muskie Mississippi river above Brainerd dam

[laker1]

I know the DNR has been stocking muskie the last few years fish of various size from Lum Park all the way to Palisade. Wonder if anybody has seen or caught any of these fish ? Heard any rumors of people catching any?

[laker1]

I mean the area above the Brainerd dam.

[Musky Buck]

I love when the river is brought up because generally no one is going to share much about it. There are muskies scattered everywhere in the river of all shapes and sizes. The river is sort of the last frontier.

[DHanson]

I don't know anything about that stretch. I have caught a few around the St. Cloud area and 1 of them was a hog. Definitely some monsters in the Mississippi with little to no pressure. It's just difficult to try and fish a river compared to the comfort of a lake.

[10,000 Casts]

As far as I know about a river, the fish are very nomatic. It's tough to say if what the populations are now.

[Shawn Kellett]

Those fish were stocked 2-3 falls ago and should be around 20" +/- so I doubt anyone's catching them yet.

[Musky Buck]

I'd like to share the when where how and why of the river but it took too long to learn on my own and I'm still learning.

[b1gf1sh1]

i don't know a whole lot about that area but it's still a river. a general rule for a river and muskie (and a host of other predators) is look for eddies, humps(rock/sand/gravel/gravel-sand mix/muck), islands above and submerged, funnel areas where the current speeds up and slows at the other end, street drains, natural/man made points, large bays with weeds, stump fields, the inshore side of near shore productive catfish holes, freshwater springs submerged or above(submerged is the best spot on the planet), rocky shores jutting into deeper water fast(cliff like), mouths of streams preferably fast moving, docks/marinas, smaller weed beds, wide open main river slow current flats areas, fast current just off shore within a few feet of shore on the up or downside of small almost indiscernable points, and then more than can be mentioned.

i'll single out the submerged springs for the heck of it. to find these easily you just have to be an early riser and do it when there's mist present. if there's spring's you can bet they will be the last areas to de-mist(is that a word, lol). this works on lakes too. White Bear is a great place to start.

[guideman]

Way back in the day, when most of you were as yet unborn, I fished the river for Muskies all the time. I saw a DNR trap net below the dam near little falls with a state record fish in it. The DNR guy doing the traping told me they had seen a number of fish that week that would have broken the state record.

There are Muskies in pretty good numbers right in the metro area part of the river as well. I caught my first Muskie ever, down below the Ford dam on a daredevil, when I was just a kid. I hate to date myself, but that was in

1959, 50 years ago this summer.

Good locations,

Points, pockets, snags on the up stream end of islands, lay downs, creek mouths, rock bars and weed flats, current seams and bridges and on and on....

Don't overlook the rivers for Muskies, many of them are all but untouched, by most Muskie anglers. You'll learn to break them down, just like any other body of water you fish.

"Ace"

Ace guide service.

[b1gf1sh1]

well said Ace. i hear people all the time talk about how tough rivers are. but after, as you say, a person learns to break them down they are all , for the most part, the same. lakes if you ask me are tougher if i go from one i've fished to another i never did. rivers i can normally find the fish i'm targeting. but like anywhere getting skunked on targeted fish is also an option . yep, i'll never pass a river up. but i bring extra tackle, i need it untill i know where/what to avoid. like upstream of islands with divers, or that seemingly wide open spot that eats lures...