Come up to Minnesota. We've got a bunch of lakes. There's even a saying about it or something. And I can show you all where the muskies and sturgeon are.
It needs to stop being so freaking windy. Might sneak out tomorrow because it's supposed to rain all weekend. Doubt it will be very eventful but I've got to scratch the itch.
Been there. Canoed the boundary waters for seventy miles. Loved it. The mosquitoes were as big as humming birds. Screw that.
This is the best muskie recipe I've come across Filet muskie Sprinkle with lemon juice, salt, pepper, and cilantro Grill on a cedar plank for 13 min/side Remove from grill Throw the muskie away and eat the cedar plank. The problem with muskies is that they're the apex predator in most freshwater lakes. That means they eat all of the other fish and acquire all of the mercury, PCBs, and other toxins from the fish they eat. You could eat them if you wanted to, but if you're a woman who's pregnant or plans to have kids, you definitely shouldn't. Aside from that, most states have size limits. Here in MN, it's 54". WI is something like 38". With the price of highly realistic reproductions about the same as a skin mount ($10-$12/inch), most muskie fishermen wouldn't consider ever keeping a single fish. There are a few potential world records in the last few years that were released because of this.
the goddamned swivel and snap on that fly are heavier than anything i throw. those fly guys for musky are batshit crazy. what do you think that fish in the picture measured lhprop1 ?
Hard to tell for sure from that angle, but I'd guess it's mid to high 30 inch range. It's a small guy, but it's got a great paint job.
i'd imagine that's probably maxed out for size in that water system. there aren't a ton of rivers in that part of the state with the right conditions to support large populations. state record is 41 lbs 8 oz
Size is dependent on available forage, but also on genetics. The Leech Lake or Great Lakes strain are the two with the most genetic size potential. Those are all of the monsters you see coming out of Lake St Clair (Great Lakes strain) or Minnesota waters (Leech Lake strain). The one in the picture is most likely an Ohio strain, which is middle of the road for genetic size potential.
based on the shop that posted it my guess is the French Broad. I found this on a forum after googling a bit on them in the state. from 2010 Spoiler The muskellunge was native to North Carolina, restricted to a few mountain rivers that flow to the Ohio River Basin, but poor water quality had all but eliminated them by the early1950s. Improvements in water quality by the early 1970s-thought due to the Federal Clean Water Act-prompted restoration efforts for muskie in North Carolina's French Broad, Nolichucky, Cane and New rivers. Tiger muskies, a hybrid of northern pike and muskellunge, have been stocked into in North Carolina's Kerr Scott Reservoir and lakes Rhodhiss, Hiwassee and Fontana. The North Carolina muskie record is a 41-pound, 7.84-ounce fish caught from Lake Adgerin 2001 by Richard W. Dodd. The North Carolina tiger muskie record is a 33-pound, 8-ounce fish caught from James Lake in 1988 by Gary Dean Nanney. The original American rangefor muskellunge was from north of the St. Lawrence River, through the Great Lakes, into western New York, the Ohio River Basinand the Tennessee River Basin in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The official world all-tackle record currently standing is a 69-pound, 11-ounce fish caught Oct. 20 1949, by Louis Sprayfrom the Chippewa Flowage in Wisconsin according to the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in Heyward, Wis. So being from MN I am a Muskie guy. Has anyone ever seen or caught a muskie in NC? I am reading here that they are in Kerr, lake james, Lake Adgeror how about the Cane river. I am interested to see if anyone has seen any. They seem to have some size down in the lake Adgerarea.
With 2 young kids, I don't get to hit the water nearly as much as I'd like, so I do the next best thing and watch shows and read about it. I probably have more books about hunting, fishing, and gardening than most people have, period.
i should subscribe to some good fishing magazines. Anyone know any good ones for inshore/offshore? I should also get some books on trout fishing and red fishing
Guy I know just launched a cool little fishing product on Kickstarter - check it out https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1411117523/tangler-the-knotless-fishing-tackle-feed-spin-snap
I dunno. Seems like to much on the line. I'll try it out if he can send one. Bout the hit the lake now. Whats yall's go to worm. I like a pumpkin color this early or a good lizard seem to attract the bigger bass.
