The hot butter knife trick is my go to for this.

Upgraded last year. 2018 Edge 185 w/ G2 150HO. Couple Garmin 93SV’s and a Terrova. Lot’s of different reason’s to love different types of boats. Say hi if you see me on Tonka or other metro lakes.

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I have a 2019 Alumacraft Edge with an Etec G2 150 HO. Only one season so far(~50 times on the water), but have been very happy with it. Very quick out of the hole, great gas mileage, and the power steering is awesome IMO. I do admit that if I do have problems ever I might be limited to the # of places to get it worked on as there are a lot of electronic elements that seem to be pretty specific to the G2, but the dealer is local and the buying experience was good. I am also 100% certain that I would be happy with the Yamaha 150SHO or the new MERCs. I had a Yamaha 2-stoke on my last boat and it was rock solid. It just happened to be a situation where it was the right boat at the right price that met my needs.

I mainly fish muskies and the Comp 205 has about as good of a front casting set up as you can imagine. Also, you can get the flip down back seats that extend the back casting deck too. I ended up getting an Edge 185 with a G2 150HO last year due to it being better watersports/cruising set up (wife loved it), and a little more affordable than the 205. I will say that the wider gunnels on the Edge (same as T-Pro essentially) haven’t been an issue with figure 8’s at all.

Not to over simplify it, but I would price it out now and if it’s a deal you’re comfortable with then go for it, if not wait. I had a similar situation last year and ended up waiting until the MPLS boat show. I had a specific in stock 2018 boat priced out in late Sept. and then went to the same dealer at the boat show and asked if that boat was still available. It was and I got it for exactly $3K less 4 months later. One other thing to consider is the amount you will get selling your boat (assuming you are selling your current boat) and how quick it will sell. I also felt more confident that I could sell my boat at a slightly better price and definitely quicker in the spring vs. the fall.

49-51 on Tonka the last couple days. Lake has turned in areas that stratify IMO.

Fleet Farm carries both Swimming Dawgs and Posseidon if that is more convenient to drive and get one. Thorne Bros also carries both as well as Svartzonkr swim baits too that are pretty sweet. Blue Ribbon Bait in Oakdale has a great muskie selection too. The Shadzillas are pretty hard to find in the US other than online.

I guess they are under the name Bulldawg now instead of Musky Innovations. The Predator series should be $100 and the Pro Series is more like $200 most places.

https://www.muskyshop.com/rods-reels/bulldawg-rods-predator-series/

Also look at the Shimano Compre muskie rods for a less expensive alternative at $100 they are good value.

That 8′ Heavy Avid should do the trick for both IMO. Shadzillas are an awesome lure. FYI, they also make a smaller one @ like 3.5oz. that would be a good change of pace for pike. Like Rodwork said, go thrown the Shadzilla and the Suick on a local lake and get a feel for it. That being said, I wouldn’t go to Canada on a big fish trip without a back up rod/reel that can handle that stuff too. Go buy one a Muskie Innovations 8′ XH rod for $100 or that Okuma rod and bring it as a back up if nothing else. If you don’t already have them packed bring some, regular Bulldawgs, Super Shad Raps and 1.5oz spinnerbaits for big pike too.

FWIW, I thrown the regular Shadzillas and Magnum Bulldawgs, etc. on a 8’6″ XH or 9’0″ XH, but that pretty much exclusively muskies.

Matt advice is right on, I’ve found some nice cabbage and random hard bottom spots while just slow cruising with the family and then dropped a waypoint. The cabbage is associated with hard bottoms which is more sand than rock on Tonka and yes the milfoil does die back in the fall making it a lot easier to fish through the weeds that are left.

Not sure how well you know the lake, but there is a major difference in water clarity depending on the part of the lake you fish and that is especially true right now in the heat of the summer. In the clear basins (lower lake, Crystal Bay, etc) the weed line is really deep (like 20-25’deep) and those edges are the starting point. I have found some fish much shallower in the greener water, plus the weed edge is shallower in the greener bays so if they are on the edge you are fishing 14-17′ deep vs. 22-25′ deep. The cabbage is pretty choked out by the milfoil right now.

Definitely don’t want to imply that the foam ones aren’t good, just have seen a couple that didn’t last 2 seasons. I’m sorry I don’t know the brand, but the one my cousin had ended up with a hole in it from adults jumping from the dock onto it and put a foot through it. It was 2 layers of foam for what that’s worth vs. some that are 3 layers. The other was a situation where the grommet that you would tie the rope up to failed. They are a ton of fun, just adding my 2 cents that we went the route of the large inflatable style that is more rigid/firm.

We bought the big one from Paddle North. It’s inflatable and built like a tank. It’s definitely on the expensive side, but have seen enough of the foam ones tear after 1 or 2 summers of use that we went for the Paddle North one and are very happy with it on year #2.

