Musky, Musky, Musky!!!

Since you frosties are off the ice and my Fisher’s Ice Out prediction for August 18th is in <sarcasm> and the Musky Expo in St. Paul is this weekend. I have decided to spend my tax return on gearing up to go gunning for Musky this year. This is my first year with an RV on Mille Lacs and I just joined IDO…

I’ve been doing some research. Some learking around here. AND I took one of Gene Millers legendary trips. Had the time of our lives. However… Gene like many others has gone commercial. He has taken on a partner and is charging you for $400 bucks for 6 hours of service. Gene is a great guy and I wish him all the luck in the world. With that said in the amount of musky fishing I want to do and the cost to use Gene’s gear and Gene’s boat and Gene’s knowledge it’s just cost prohibitive. I know he took us on the east side of the lake. I understand there are weedbeds along there as well as a drop off with a primarily sandy bottom. Gene also bragged that he was the first to name all the weedbeds on the lake. (is that true?)

Correct so far?

Like Gene I plan to use Planer Boards and basically troll. What I don’t know is where Gene positioned the boat. Is he skirting the edge of the weedbeds or buzzing the top of them or keeping to a curtain depth. I’m not trying to steel anything from Gene… I’m assuming he’s using typical musky weedbed fishing techniques that I could find for free on the the internet. Or (I hope) here.

Also are there other area’s on the lake where musky prowl? I’m stationed in Garrison but have no problem using any one of the resorts or public launches to get in the water.

I haven’t begun to purchase gear yet either. However I’m in a position to get 50% off St. Croix rods and 10% off of a lot of the other stuff like lures, landing net, line and so on.

So any suggestions on preferred or proven gear would be nice too.

Kevin

Kevin Collins wrote:

He has taken on a partner and is soaking you for $400 bucks for 6 hours of service.

That’s figures out to $66.66 per hour, for just the time he spends on the water with you.

Lets hope when you go out with your boat you don’t at some time need the services of a boat mechanic shop. They will “soak” you (your term) as follows;
In 2005 the national average for shop labor according to Boating Industry Magazine was $75 per hour.
I don’t know what that computes to in todays dollars.

Just a suggestion, You could probably have just asked for advice on purchasing Muskie gear, and left out the comments on cost of guided trips.

Huntindave… My sincere apologies if my choice of words offended you. I guess it’s safe to assume you are a friend of Gene’s or a guide yourself. That’s great… We loved Gene. He is quite the character. However he priced himself out of our range and can’t afford his services any longer.

Again. I’m sorry if my choice to describe a substantial price hike as “soaked” offended you. You come on my thread and flame me? I do believe there are some rules regarding that practice. Perhaps you might want to go back to Saylorville Lake and fish for some carp.

Geez… Is everyone on this forum this sensitive? Or is it an Iowa thing?

Kevin,

When you go to the show, ask people what they think about Gene. I don’t think he has done any good for the population on the lake.

Learn about how to safely release fish, how to keep them in the net to remove the hooks. Get yourself a good set of tools (hook cuters, baker t-handle, etc)

The key is to remove the hooks safely, never put the fish into the boat and try to remove hooks. Take the fish out, snap a pic, take a measurement and put back in water. That whole process should be done in under a min. Also if the water is warm in the summer, sometimes I just release them from the net to ensure there is no un-needed stress on the fish.

Back to gear, yes there are some deals there, that is where I would get some rods if the opportunity presents itself, reels there are a nice deal as well.

For lures on the other hand, I find that the Thorne spring sale fills that gap to get what you need for trolling. The guides there will help out with baits that they use. I personally use mattlocks and headlocks.

Look guys. Very small community, close nit group, everyone knows everyone. I get it. I too love Gene and his story. I don’t need to ask anyone anything about him. I know him too… I have NOTHING against him or his wife at all. They are awesome. I am sorry I said Soaked. Can we please get past that?

Kevin, I would recommend checking out the muskie expo this weekend in St Paul. Plenty of knowledgeable musky guys there. If you want to mainly troll, you don’t need to break the bank on rods and reels. If you also want to cast heavy baits, you may need to spend more money on a good reel and rod. You need a good net for sure. Also tools that will allow you to treat the fish decent (knipex hook cutter, pliers, etc). As for where to troll? Weeds – Yes. Rocks – Yes. Sand – Yes. Breaks – Yes. They can be in all of these places. You will figure this out the more experience you get. Keep you fingers crossed that MN approves 2 lines.

Thanks Bzzsaw….

I particularly like this vid on Youtube on proper release care and gear to do so.

bzzsaw wrote:

As for where to troll? Weeds – Yes. Rocks – Yes. Sand – Yes. Breaks – Yes. They can be in all of these places. You will figure this out the more experience you get. Keep you fingers crossed that MN approves 2 lines.

Gee Bzzsaw that’s a pretty broad stroke. So just zig zag all around randomly trolling over rocks, sand, weeds and breaks??? It cannot be that easy. LOL…

Kevin Collins wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>bzzsaw wrote:</div>
As for where to troll? Weeds – Yes. Rocks – Yes. Sand – Yes. Breaks – Yes. They can be in all of these places. You will figure this out the more experience you get. Keep you fingers crossed that MN approves 2 lines.

Gee Bzzsaw that’s a pretty broad stroke. So just zig zag all around randomly trolling over rocks, sand, weeds and breaks??? It cannot be that easy. LOL…

Kevin, I’m not trying to be a wise guy. I mainly troll for muskies. Not so much on Mille Lacs. I’ve caught them at various depths and different types of structure. Points are always good. Pay attention to the moon phases and weather changes. These can be key for triggering them to bite. Zig zagging can also be effective in speeding up and slowing down your baits. And also allows you to hit various depths.