So I was at the lake and the weirdest thing I've ever seen happen. All of the fish in the lake surfaced for about two hours. Just hung around on top of the water. Hundreds of them. It was crazy. I tried throwing top water baits at them but they didn't bite. I've never seen anything like it. We just had some really heavy rain but the water was as calm as ever. I guess it had something to do with the oxygen in the lake.
Went bass fishing but start having lure problems so I threw on a crappie spinner and started tearing them up. Gonna go grab a bucket of minnows and try and catch some food. I love it when the crappie are biting good.
Possible some kind of algae bloom which would decrease the dissolved oxygen in the water. Have the temps changed drastically where you are?
In Jackson Mississippi. It was only for a few hours that thursday evening. I called my dad to come see and he said he's never seen anything like it.
Just got in from fishing. Didn't do as good as last weekend. Direction/speed of wind hurt and all the rain last week.
caught it all on live shrimp under popping cork. there's a little grass island i was fishing near. the flounder hang out right on the island in shallow water. they were on the side of the island that was sheltered from the wind. Yesterday was all about finding an area that was sheltered from the wind that was a natural funnel for bait. When I found it the fish were there. I had it dialed in consistent for a bit but that died aftee like 20 minutes. Then I could never get on a pattern or locate them again. Tons of croaker and small trout and hardheads in my honey hole right now. caught a rat red too.
Took my nephews crappie fishing with my dad. Would've caught more but they still don't have the patience. Had to teach them about death and eating the animals we catch or kill.
Went out about noon an treaspassed onto this guys property with a bad ass lake that never gets fished. All I'm catching is little bass. Gotta find something the bigger fish will hit. This could be a nice honey hole. He doesn't ever come back here and it's just a quarter mile walk through the woods from my house.
That was netted by the DNR out of Spirit Lake in Iowa during their spring netting last week. They do it to collect the eggs for the hatcheries. That monster weighed in at 47 lbs, only 3 lbs shy of the state record. During the fall bulk up, it would be well over the state record. They put her back and she's still out there swimming. Go get 'er boys. From the IADNR: This fish is 49.4 inches and 19 years old. It is a member of the 1997 year class, which was stocked as a 2-year-old fish. It was part of a group purchased from the Upper Great Plains chapter of Muskies Inc. It was stocked in Spirit Lake in June 1999 at around 17 inches. This muskie has since been caught by gill net crews 7 times, including the exact same date (April 18) last year. She has given us eggs at least two times. In 2002, this muskie was 34.7 inches and enjoyed a tenure as a Muskie Representative at the Iowa State Fair as a mere 5-year-old. After the fair, it was brought back and released unharmed."
Ugly? That girl has a beautiful paintjob. They don't really fight that hard relative to their size. The strike is absolutely explosive, but they tire quickly. We use the heaviest gear you can for muskies (modified saltwater gear) because they have a very high hooking mortality rate if you spend too long fighting them. Even if you only fight them for a little bit, they're so deprived of oxygen that it takes a fair amount of time to revive them. Sturgeon, on the other hand . . . woof. If you hook into a good sized one, you'd better have packed a lunch. I use my muskie reels for sturgeon, which have about 25 lbs of drag. Even with the drag on lockdown, a mid-40 inch sturgeon will still strip line at will. All you can do is try to hang on and hope they don't wrap your stern anchor line (which they seem to have an innate ability to do).
Crappie are just now coming into full bloom in central Miss. It is so awesome. Trying to catch bags full of em so I can fry them for my fam and nephews. Its been such an amazing spring so far fishing here.
The omniscient federal government has given the gulf states 9 days to fish for snapper. I don't really bottom fish, but the way they count fish is absurd and kills jobs. There are a trillion snapper out there.
The worst is how they handle the commercial licenses. Something like 100 people own all of the snapper allotment in the entire gulf and sell portions of theirs at huge markups.