies = Big Fishing Pressure