We’ve been moving some very nice fish on Indy lately and have talked to other boats who are doing the same.

Nicer fish have been deeper than normal on Indy, and have come on topwater, gliders and have heard reports that Dawgs have taken a few fish as well.

The next time any of you have this conversation come up at home, simply take them to the musky fishing section of your local fishing retailer,show her the price tags on those crankbaits, and tell her to thank her lucky stars that you’re not one of those guys. $4-5 a lure will seem like a bargain compared to $20 a pop.

That said, I wouldn’t trade my musky addiction for any other hobby in the world.

I went from a Crestliner to the 1850 Reatta this year and there is absolutely no comparison. Granted, there is a price difference. However, I have absolutely zero regrets in making the upgrade to a Ranger. Do it….you’ll be happy you did.

Bulldawgs in the weeds on the deep breakline…sitting in 9-10 and casting out off the edge and working it back with slow, steady pulls and reeling to keep your line tight between pulls….similar to working a Suick.

When you hit weeds, give it a healthy rip to clear it and hang on…

Mag Bulldawgs…

We’re probably going to be spending our time on Leech, Big and Wabedo depending on how the fish are moving (or not). It’s been a weird year for me on these lakes, so I’m not sure what to expect in two weeks. As far as Leech goes, I’m only really familiar with the Walker/Agency Bay area and have a nice little milk run of spots that I like to hit there. I’m curious to know what kind of pressure the Lakes get with this tournament. I understand there are about 350 boats that fish the thing, but with as many big bodies of water that can be fished, does it even feel like there is anymore pressure than normal?

Can’t wait to get up there for a couple of days of chucking big wood.

I’m in…fishing it for the first time this year.

Awesome fish…but only one complaint…KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON!!! Of course, this only applies to pictures of men holding fish….women should be dealt with on a case by case basis.

In all seriousness, this is a true monster….can’t wait to get up there again in a couple of weeks to chase her twin sister. I promise to keep my shirt on if successful.

Bob,

Was that you in the matching Crestliner that I talked to on Saturday morning?

I was out again yesterday morning and got another 40″ in nearly the same spot as the one on Saturday, with the same lure, at nearly the same time of day….weird. Best musky strike of my life…fully out of the water 3 times before I even knew what hit me.

I’d be interested to know a little about Sugar, as my neighbor keeps telling me to give it a try, but I haven’t made it up there as of yet. Send me a PM if you’ve got any details that you can share.

Assuming that was you, nice talking to you on Saturday…good luck on your future trips to Indy…it will only get better from here.

Eric

Mike,

I’m guessing that fish has approximately a 20″ girth (give or take), which would put it between 20-25lbs.

Great looking fish….really like the release picture where she’s waving her tail.

I hope to find a couple of her twin sisters on Indy this weekend.

Eric

Great fish….can’t wait to get out and chase them this weekend!!

Gentle reminder to all when handling big fish…throw a hand under her belly to help support her weight when taking pictures. I truly don’t mean to preach, but horizontal holds are definitely less stressful on these monsters.

Again, congrats on the great catch….let’s hope they continue to be willing participants come Saturday.

Eric

You’ll want to have a few different presentations at your disposal, and in most cases you’ll catch both muskies and northerns with them. Here’s my top five:

1. Spinnerbaits – pick up a large tandem spinnerbait and throw it shallow and along/across the breaklines. A couple of good brands are M/G, Radd Dogs and Candy Spins.

2. Bucktails – pick up a couple different sizes and throw them in similar fashion to the spinnerbaits. Most have treble hooks, thus will be much more likely to hang in the weeds, so make sure you give it a good rip if you start hitting them (good trigger for following fish as well). Look for Mepps products, as they offer quality lures in a variety of sizes.

3. Topwater – Look for a good prop topwater bait and hit every fishy looking structure you can find with it, including structure that is away from shore. Muskies and northerns primarily feed upwards and it’s nothing for them to cover 20 feet to get a meal. Options include Topraiders, Stompers, Awakers.

