Help Us Stock Musky In Green Lake Kandiyohi County Mn

[motley man]

I live near 3 lakes that had muskies put un 30 years ago and walleye, crappie and other fish have declined. The size of the great muskie lakes, Leech, Winnie, Mille Lac, and others make the difference in the impact on other fish. I think there are enough lakes around with muskies. Years ago DNR said not to introduce any species into a environment that does not already exist there. Any species that does not exist in a environment has a effect on it after it's in it. Can't find that rule anymore. Let's stock wild hogs for more game to hunt. We know what happened with carp.

[Gordie]

It's no longer a muskie destination either. Most days out there people don't even encounter a muskie.

Hmmmmmm, the muskie population crashes and now the walleye population is crashing...

Must be the smallmouths eating all of them.

[BOUNCED]

Yeah because the "muskies ate them all..."

I love the uninformed/under-educated anglers who think muskies are a bad thing (not saying you are one of those guys, mrklean). I don't even fish for them, and I wish they were in every lake in the state; they are one of the greatest things that can happen to a fishery.

Someones been drinking the Kool-Aid

[crix]

I live near 3 lakes that had muskies put un 30 years ago and walleye, crappie and other fish have declined. The size of the great muskie lakes, Leech, Winnie, Mille Lac, and others make the difference in the impact on other fish. I think there are enough lakes around with muskies. Years ago DNR said not to introduce any species into a environment that does not already exist there. Any species that does not exist in a environment has a effect on it after it's in it. Can't find that rule anymore. Let's stock wild hogs for more game to hunt. We know what happened with carp.

I cant imagine that the fishing pressure has changed in the 30 years either... I know the lakes you fish and have personally seen the lack of catch and release and or selective harvest... not saying that you don't do it, but i have seen many fisherman on the 3 lakes keeping everything they catch...

I also was told by a guy at the launch they kill every muskie caught and throw them back, this guy had a limit of eyes in a bucket also stated "they're walleye eating machines" then told me If I catch a muskie should do the same HMMM.... wonder why the muskies do good in most lakes stocked? well because muskie fisherman respect the resource

Im all for stocking more lakes especially if they already have muskies present there are enough walleye stocked lakes... give us some more options please

while we at it add Fish trap lake to the muskie stocking list there are muskies in it already and big ones just not quite a fishable population

[Shawn Kellett]

]

Must be the smallmouths eating all of them.

That's ok, I'd rather catch 3-6# smallies all day then throw baits the size of goats to MAYBE see some stupid muskie.

[brian6715]

Someones been drinking the Kool-Aid

Do you honestly think muskies hurt walleye/crappie/sunfish/perch populations?!!!!!?? Go fish Leech, Mille Lacs, LOTW, Vermillion... or smaller lakes like French, Moose, Deer, Bone, etc. I could go on all day. If you don't have time to fish, just go look at the DNR data on each lake. Pick French for example, and compare that to any other Rice County lake. It is a great crappie, walleye, sunfish, northern, and bass lake.

But please, inform me how I am drinking the Kool-Aid, can't wait to hear it

It's embarrassing that people on a fishing HSOforum in MN think that the muskie is a horrible thing for our waters.

[Rick G]

First off I'm not anti Musky in any way, just don't fish for them. I think if they are to stock Green they should get more input from the people that live on, and fish the lake. We just had musky stocked in the Horseshoe chain a couple years back. The thing I found most disturbing is at the input meetings and the signature gatherings most of the folks weren't local, or even fished the lake much, or at all for that matter. I would just like to see more local support if things are to move forward on this

[Shawn Kellett]

Rick, you're not going to have to worry about it. The muskies that are in there are reproducing and Green has some of the best spawning habitat I've seen this side of Leech. In 10-20 years you'll probably have a sustainable muskie fishery there I would bet. May as well help it along at this point and let the local establishments see the economic impact of having an additional great fishery.

[pushbutton]

Lakes are a statewide public resource. Cant imagine too many of Green Lakes's homeowners could even identify the difference between a muskie and a pike. Have fished that lake a lot the last 4 years and I guarantee the biggest opponents besides them would be the locals who sit out there in the fall and pull up 10 inch cigar after 10 inch cigar in 80 fow trying to keep a 12 inch cigar..... all the while cursing that the smallmouth bass ate all "their" fish. Yes, local input should be taken into consideration, but no where near the deciding factor. You can't get much better bang for your buck resource/tourism wise than dumping 500 or so muskies in a lake......its cheap compared to walleye stocking, the guys who fish for them don't eat them, instead they let them go thereby renewing the resource, and about the only change in the ecosystem we might see from a low density stocking is a maybe long term reduction of hammer handle pike. Kind of seems like a win win to me....a guy who has never fished for a musky in his life.

[pushbutton]

Can also confirm that they are reproducing in Green. Don't know about population timelines, but do know where at least two spawning areas are and got to see some real beauties out there while panfishing.....a couple that easily went over 40. Also caught a cute little bugger two years ago that was about 14 iches long............

