Turnover period muskie report

The past two weeks have been hectic as I have been traveling around trying to beat the lake turnover. I have fished everywhere from Vermilion to Bemidiji and as far south as the twin cities for the George Whal Muskie tournament. This time of year is usually unpredictable for my boat and the only way to figure things out is time on the water.

I fished the George Whal tournament with my good friend Richie Kroger from the site here and the conditions were not quite ideal. High skies and no wind set up for tough fishing on friday and saturday but we managed to move 25 different fish with no takers. The key to location was finding bait. We found bait on a few sand spots and a few weed lines but not all sand or weeds held bait and fish.

I have also been over to Bemidiji twice in the past two weeks and the results have been mixed. On the first trip I ended up landing a monster wideback on a walleye colored cowgirl. Our secret for our success was finding the greenest cabbage and fishing it from all different angles and with different types of lures. On the second trip we landed two small muskies on glide baits but the wall whoppers didn’t show up.

The last part of my report is from scattered time on lake vermilion. It has been very hit or miss with the water temps making such of a fast drop in the past week. I have taken a few beginners out and given them the front of the boat and the fish have given us a good thrill each time. My friend chris was casting a krisco to shallow rocks last week and he had two nice boatside strikes from about a 46 and 50 inch class fish. I was out the night before on the same spot and landed my personal best 30.25inch walley on the exact same bait. Needless to say the muskies and walleyes are chasing cisco colored baits around! This time of year you don’t see the large numbers of follows or a multiple fish day but the reward is great if you are willing to put in the time. So until my next report stay safe on the water as we near freeze up.