4. Crankbaits – Pick up a couple decent sized crankbaits and use them similarly to what you’d do for bass and walleyes. Cast ’em, twitch ’em, troll ’em…any of these presentations will work. When casting, don’t forget to pause during your retrieve to give the bait some erratic action…it’s all about triggering these toothy critters. Good options include Jakes, Grandmas, Depthraiders, Shallowraiders and they come in a variety of sizes.

5. Glide baits – These are a little trickier to work until you get the hang of it, but can be awesome producers when worked correctly. Throw them shallow, along/across breaks and over deep structure as well. A couple of good options are Phantoms and Reef Hawgs.

If you don’t already know, the first thing you’re going to find when looking for musky baits, is that there are endless options and colors available. Most of the products I listed can be found at Gander Mountain, but if you’re really interested in checking out the selection of baits available, head to Thorne Brothers in Fridley (www.thornebros.com)as they have as good a selection as you’ll find anywhere. Additionally, their staff is second to none with customer service and helping get people started with an initial selection of baits. If you’re at all serious about chasing these fish, it would be worth your time to make the trip.

One bit of warning….musky fishing is addictive…once you catch a decent fish, you’ll wonder why you wasted so much time chasing anything else!!

Good luck…feel free to PM me with any further questions.

Eric – musky addict

Would love to see pictures of these fish to validate their existence. I suppose it’s possible, but I can’t help but be a little pessimistic about the reported measurements of these fish.

Sadly, after being caught in one of those damn nets, I strongly suspect these fish are both serving as turtle food at this point.

Sorry to be such a boner-kill with this post, but everytime I hear a story of muskies being caught and “released” from the nets (regardless of the size), it frustrates me that such a wonderful resource is being wasted.

On the positive side, only 22 more days until it’s time to start chasing these monsters up on the big pond. Gotta love the fat girls!!!

My dad and I fished with a guide named John Leach on Stick Marsh/Farm 13 a few years back and had a ball. I’m sure if you do a Google search on him, you could come up with something. I’d hire him again if we went back. Good luck in your search.

Eric

As others have stated, I would do my best to document the fish via pictures and measurements and return her to the water. While it would be cool to be associated with the new state record, it’s not worth risking the fish’s life to make it happen. Just my two cents….

A buddy of mine nailed a 51″ during the first weekend in August (when the nasty cold snap came through). I had a fish follow a phantom to the boat later that morning that could have eaten the 51″…as Gary mentioned before, it was one of those fish that absolutely leave you stupified and unable to do anything but watch. We saw her coming from quite a ways out and by the time she got close to the boat and we saw how big she was, I was spent. Absolutely ridiculous how big some of those fish are….there’s nothing like ’em.

Steve,

We were trolling anywhere from 2-2.5 mph making big, sweeping turns to keep the baits changing speed. This fish came as soon as we came out of a hard right turn and came up on the hump I mentioned above.

It was a great way to end the season, but at the same time it will seem like eternity before I get to chase these toothy critters on the open water again.

Come on June!!!!!

Not sure if the link is working yet, so here’s a picture of the fish.

Mike – give me one more weekend to chase muskies and then she’s all yours. Given the cold snap we’re having right now, I’m guessing my luck may have run out.

Using the common formula for determining the weight of muskies (L x G x G / 800) the fish is likely 17-19 pounds. I gave you credit for 43.25″ x 18″ girth…you can monkey with the numbers if you felt is was fatter than that.

Great picture of the fish…nice job with supporting the body of the fish, as well. It’s important to provide the additional support for these bigger fish to minimize damage during handling.

I’ve never fished it, but know a few guys who have pulled a fish or two out of there. I’ve never heard of anything real big coming from that lake though….

What’s the story…I’m always interested in new water.

Eric

Black/tan C-Liner…I’ll be out there early and most likely spending time on the shoreline near the landing.

Stop and say hello….would be happy to share info if we’re moving fish. Good luck…

Eric

Good work on raising the fish….getting lazy on the figure 8 is all part of the learning curve, so consider yourself a better musky angler for having done it and learn from it.

I would tend to agree with Gary regarding the throwback choices…other topwater to think about would be Topraiders and Pacemakers as their tail propper style generates a bunch of racket as well and can be worked slowly or quickly depending on how aggressive you thought the fish was. Another idea would be some form of glide bait like a Phantom, as it resembles natural baitfish, and again, it can be worked quickly or slowly depending on what the fish is telling you.

