Weekend reports

[50inchpig]

keep looking shallow, especially with the cooldown expected this week. if i'm shallow i'm throwing surface baits, but blades and jerk-baits will probably get it done too. look for weedflats, same stuff you fish during summer, just move up, sometimes WAY up.

hoping this will last until about mid october and then i'll expect it to change day to day. usually when i start seeing only smaller fish shallow i move back out. nothing is set in stone though. one good thing about fishing shallow water, other than it's fun, is it usually doesn't take long to figure out if fish are up there or not.

[bonelach]

I hit White Bear for a little bit on Saturday and moved one nice fish in about 12 to 14 f o w. Then I couldn't take the 45 other boats chucking musky baits so I left empty handed. Sunday I hit Owasso and stuck two, 39 and 44. Wish I would have had more time but fatherhood/husband duties were calling. The fish were pretty active, raised several others and had one take a wack at the 8.

[Dkoy]

What has worked for me recently was smaller profile blades (less weed dancing) and shallow. Helidawgs has proven themsevles also. Work what 50inchpig noted, same transitions but shallow. FYI keep that 8 working atleast 3-4 rounds, lost 2 high possibles because freakin weeds ticked me off or maybe it was lazyness. Just when you least expect a fish and ponder moving. Learned my lesson and finally tagged the 46.5 after about 5 long deep sweeps late sunday. I'd say don't give up, they are starting to eat.

[10,000 Casts]

Friday, I walleye fished and it was a little slow but we did get a few.

Sat, We saw fish but no luck. None of them were super hot but some nice follows.

Sun eve, I went out and the only thing that I threw was a Pink Pink Double cowgirl. I boated 1 in the 44" range and raised the biggest fish that I have ever seen. She was all of 54-55" with massive girth. I raised her twice on back to back drifts. Both times she was almost touching the bucktail and when I would start to oval (to big to 8) she would just turn around and swim away. It's on a spot that we have fished pretty hard for the last month and have only seen smaller fish. I hope the big gal has taken up residence for the fall!

[propster]

A little tougher fishing for us this weekend. High skies, high pressure, little wind, and lots of boats. Did manage two fish boated, 2 hooked, including a four-footer, that let go, and several follows. Most interesting was something that happened yesterday. Casting a jig on a deep weed hump I felt a tic, set the hook, and said there's one. Not big though. Then it felt heavy and wasn't fighting, like a load of weeds on it. Then it felt light again and still no fight. I pulled it in and here's this pike, with a big musky swimming along with it. Gashed open, the pike is basically dead in the water and has very little fight left in him, which is I think why the musky didn't grab him again. But he hung around for at least ten minutes, while Hunter figure-eighted the kitchen sink at him. He went around on a dawg several times, and a couple on a cowgirl, but wouldn't eat any baits or hit the pike again. And the loon got real friendly. His favorite baits to follow are the shallow invader and jigs, but if this one is any indication, they don't like beef jerky or candy.

[b1gf1sh1]

lol. awsome. just goes to show how big you really can go, huh? what is that pike 22-24''s?

nice looking 'ski too.

[cjac]

That's a crazy pike photo......I can't figure out what sliced like that. Naturally I'd assume the muskie did, but the marks are far more of a slash... Who knows what goes on down there.

Regardless, very nice photo of your son with a nice fish. Great pic!

[propster]

I'm theorizing that the musky grabbed the pike and I may have pulled it away from her, which is when she tore the pike open, or she may have done it on her original hit, though if she didn't want to let go I probably wouldn't have been able to. We measured the pike - between 26 and 27 inches! Yeah, don't worry you're throwing too big a bait:) The musky we guessed at 46-48".

[Dkoy]

very nice fish. grats!

[DHanson]

Nice fish Dkoy! I like the release pics almost better than holding the fish. Good releases!

[Rmac]

I decided to hit some west metro lakes last weekend and had some pretty good action. With high skies I started tossing some bulldawgs in deeper water. After a few lazy follows, I nailed 3 on 10" jake in about 18 fow. Crazy, this is the first time in a long time I consider myself a lucky fishermen. I happened upon some fish in a great pattern and the payoff was 38", 42", and a new PB 49".

[JRedig]

Man, lots of great reports here, I love fall!

[HugoBox]

Dkoy - I love the release shot where you can tell the fish is soaking you with water.

Keith - nice picture of the pike. That's pretty good to have the muskies trined to filet them for you as well.

I'm going to ask the DNR to push the duck opener back a week so I can chase skis a bit longer!!

-erik

[Huey]

I hit White Bear for a little bit on Saturday ... Then I couldn't take the 45 other boats chucking musky baits so I left empty handed.

This is a bit off the subject, but why is White Bear crazy with muskie fishing pressure this year? It seems like it doubled since last year.

Congrats on the good wknds of fishing. I'm totally jealous. I haven't gotten to fish since labor day. I still enjoy reading the reports. Thanks.

[JRedig]

Originally Posted By: bonelach

I hit White Bear for a little bit on Saturday ... Then I couldn't take the 45 other boats chucking musky baits so I left empty handed.