I haven’t fished the St Louis, but Island Lake is close by and worth a shot. It’s a pretty low density fishery, but i enjoyed exploring it a couple of times and got a couple nice fish. There is a public launch on the south end of the lake.

Was on a small murky lake this morning before the storm hit and they were much shallower that I was expected. Wacky worms in pads got me 6 in 20 minutes. Good luck!!

DH is a good option for bait. For night fishing I would stick with Gray’s Bay, Maxwell, and Spring Park. Those are all well lit and typically the docks are still in until around the 1st week of November. Between those 3 I would launch closest to wherever you intend to fish for the night. The less you have to run around the lake in the cold/dark the better IMO. Buoys are all still in as well, but those will disappear too in about 2-3 more weeks.

Good start to the year Joe!

I can’t comment on boulder or fish, but I have fished Island a few times and done well with muskies and walleyes. It is a resevoir so water levels can fluctuate, but I found it to be a really enjoyable lake to fish. There are not many houses on it so the lake traffic isn’t too bad in my opinion. The only part I didn’t like was having to stay at a hotel instead of on the lake, but it sounds like you have that covered.

I got my PB pike last week in NW Ontario. 45″ on a Glidin Rap. Late ice and stable weather made for a great week. Lots of upper 30’s fish and 8 over 40″ for our group of 7.

^^^ Ben is pretty much dead on in my opinion. Sub-surface gliders are one of the best ways to catch big pike. I like them for muskies too, but depending on the time of the year you may end up with more follower than biters, and gliders/WTD baits don’t work very well in the figure 8.

The first stable warming trend after ice out is the ideal time. That will push the water over 40 degrees into the mid to late 40’s really quickly and the big pike go nuts. That might be a few days after ice out or a week or two after ice out depending on the weather. We never really to take advantage of that bite down here in the cities because ice out is normally a few weeks before opener, but I have been in Canada the last week of May that last 15 years or so and it is alway good, but it is off the charts good with a late ice out combinded with a few warmer stable days.

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Or why not everything CPR during the night. then everyone can fish. (AKA muskie guys, walleye guys, etc) if anyone has fish after 10 then they get the book.

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^^ I am afraid that this makes too much sense. My guess is that they will go with the argument that delayed mortality from hooking the fish will contribue too greatly to the quota. It really is a sad state of affairs up there. I feel terrible for the resort owners and the other businesses in the area.

I will be there early on Friday, so deals may not be as good as Sunday afternoon, but the selection should be great.

I have a Filson belt that is somewhere between 8-10 years old and looks as good as the day that I got it. Well worth the $$

I saw that article too, I was kind of surprised to see that type of winterkill on North Center. It does have a lot of water less than 10′ deep, but it also has a 40′ hole on the north end and a nice hole near the culvert going to South Center. I would have to think that there will be quite a few more lakes with winterkill issues this year. Given that many of the dead fish will still stay on the bottom I would have to think that it will be difficult to assess if a lake totally killed out or just partially.

I have seen quite a few from Lax and been really impressed, and he has done a lot to help our local Muskies Inc chapters, which is much appreciated.

Nice work! Nothing like grinding it out for 2 days for 1 bite…that’s muskie fishing for ya. However, totally worth it!

Do you do the straight cranking with regular or mag shallow dawgs much over the weeds or just the double dawgs because of the extra lift they seem to have when straight cranking?

Fancaster has it right on with those sleves and tool to crimp. One additional thing i do is put a dab of Gorilla Glue on the crimp just in case. I know plenty of people tying flouro leaders directly to their main braid, but for the most part I use a high quality ballbearing swivel on that end and tie the line to the swivel with a palomar knot. For ligther weight flouro i use the Albright knot that was mentioned above to tie directly to the braid.

My go to pike rod is a 7′ Heavy St Croix Premier. It is rated from 1/2oz- 1 1/2 oz and throws everything from size 14 husky jerks, to size 12 x-raps, to size 16 flat raps just fine. For about $140 I think that the St Croix Premier series are a good value. I also throw a lot of gliders (Glidin Raps and Phantoms) for pike and actually use a slightly heaver rod for those, but the rod i mentioned above would work well too. In my opinion a medium action rod likely won’t have the hook setting power you will want and will be to soft if you start thowing bigger lures. Yes it is very true that little lures can catch big pike, but if you want to target big pike then I would suggest spending more time throwing slightly bigger lures.
For reels, buy a Abu Garcia Revo Toro 50 or a Shimano Curado and don’t look back.

Flourocarbon leaders are all I use, with the exception of walk the dog jerkbaits which i use a single strand steel leader. For pike in Canada I typically use 80# flouro leaders, but have caught many big fish with 40# flouro as well. To answer Rootski’s question the main reason that I use flouro instead of hard mono is the abrasion resistance. For muskies i use 130# flouro leaders. You still have to check for any nicks after catching a big fish, but I can typically make it through 80-100 pike with a 80# leader before deciding to put a fresh one on.