[jentz]

Green,Kronis and the chain just went through this,To much opposition for green.The residents of the chain wern't very happy with the DNR decision of stocking there! Money talks and Green is loaded!!

[walleyeman1]

I have never fished for Musky's but I have fished lakes with Musky's in them and I will tell you that the walleye fishing is pretty good. They keep dumping walleyes in them as the locals keep complaining so they keep stocking them! Sure Muskies eat a few walleyes but nothing like the walleye fisherman taking them out of the lake. Until the walleye guys decide to throw back what they catch, they will never be able to keep up with the pressure. Thats why these lakes have to be stocked from the DNR and Lake Associations. Walleye fisherman should be happy they want to put Muskies in there lake as that means they will stock more and more walleyes in there lake.

[Gordie]

That's ok, I'd rather catch 3-6# smallies all day then throw baits the size of goats to MAYBE see some stupid muskie.

I just don't think I can totally believe this Shawn, and I'm not calling you a liar, justa fishermen

Put a spinner on that goat and I'm sure you would give it a toss

[BOUNCED]

They keep dumping walleyes in them as the locals keep complaining so they keep stocking them! Sure Muskies eat a few walleyes but nothing like the walleye fisherman taking them out of the lake. Until the walleye guys decide to throw back what they catch, they will never be able to keep up with the pressure. Thats why these lakes have to be stocked from the DNR and Lake Associations. Walleye fisherman should be happy they want to put Muskies in there lake as that means they will stock more and more walleyes in there lake.

Increased Walleye stocking to offset predation by Muskies?? Unheard of That's one way to keep the walleye survey numbers looking good. It gets awful expensive feeding those Muskies Walleyes on the tax payers dime. I think it makes more sense not to stock them in the first place.

[Nolan]

You and your buddies keeping and eating walleyes affect it more than any small population of muskies will. A fishable population is like 1 per 2-5 acres. Get real, the muskies are not devastating your precious walleyes.

[Nick Kuhn]

Here's something I made a while back. I took an entire county in Wisconsin and used their most recent numbers for walleye population, and separated the values by muskie presence.

[RK]

Interesting data. Do have to caution, however, that comparing MN and WI is a risky proposition. Very very different lakes in terms of water chemistry, fertility, etc...not to mention different strains of muskies.

General comment to all participating in this thread... you should be hearing keys jingling right about now. Feel free to discuss the issues, even when they are contentious issues. But if it turns into a bash fest I'll have to lock it down.

[crix]

could you imagine what walleye fishing would be like if guys treated them like bass and muskies almost 100% cpr I bet a lot of lakes would be almost boring because of how many you would catch

all though I have sat on winne went through a pound of leeches in a night between 4 people and about 5-6 hours

[tolle141]

The DNR has extremely strict requirements before a lake can be considered for muskie stocking. They learned a lot of lessons over the years and they won't even propose a lake unless they are certain it will work. Muskies do eat walleye, but they rarely reach a density to have a negative impact on other species.

The Green Lake locals share a striking number of similarities with the Miltona guys.

[Esox_Magnum]

Based off my experience on just 2 of my local lakes, one 3700 acres other 5600 acres, both are top destinations for people from all over the country for bass ( both largies and smallies) perch, walleye, crappie and possibly the best bluegills in the midwest oh and a fair muskie fisherie to....Yes eyes and muskies are stocked but then again this is Iowa and with 46 years of having muskies in the waters our fishing crowds are going up every year, so much so that weekends are a zoo trying to get on the ice and open water...Last walleye opener I fished the 5600 acre lake, dropped baits at midnight left at 12:54am with a 2 man limit and released 20 others....Betting if we didn't have muskies Wife and I would have limited in 45 minutes instead if 54....

[Shawn Kellett]

I just don't think I can totally believe this Shawn, and I'm not calling you a liar, justa fishermen

Put a spinner on that goat and I'm sure you would give it a toss

Believe it. When we fish the river we bring our muskie and smallie gear. We always start with the muskie stuff, but after an hour we throw a tiny torpedo out and WHACK! The muskie stuff stays in the bottom of the boat for the rest of the trip most times. I don't hate muskies as much as I used so I don't feel the need to stick every one.

[kapp]

Green is a wonderful lake, earlier it was noted that muskies and walleyes

cohabitate well on large lakes like leech and cass etc. and not as well on small lakes. Green is a pretty good sized lake at 5500 acres and a max depth of around 110 feet. I am in favor of stocking muskies in Green.

I have heard people complain about the smallmouth on Green and now about the thought of Muskies being introduced. For me i think having multi species

in a lake is a good thing. As the water warms in late July and August and the walleye bite slows Muskies become more active and give a fisherman another option. It will take 15 years from the first stocking of muskies

until Green develops as a muskie fishery but i believe this will add to the theme of "Spicer is Nicer".