Kevin Collins wrote:

Huntindave… My sincere apologies if my choice of words offended you. I guess it’s safe to assume you are a friend of Gene’s or a guide yourself. That’s great… We loved Gene. He is quite the character. However he priced himself out of our range and can’t afford his services any longer.

Again. I’m sorry if my choice to describe a substantial price hike as “soaked” offended you. You come on my thread and flame me? I do believe there are some rules regarding that practice. Perhaps you might want to go back to Saylorville Lake and fish for some carp.

Geez… Is everyone on this forum this sensitive? Or is it an Iowa thing?

Never safe to assume,,,,,,,,,, I don’t know anything about this fella. I was just putting the rates you quoted into perspective.

Not sure about your comment about fishing for carp,,,, Who’s getting personal?

You can buy gear.
You can buy a guide.
You cannot buy experience.

Good luck.

Dive in and start fishing.

Huntindave wrote:

Not sure about your comment about fishing for carp,,,, Who’s getting personal?

Fair enough Huntindave… Truce?

bzzsaw wrote:

Kevin, I’m not trying to be a wise guy. I mainly troll for muskies. Not so much on Mille Lacs. I’ve caught them at various depths and different types of structure. Points are always good. Pay attention to the moon phases and weather changes. These can be key for triggering them to bite. Zig zagging can also be effective in speeding up and slowing down your baits. And also allows you to hit various depths.

Never claimed you were being a wise guy. Just broad . I was trying to dial you in a little tighter. So I’m guessing you’re saying it’s not that easy to say one thing or one location or one technique works for every situation. Is that what you’re saying?

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

You can buy gear.
You can buy a guide.
You cannot buy experience.

Good luck.

Dive in and start fishing.

Thanks Fishblood. That’s the plan just trying to improve my odds. Trying to isolate some areas to focus on rather than the entire 132,000 acre lake. LOL…

Has anyone ever heard of the RT Milk Run?

Kevin Collins wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>bzzsaw wrote:</div>

Kevin, I’m not trying to be a wise guy. I mainly troll for muskies. Not so much on Mille Lacs. I’ve caught them at various depths and different types of structure. Points are always good. Pay attention to the moon phases and weather changes. These can be key for triggering them to bite. Zig zagging can also be effective in speeding up and slowing down your baits. And also allows you to hit various depths.

Never claimed you were being a wise guy. Just broad . I was trying to dial you in a little tighter. So I’m guessing you’re saying it’s not that easy to say one thing or one location or one technique works for every situation. Is that what you’re saying?

Yes. Exactly. I’ve had some success trolling but I’ve also spent several days in a row just burning gas without any action.

Catching muskies is hard. And its even harder at a place like Mille Lacs because there’s even less specifically in that lake. The population density there is super low, but the average size is pretty incredible. Plus it has serious record breaking potential. In other words, you’re after Big Foot.

If you get Fox Sports North, I would recommend watching Keyes Outdoors and Musky Hunter. You can learn alot just watching their shows. In Depth Outdoors is also on my watch list.

Thanks for the tip Bzzsaw… I do not get Fox Sports North but I checked Youtube and both are well represented on there.

Bzzsaw… tell me more about this moon phase thing.

One thing I’ve learned. If you want to consistently put big fish in the boat. You must live on the water… At least when you’re tasking yourself with a regular goal of catching the upper 95% size class.

After you’ve done that. You’ve got the experience to realize that irregular trips thereafter will yield marginal results. Gotta be your life… Like that guide you speak fondly of.

Been there with sturgeon. Oooodles of work for consistent fish over 50#. Now I barely fish them because I know the work it takes and I’m also not interested in marginal success.

You’ve found a muskie pattern… When you’ve consistently put fish in the boat. Nothing short of that.

Zander? is that you? doesn’t look like you need any help trolling…

tradersbayrookie wrote:

Zander? is that you? doesn’t look like you need any help trolling…

Oooooo apply ointment directly to burn!!! LOL… That is if you’re talking to me Traderbay… If so I am not the Zander that you speak of.

Can you troll your own thread?

tradersbayrookie wrote:

Zander? is that you? doesn’t look like you need any help trolling…

It didn’t take long for me to smell something was kind of…off? Something a little “different” here when the OP’s second ever post on this forum is already throwing punches.

It’s also easy to pick up on posting style, technique, use of words and how they come across to the readers.

And yes, they smell familiar…but who knows? This certainly wouldn’t be the first to return to this forum under the guise of another persona.

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

This certainly wouldn’t be the first to return to this forum under the guise of another persona.

What are you trying to say Andy? Or should I say JD

Joe Scegura wrote:

What are you trying to say Andy? Or should I say JD

I was thinking JD too!

The best thing you can do is keep a fishing journal. Record everything from weather, moon phase, wind direction, time…. This way you can look back at your journal and find similar situations where you have marked fish in the past so you know where to try again later. It all takes time and the fish keep moving with their food preference.

Also, you should pick up Musky Strategy by Tom Gelb. Best musky book I have read so far.

Joe Scegura wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:</div>
This certainly wouldn’t be the first to return to this forum under the guise of another persona.

What are you trying to say Andy? Or should I say JD

Nobody is immune to this time of year!

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

This certainly wouldn’t be the first to return to this forum under the guise of another persona.

You’re right Andy… You caught me you clever guy you… I”m not really Kevin…

I am THOR god of thunder!!!!