Hawg Hunters G.S. was back at it this weekend, but not for the ever elusive walleye. It was onward and upward as they say. A bit further north, to chase much bigger fair, was the recipe for fun this Minnesota Musky opener. Fishing partner Bob Bowman and I, were able to fish only two of our favorite lakes this rainy and wet weekend, Plantangenet and Wabedo, both great bodies of water with the possibility of the “50+” always looming. Fishing was a little slow by our standards, hampered by both cool water temps and opening weekend pressure, but with that said we were still able to raise and boat fish.
We started out Saturday morning on Bemidji area jewel, Plantangenet. A midsize body of water with great cabbage, above average early season water clarity, and endless miles of reed beds adjacent to deep water. This lake is a Musky factory and has been very good to us in the last couple of years. We found fish relating to what sparse cabbage that hung on from last year, and what little new growth that had taken place this year. Water temps hovered all day around 60 degrees, and it really showed in the fish. All but one of our 6 follows was very lethargic, with fish trailing baits at a distance apparently just for curiosity’s sake. Topwater walking baits like the Viper, and subsurface walkers like the Phantom, in various sizes, were responsible for all our close encounters. It was quality more than quantity for the day, with all the fish showing themselves topping 40”. The closest we came to hooking up was when a mid 40”s fish blew up a 8” Walleye Phantom about 10 feet from the boat, she missed and then took her sweet time heading back down to the depths. Man does that get the blood pumping. We talked to one group at the access that boated a 45” in shallow water, but that was all we heard from other boats for the day.
Sunday, we stayed a little closer to the cabin, opting to hit early warmer Wabedo, east of Hackensack. Within the first 15 minutes I got a chance to butt heads with this beautiful 40” Musky that pounded my J-Mac jig with 5” Action Plastic grub. The fish hit in 7’ of water and went airborne about 3 feet away from the boat, I could have reached out and poked her in the eye with my rod! After a short tussle she was in the net, a quick photo, and off she went. Not a giant, but a decent way to open the year. As an aside we ran into a couple folks on the lake that day. Al Maas was out with his wife, he said they raised 5 fish with one topping the 50” mark. Also a pair of guys from Thorne Bros., never moved in to see who, but they were busy hucking baits too, in all the regular spots.
Here’s looking forward to some warmer weather, warmer water, and possibly an end to this Monsoon we call spring in Minnesota! Bob will be on the water up there again this weekend if anyone is interested, his handle is MUSKIES, or if you see him out there be sure to say hi.
See you on the water…
Great Report!! I was on Cass with the Walleye-Brat and my brother chasing walleyes….chasing is exactly what it was. We have a cabin on Upper Trelipe just east of Longville I have fished Wabedo for muskies a handful of times…never any success but seeing that pic makes me want to head over there again.
How is the fishing later in the year like August..I am fishing walleye tournies so prefishing for them is taking the bulk of my free time until Aug.
Thanks
JB
Great report Dan!!!
Bob was saying you were taken by surprise when that ski did the leap of faith at ya in the air!?!?!?!
I had some good success on Tonka on Saturday morning, boating a 43″ on a 6″ pink Phantom. I’ll post a report tomorrow when I get the picture uploaded and give the gist to the rest of the fish. All in all, we had a very productive day for only being on the water till 11am!!!