June metro Tiger Muskies

As usual, in the early metro season I tend to focus on Tiger Muskies a little more than their pure strain brethren. This season so far has been somewhat slow and a consistent bite has started a little later than seasons past. Still no purestrains on the end of my line yet, although a few have made their way to boat for friends. My first fish of the year ended up coming during the metro muskie tournament and taped out at 34.5″. Not a giant by any means but barely enough to secure second place in the Tiger division as another boat also caught a 34.5″ an hour later on the same lake. If it went by weight they would have won being theirs was a much chunkier fish than mine.

I ended up getting out on the same lake a couple days later and managed a 36 or so inch fish using the same baits, same tactic. Basically what we are doing out there is using smaller shallow running crankbaits( SS Shads, Cranes, and Rapalas will all do the trick) and ripping them fast over 8-15 feet of water off the edges of offshore structure. This particular lake was a shallower bite last year but weeds that normally ended in 6 feet are out to about 10+ feet this year. We’ve also seen and caught a few fish this year positioning the boat right inside the weed edge and casting out to deep water. Basically, a bass ackwards approach to muskie fishing, that sometimes can be a big time producer when nothing else is working.

Last Saturday the original plan was to hit up Lake Harriet with my dad at the buttcrack o’ morning but he ended up canceling out at about 8:00 PM. With the weather forecast I knew it would end up being one of those “Can’t miss” days on the water for the mighty Muskellunge. Not long after, my neighbor stopped by to see if I was headed out in the AM and I said “YUP, Do you guys want to tag along?” My neighbor had relatives in from Arizona and they decided they would give Muskie fishing their first shot. Being these fellas had never even tossed a baitcaster or fished for Muskies in their lives I opted for the easy route of Tigers on crankbaits as the learning curve would be a lot quicker.

We hit the lake at about 6:30…. a quick lesson on casting, figure eights, and presentation and we were off. Jay, the brother-in-law of my neighbor ended up whiffing on his first two casts with rats nest backlashes. Third cast ended up being the charm as he launched a beauty and hooked into his first Muskie, pictured above. At this time the jokes about the fish of 1000-10,000 casts were flying. Pretty hilarious that it only took him three! We ended up sticking around till shortly before noon and my neighbor Dennis, who had been skunked for the entire morning ended up kicking our butts in the ninth inning by boating two Skllunges in a five minute time span. Congrats on your first and second fish and new PB! Not bad for two awesome rookies. If you are looking to get out for Tigers at all this is the time…I’ve heard reports from most lakes that have been pretty favorable. Cedar, Wasserman, Gervais, and Clear have all pumped out a few over 40″ so far this year. Get out there, have fun, and most importantly have fun!!!!! GOOD LUCK!