Minnesota Muskie Opener Anyone?

Once upon a time when I was young and virile, I’d spend some sleepless nights leading up to the muskie season opener and then hit it hard and fast like a D-Day. Not so much now since what hair I have left is ash gray. The same decline is why I no longer frequent night clubs after midnight wearing beer goggles seeing ugly women that look purty.

That and my boat is still dry docked…my bad.

Anyone, anybody get out this weekend muskie hunting?

Any reports if you have any would be nice for my vicarious enjoyment.

This was the first year in years that I skipped it. Chased smallies instead.

I went to a lake that has tiger muskies stocked in it. Was mostly targeting largemouth bass but 5 minutes in had quite a large tiger follow my lure in. 10 minutes later I caught a very small tiger, and 2 hours later had a mid size one rip the tail end of my plastic worm. So at least some decent action, albeit from hybrid muskellunge targeting bass.

gimruis wrote:

So at least some decent action, albeit from hybrid muskellunge targeting bass.

Tiger muskie have all the quality and virtue as any muskie in my opinion.

Guessing metro area lake if stocked with hybrid, wasn’t Clear Lake was it?

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

Tiger muskie have all the quality and virtue as any muskie in my opinion.

Guessing metro area lake if stocked with hybrid, wasn’t Clear Lake was it?

It was not Clear Lake. It was Johanna Lake in Arden Hills.

There is usually a Metro Muskie Tournament held next Saturday on about 15 different lakes around the metro but they cancelled it this season. Its only $35 entry per angler so I may give it a try next year.

I was fishing one of the metro lakes yesterday and had a really good start to the season. Ended up have 6 follows total. Nothing in the boat but was real nice to at least have some activity. Two of them were super lazy but one of the lazy ones was a toad.

Slow for us – first opener morning I can remember with 0 follows. Seems like the lake I go to has gotten a lot tougher to fish over the last 12 years.

mnfisherman18 wrote:

Slow for us – first opener morning I can remember with 0 follows. Seems like the lake I go to has gotten a lot tougher to fish over the last 12 years.

Similar to you, first opener I can remember getting ZERO follows or even seeing a cruising fish or porpoise.

We did however get 3 bites on Saturday and landed all 3. All bites mid day, nothing sunrise or sunset.

Got out solo for 2 hours before the storms Monday night and had a few follows and landed one after sunset.

2 on cranks, 1 on a bucktail, and 1 on topwater. Follows on rubber.

Keep the reports coming guys.

Andy:

Notes from the early season in WI and places you know!!! I have been fishing the Mannie Chain since moving up here in the mid-90’s. Its a place we always start. So to pre-fish before musky league (which started two weeks ago, but missed the first one), we went for a few hours and managed to have three follows with a couple half hearted attempts in those that resulted in no hook-ups.

For league last week we fished same areas looking for those 3 fish, but alas no body wanted to play. We are able to fish from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. There was also a minor that started at 7:30 for an hour and wouldn’t ya know it we had our first swing and miss right at 7:30!!! Then at 8:15 we had another fairly violent encounter, which ended up being a miss also.

I did work at my league sponsor (resort/restaurant) during this past week and the report from the owner/guide and others fishing that came in was a lot of half hearted attempts by almost all of his or his clients muskies. Did hear of a 47″ getting caught from another, but most of the rest of the fish were smaller males.

Fished Thursday Musky League again last night. A 2 hour major window at 6:20 that resulted in nothing last night. I was late because of work and we had those popcorn showers that started early and I think took the sting out of the major as well. Also thinking our SW wind went to NW and that was the killer.

So for the season, there were two fish caught the first night and while a couple little stinkers have been boated the last two weeks, no legals were caught.

Mark

Got out last night to a smaller lake thinking the same wind for the last couple days would have them stacked. Boy was I wrong. Nothing but small pike. Tried everything. shallow, mid, deep, Small and fast, big and slow. Probably wont be visiting that lake anytime soon. Hopefully tomorrow will go better. I see we are having a mainly north east/east wind for today/tomorrow

Was on a Alexandria lake yesterday day and boated 1 smaller muskie 28 inches and a few follows. Seems like when the got to boat they spooked. All action on bucktails with 1 follow on bulldawg.