This is a bit off the subject, but why is White Bear crazy with muskie fishing pressure this year? It seems like it doubled since last year.

I'm with you guys, it's crazy this year. I've sworn that lake off for a while, too much activity. It paid off [PoorWordUsage] good to go exploring elsewhere last weekend!!!

I'm curious too why so many out there, my guess is gas prices (not leaving town as much) and it's the most easily accessible clear water muskie lake on the east side of the cities.

[cjac]

Gas prices, prior success, internet reports, increased popularity of muskie fishing, and on and on and on.

Ramsey Beach parking was basically full Sat AM. Add that to the Manitau access, residents, and the sailboats, and it's a three ring circus.

I'm a guilty contributor, heading there from Maple Grove. I grew up on that side of town and am simply more familiar with the lake than Indy, Wac, and 'tonka is still off my list 'til at least October.

[Rmac]

I hear ya, That lake has been ridiculous. It paid off for me to go west. Wake up a half hour earlier, drive 20 extra miles, not that bad when your catchin fish.

[cjac]

There are other options as well.....

Clear lake is just up the road, far less pressure and has a decent tiger population. 30 miles up I35 and there is East/West Rush and Cross Lake.

Options to consider other than dodging sailboats on WBL......

[cjac]

Forgot to mention, my post-weekend report was a $200 bill for a clogged fuel injector.... Could have been worse, but $200 could have also funded a good weekend somewhere.

I changed plugs, did the routine maintenance stuff, but it sounds like the culprit may have been a bad batch of gas.

[Rogerio1]

I hear ya, That lake has been ridiculous. It paid off for me to go west. Wake up a half hour earlier, drive 20 extra miles, not that bad when your catchin fish.

agreed. I've run into minimal trouble with crowding by launching earlier everytime

[propster]

Rmac, way to go on the 3 fish day. Gotta love 'em, they don't happen often enough

[bonelach]

I'm not sure what the big draw is to White Bear. It happens to be only a couple miles from my house, so I've spent a lot of time out there. Over the summer I couldn't wait for September due to all the heavy boat traffic. So come September I go out there and nothing has changed. If anything, there was less recreation balanced out by more fishermen. Oh well, Forest Lake is not to far up the road, not to mention Hairy Sparrow, Owasso, Eagle, St. Croix, ect... Plenty of options for us to choose from. I always hear good things about Indy but never been out there. That's a lake I would like to get to know sooner than later.

On a different note... I went out yesterday on Owasso and tried the shallow water thing for a while. I moved one low 30 after about an hour and a half so I decided to go back to my comfort zone of 10- 20 feet. Slow rolled a cowgirl and quickly nailed a 45. It was an awesome fish, not the thickest in the world but had one of those huge gator heads.

[Huey]

hairy sparrow = bald eagle?

I don't get the draw of WBL either. There are nice fish in there, but it usually a tough lake to actually land a fish (at least for me). Some days I see a lot. But in terms of fish in the boat WBL can be stingy.

BTW, I was on Bald Eagle tonight. I blanked, but it was great to be out on a quiet lake again.

[rodmaker]

Have you ever trolled cranks, or snells with big suckers??? (on Owasso) If so what depths would you concentrate on??

I may have a few hours Sat afternoon to give this a shot.

[Crestliner Rog]

Got back Sunday from my fall musky hunt near Hackensack (my wife and I rented a cabin for a week,(on a Small clear lake) she Quilts- I fish). I landed a 41", best fighting fish of my life. Note I have only caught a "few" muskys so far. The 41 incher I landed was the only repeat follower, she took it on the figure eight ten minutes after the first follow. I backed off and waited as long as I could, then came back and finished the deal. Caught her on the inside corner of a major point, with a twin gold blade small black bucktail. There was a mixture of rock and some good patches of cabbage.

I only had one other on the line during the week, it slammed a Manta but shook it free in the first few seconds of the fight. After the initial hit & hook set, all I could feel was four "strong" head shakes, then it was gone. I would like to have gotten a look at her. I have had a fair amount of action on Manta's but have had a hard time closing the deal.

I had a couple other swirls and a half dozen follows. Everything else seemed like one timers... like they were roaming or something. Maybe I am not giving enough casts (5-6) to the repeat visits of sighting locations, but I would have a follow then nothing for the rest of the week at the GPS location.

Water was clear, 63F, the coontail etc. were laying down for the most part. Some of the cabbage was bright green but most was a little tainted. There may have been some standing weeds on some of the deeper humps (mainlake), but I didn't find the spots til late in the week.

I spent 85% of the time casting, while the others on the lake seemed to be trolling almost exclusively. I was at a loss as to what pattern the trollers were following. They seemed to be trolling deep water randomly, but I didn't know if they were running shallow, mid or deep lures. I found bait balls (during the day), and what I thought were shad schools but I saw very few big hooks on the finder. Most of the trolling I did was after dark but, by then the bait fish were (everywhere) spread out from the surface down to 30'. The most excitement I had trolling was running into a reed bed, in the pitch dark, at 10PM.