Lake Elmo 22 August 04

First time on Elmo since the early 80’s. It’s an entirely different lake! Very few weeds, the water is surprisingly clear, and the wood is all gone. There were 400 water skiers and jet skies tearing the lake up. We managed one nice Bass right away and that was it for the day. The commotion finally chased us off the lake. I guess Sunday afternoon isn’t the best time to fish a metro-area lake. It was fun looking at the depth finder, it’s been a while since I saw it indicate 122 feet. There were a lot of fish suspended out there in more than 50 feet of water but I have no idea how one would present a bait to them.

hi Rootski,
I have heard from a few that the lake has changed quite a bit over the years, I have not been on lake elmo at all yet. but the lure of tiger muskies and more than once peaked my interest. am not sure if it is the current state record or the next previous state record tiger musky, but it was caught on lake elmo, and it was to the tune of over 33 pounds. THAT WILL get you up on a Sunday morning. Jack..

Hi Jack,

I used to fish Elmo back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. At that time there was extensive areas of flooded timber and brush, very few weeds, cloudy water, and a lot of Bass. The order of the day was 30 foot casts with Chartreuse Spinnerbaits and then hang on. It was a hoot! Now most of the wood is gone, the water is very clear, and there’s surprisingly little weed cover (although that may have more to do with the goofy weather this summer).

The current state record Tiger did come out of Elmo, and I know where the guy was when he caught it. I threw some big stuff yesterday on the off chance I might raise one and thought I had a follow at one point. It turned out to be a cluster of about 50 Perch following a Jerkbait

It think it might have paid off to work the edges of the major drops (at 25 feet) but there was an insane amount of waterskier/jet ski traffic on the lake. Additionally I have a small old Alumacraft and with yesterday’s wind I wouldn’t have been able to hold position. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I marked a ton of suspended fish over the fathomless depths of that lake. I wonder if the Tigers are relating to suspended Crappies, or there are Tulibees in Elmo? Either way, the shallows probably aren’t the place to be on that lake. We should go after some Tigers out there but not on a Sunday afternoon.

Rootski

The fellow that caught that fish went to high scool w/ my little brother. That muskie has been on display at Blue Ribbon Bait in Oakdale since it came back from the taxidermist. He worked there for years and may still (I have moved 45 miles north and rarley stop in there now). Its a sight to behold. If you ever get a chance to swing by, stop in there it may still be on the back wall.

Josh Stevenson is the name of the guy that caught the state record tiger muskie and yes he still works at blue ribon bait in oakdale. There are tullibees in elmo, I have caught them while ice fishing, they sure are wiggley little buggers! We ice fish out there a lot, and rarely set our tip ups closer than 5 feet to the bottom. We raise them high because the pike and muskies are cruising with their eye on the sky looking for a suspended snack. As well as producing a state record tiger I have my money on Elmo producing a state record bass sometime in the near future. I have caught some hogs out there in the past few years. Rootski (or anyone that knows), I am just curious if Elmo was damned up or a natural lake? You said the water used to be cloudy and have lots of timber, that sounds like a reservoir.

Josh not only still works at Blue Ribbon, he recently BOUGHT the place! Stop in often, pick his brain, and spend some money in there.