Slow for musky on Vermilion on day two (Sunday) of the season. Ended up chasing smallies day three and four. No regrets. Great bassing.

Caught my first ‘ski two days on trip #4 of the season. 35″, vicious topwater strike on a Cannonball Jr, 10pm.

Bass Thumb wrote:

Slow for musky on Vermilion on day two (Sunday) of the season. Ended up chasing smallies day three and four. No regrets. Great bassing.

A fellow I know who’s rather hard core muskie hunter just spent a week up at Vermilion chasing.

Says he saw a few nice one’s but nothing boated.

Seeing instead of boating a fish just isn’t quite the same IMO.

There has been some rumors of very nice muskie catches elsewhere though.

Maybe Will Roseberg @MalmoMafioso is due for a report here very soon?

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

Maybe Will Roseberg @MalmoMafioso is due for a report here very soon?

He makes it look too easy, even a kid can do it! I’ve been lucky enough to make it out with Will and he’s got a special program on a special lake dialed in. 4th of July is coming up quick….

BigWerm wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:</div>
Maybe Will Roseberg @MalmoMafioso is due for a report here very soon?

He makes it look too easy, even a kid can do it! I’ve been lucky enough to make it out with Will and he’s got a special program on a special lake dialed in. 4th of July is coming up quick….

There’s a real good one up in that neck of the woods in addition to Mille Lacs.

I was on ML yesterday from 5-10. Saw one sunning, got one follow from a good one, but nothing boated.

I went out but didn’t see any muskies. I did catch a pike and a massive large mouth bass. The bass was caught on an 8” jerk bait.

I’ve done decent in the metro. Have caught 5 so far, but nothing big yet. All sub 40. Bucktails have worked since opening morning for me.

Off to a decent start. I think I had 3 cranks on my first cast and had this one blow up on a topwater 3 times before I got some steel in her.

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I caught a new PB tiger muskie today. Will post a photo later, I may get a replica of it.

Finally got one in the boat this morning. Was a low 30s fish. fished last night too and nothing at all. Hopefully getting out during the week next week.

Nice fish dbright, good to finally see a pic of one.

Gimruis, definitely looking forward to seeing your pic, guessing it must have been a real good one if you’re thinking about a replica.

Were you targeting muskie?…or was it an incidental catch targeting other specie?

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

Gimruis, definitely looking forward to seeing your pic, guessing it must have been a real good one if you’re thinking about a replica.

Were you targeting muskie?…or was it an incidental catch targeting other specie?

I was targeting them. I fish a few lakes around the metro where they are stocked. I’ve had success fishing for them the past few seasons too. I use my stouter bass gear with a leader, as hybrids are notorious for biting smaller lures than their pure strain cousins. Incidental catches almost always include pike and bass though too.

Saturday was just about the best conditions a guy could ask for. It was overcast and finally calm winds. About half an hour in, I hooked into a muskie but I lost it boat side (I was by myself and the dog isn’t much help). It looked to be mid-30 inch range. 90 minutes later, after a couple small pike and a couple decent bass, I hooked into something bigger. The final result is a 41 inch tiger muskie – a new personal best (my previous PB tiger was 38.5 inches). Luckily there was another guy fishing nearby and he saw me fight it and land it and came over to take a couple photos for me. When he saw me lift it out of the muskie net, he said “Holy crap dude, that’ll get your blood pumping.”

My dog decided she wanted to be in the photos too. I’ve got permission from the wife to get a replica made too. Back to the water she went, fully released alive.

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Nice picture gimruis,did you have any issues landing it by yourself?

Jensen wrote:

Nice picture gimruis,did you have any issues landing it by yourself?

Yes, I did. Twice I got her next to the boat with the muskie net ready and it went on another run. Those muskie nets are worth their weight in gold when you need to land a large fish though. They take up a lot of space in the boat, but they are a must. Once I got it in there, I could take my time getting the lure out of its mouth while its still in the water.

Went out wednesday night last week for tigers and only saw one good one. Got out saturday morning for some pure strains and nothing. High skys and no wind will do that sometimes. Any one else seeing any?

Youbetcha wrote:

High skys and no wind will do that sometimes.

Bright hot sun with minimal wind really makes it tough. And muskie fishing is tough to begin with.