Ignore the PM I sent you, as I didn’t check here first to see if you had any luck. As far as this weekend goes, I’m thinking that Monday morning is looking like a better option for me. I’ll give you a call on Saturday to confirm plans.

I’m heading out there tomorrow morning….can you give me an idea as to how deep you were fishing when you moved that fish?

Eric

I’ve been up there twice in the last week or so working the north end breakline about a mile or two either side of the Wealthwood landing and have been seeing fish…including some very big girls.

Our most successful baits have been walk-the-dog topwater baits (Jackpot and Doc), 8″ phantom glide baits (perch color) and good old black hair/silver blade bucktails.

One bit of advice that I’d offer is to take time to work both the primary break (3-4 feet dropping to 7-8 feet) and the secondary break (7-8 feet dropping to 12-14 feet). Hang out on the deep side and cast up top. There’s a lot of flat area in 7-9 feet between the breaks that we haven’t been able to move fish on….everything has come by working across the change in depth.

Please post your results, as I’ll be up there that following weekend and would be curious to hear what you come across.

Good luck in your “hunting”….

Eric

P.S. I haven’t seen or hooked a single northern on the north end all year…doesn’t mean they’re not there, but I’ve only seen muskies during my trips.

The cooler weather has apparently done the same thing to Mille Lacs as it has to a few lakes around the metro area, as my partner and I saw some amazing fish on Saturday morning on the north end.

We were on the lake by 6:15 and had a fish in the boat at 7:10 that went 51×20 on a black bucktail/silver blade. Over the course of the rest of the morning we had 5 more fish aggressively follow glide baits, bucktails and topwater without committing. We used every trick in the book to make them commit, as each fish was right on the bait it was following…i.e. no lazy followers. For whatever reason, they wouldn’t open their yaps for a bite…that’s just musky fishing, I guess.

The last thing I’ll add is a comment regarding the size of the fish we saw. In addition to the 51″ that my partner caught, 3 of the fish that we had up were absolute tankers, including one that simply made us laugh after it decided to leave the area. I know those of you who fish Mille Lacs on a regular basis have seen fish of this caliber and may have grown accustomed to it….for someone who has just begun to try and learn the lake a bit, I couldn’t have been more amazed.

With the exception of the last fish (shallow), everything we saw came from casting from the base of the breakline to the top of the shelf and working our baits over the edge.

I’m interested to hear if anyone else was on the pond this weekend and had similar experiences with the larger fish.

Eric

P.S. My new motto is “fat girls rule!”

Check out Happy Landing Lodge on Pipestone Lake….they have a boat in arrangement. Rather than leave a long post, check out their website at http://www.happylandingfishing.com. A friend and I are taking our dads there next summer for a getaway. With all of the available lakes, it seems one would have no trouble keeping busy with a variety of species.

One more thing, if this looks interesting to you, do yourself a favor and send for the promotional materials. Matt will send you a DVD that will get your juices flowing and wanting to hit the road tomorrow!!

Can’t wait until next June!!!

Eric

I was up on the pond searching for toothy critters on west side of the lake and found good weeds north of the Garrison landing, all the way up past the Harbor Inn, as well as south of Pikes Point. Further south, we found good weed growth on either side of the Sha Bash Kung landing as well.

Similar depths/descriptions as reported above.

Eric

Do you know what’s more fun than catching a 19″ smallie? Catching a 20″ smallie.

Do you know what’s more fun that catching a 20″ smallie? Catching a 21″ smallie.

I think you catch my drift….throw ’em all back.

Eric,

Go to jimmurphyguide.com and click on his fishing reports link…Jim is a guide on Leech and is very responsive to questions such as yours regarding how to fish Leech. He’s fished it for years and can tell you about every nook and cranny in the lake. I’ve worked with him on the muskies and have found him to be very helpful.

I’ve never chased the largemouths in Leech, but have heard the same reports that you have regarding the big toads in that lake.

Good luck in your pursuits…

Eric

They’ve got ’em in stock right now…picked some up at the store in Maple Grove on Friday.