Lake Harriet Musky – DNR Trapping Study

  • Grouse_Dog
    The Shores of Lake Harriet
    Posts: 2043
    April 16, 2009 at 11:14 am #1239945

    The DNR has been busy studying their stocking efforts on Lake Harriet over the past couple of weeks. They trapped muskies and had one to 49 inches. The population appears to be down slightly, according to their findings.

    Also, interesting to note, there have been about 5 fish that have died over the winter and floated to shore. One has had a quick strike rig lodged in its throat. Bummer. The live bait guys are hard on these fish in the Fall.

    Can’t wait to hear about the other Metro musky reports from their netting study.

    The Dog.

    bzzsaw
    Hudson, Wi
    Posts: 3480
    April 16, 2009 at 1:02 pm #768971

    Quote:

    Also, interesting to note, there have been about 5 fish that have died over the winter and floated to shore. One has had a quick strike rig lodged in its throat. Bummer. The live bait guys are hard on these fish in the Fall.

    Grouse-Dog,
    Are you thinking all 5 of the muskies were killed by the Live Bait guys in the fall?

    Another thing I didn’t realize is that a dead fish will float under the ice all winter and wash up on shore in the spring? Wow.

    Grouse_Dog
    The Shores of Lake Harriet
    Posts: 2043
    April 16, 2009 at 4:34 pm #769051

    The guys that fish, in the Fall, use quick strike rigs and fish from the corner by the Band Shell. There is a bunch of hardware, under the water, that they use for the sailboat moorings. This cable is what they snag up on and break off. The result is a quick strike rig, sucker loose on the bottom. Musky picks it up, eats it and gets a throat full of hooks. I am sure it takes some time to die.

    The fish don’t deompose very quickly in the cold water. So, they sit under the ice until thraw and then float up on shore. The results of decomposition result in the releasing of gasses (can you say BLOAT) and cause the fish for float for a while. A small lake like Harriet will allow them to make it to shore, before they sink and become crawfish dinner.

    You see the result of winter kill and other mortality, in the Spring.

    The Dog.

    vern
    Richfield, MN
    Posts: 316
    April 20, 2009 at 1:33 am #769793

    I saw this happen on Lake Harriet last Fall but the fish was hooked when the line broke. I was driving by & noticed that a guy was running for his rod so I pulled over to watch. The clicker was buzzin’ & his line was peeling out of the spool. He set the hook & had the fish on for a couple minutes before it got tangled up in a sailboat cable. He eventually had to break the line. I wonder how many times that happens in that spot?

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