Any other musky/pike nuts here?

[Ogandrews]

I love bass fishing but my real passion is fishing for pike and musky. I’ve been obsessed with these big toothy fish ever since I was 6 years old and had a 50”+ musky come out from under the dock I was fishing on and eat the 15” or so smallmouth I had on my line. Ever since that day I knew I wanted to catch the fish that was eating the fish other people were catching. There is something so special about seeing a true trophy esox, either pike or musky, that keeps me casting for hours on end. The fish in my profile picture is my pb northern at 44.5” that I caught out of my kayak, that fishes head was the size of a shovel and it had the tail of another northern sticking out of its throat. The speed and strength of these fish is incredible, musky get a lot of love around here but it is a shame that more people don’t like to target pike. Anyone else here love fishing for these toothy guys? Once the season opens on Saturday I’ll be spending the next month or so targeting pike until the water gets warm and musky season opens. Really going to try hard to break the MN state record for catch and release pike, I was only 3/4” off last fall I know it is doable. Still haven’t gotten a truly big musky but I have caught a number in the 40’s, really want to break that 50” mark this year too.

[jimmyjoe]

  I fish the Mississippi, and you're gonna have a conversation with Mr. Pike sometime or other, no matter which specie you target or which technique you use. I saw a kid about 8 y.o. with a Snoopy combo catch a nice hefty pike a few years ago. You just never know.

   There have been many times that I've fished for bass in areas that I KNOW have good bass populations. Nothing will bite, though. Not even sandies or wipers or drum. It's as if nothing is there. That's when I tie on a steel leader and go to a 1 oz. Dardevle or a Zonar.

   Bingo!

   Musky is a different subject. There's only one lake close to me that has them. I fish for bass there, but I use a steel leader there also. I've caught 2 this spring .... or maybe I should say they caught me.

   At any rate, it's fun.

 

   Good luck on your quest!     jj

  

[Bluebasser86]

I love fishing for muskie, but we have none in the entire state in public waters. I have to drive a minimum of 3 hours to chase them and rarely get to make the drive to do it.

[soflabasser]

I have a caught a couple muskies while on vacation up north and I enjoyed fishing for them. They remind me of the barracudas I catch in South Florida which is a fish I enjoy catching very much.

[A-Jay]

The majority of the medium to large lakes in & around my neck of the woods, have a decent population of very respectably sized Pike and or Musky.   

I do bass fish a good percentage of the time, fish these most fertile waters enough and you're bound to bump into them. 

I too think they are just very cool and enjoy catching them, sometimes when we least expect them.  

Accordingly, I fish with a decent trace of wire much of the time.

Helps me keep my baits but also assists in having a better chance of landing one of these toothy beasts.

Admittedly smaller pike can be a nuisance at times, tearing up baits, catching the larger more robust versions of both is always a rush. 

I don't land them all but have been fortunate enough to hold a fair number.

 

A-Jay

 

 

 

[gim]

I muskie fish about 5-6 times a season, generally later in the summer and early fall.  The season doesn't even legally open up here until June anyways, so targeting them before that is poaching.  Its hard.  Its one of the most difficult adventures I regularly attempt to tackle.  Giant lures, heavy action rods, big bait casting reels, 80 pound braided line...it makes for physically demanding and emotionally draining hours of fishing to be honest.  Going bass fishing and then accidentally catching a muskie really isn't "muskie fishing."  That's called by-catch.  It would be like a muskie angler catching a bunch of big bass by accident and the claiming he was bass fishing.  There is a poster on here named Further North who knows what I'm talking about.

 

As for pike...can't stand them for the most part.  They're aggressive, slimy, and they ruin lures if (if they don't trim your line all together).  There's WAY too many of them around here in parts of central Minnesota and the DNR has liberalized the daily bag limit to 10 in an attempt to get people to harvest more of them.  Big pike are very rare these days too.  Its almost exclusively the 20 inch hammerhandles that are unchecked.  Every once in a while I'll tie into a decent one but the ratio of small to big ones is about 200 to 1 (or worse).

 

Lately I've been targeting tiger muskies.  I fish 3 lakes somewhat regularly that has stocked fish and its a blast.  And since I don't have to use the over bearing huge tackle/gear I do when I target pure strains, its far less physically demanding because I can basically use oversized bass tackle instead.  The biggest I've gotten is 38.5 inches.  Here's one from last season.

 

A true muskie net is a must if you target them.  Its an invaluable tool.  It takes up a significant amount of space in the boat but it really helps when you tie into one, especially if you fish alone.

[Dwight Hottle]

I have chased pike hard for a lot of years. From Alberta to Saskatchewan to Manitoba to Ontario to the Northwest Territories. From Great Bear to Great slave to Athabasca to Munroe lake to Scott lake to Georgian Bay. Loved every minute of it. Also chased musky for a few years from Ohio & New York to Georgian Bay & Lake St Clair. Long live the Esox. 

 

 

 

[Ogandrews]

10 hours ago, gimruis said:

I muskie fish about 5-6 times a season, generally later in the summer and early fall.  The season doesn't even legally open up here until June anyways, so targeting them before that is poaching.  Its hard.  Its one of the most difficult adventures I regularly attempt to tackle.  Giant lures, heavy action rods, big bait casting reels, 80 pound braided line...it makes for physically demanding and emotionally draining hours of fishing to be honest.  Going bass fishing and then accidentally catching a muskie really isn't "muskie fishing."  That's called by-catch.  It would be like a muskie angler catching a bunch of big bass by accident and the claiming he was bass fishing.  There is a poster on here named Further North who knows what I'm talking about.

 

As for pike...can't stand them for the most part.  They're aggressive, slimy, and they ruin lures if (if they don't trim your line all together).  There's WAY too many of them around here in parts of central Minnesota and the DNR has liberalized the daily bag limit to 10 in an attempt to get people to harvest more of them.  Big pike are very rare these days too.  Its almost exclusively the 20 inch hammerhandles that are unchecked.  Every once in a while I'll tie into a decent one but the ratio of small to big ones is about 200 to 1 (or worse).

 

Lately I've been targeting tiger muskies.  I fish 3 lakes somewhat regularly that has stocked fish and its a blast.  And since I don't have to use the over bearing huge tackle/gear I do when I target pure strains, its far less physically demanding because I can basically use oversized bass tackle instead.  The biggest I've gotten is 38.5 inches.  Here's one from last season.

 

A true muskie net is a must if you target them.  Its an invaluable tool.  It takes up a significant amount of space in the boat but it really helps when you tie into one, especially if you fish alone.

I have really been wanting to fish some of the metro tiger lakes this summer, never caught one. One thing that is nice about southern mn is that the lakes I fish have low populations and a really solid average size. Mix that with a huge forage base and a longer growth period and you get some really big fish. I have heard multiple times that central Minnesota has an issue with really overpopulated pike.

 

1 hour ago, Dwight Hottle said:

I have chased pike hard for a lot of years. From Alberta to Saskatchewan to Manitoba to Ontario to the Northwest Territories. From Great Bear to Great slave to Athabasca to Munroe lake to Scott lake to Georgian Bay. Loved every minute of it. Also chased musky for a few years from Ohio & New York to Georgian Bay & Lake St Clair. Long live the Esox. 

 

 

 

Those are some awesome fish man, I really want to make it up to the NWT some day. Have you ever fished lake vermilion in Minnesota? It’s where I musky fish the most and last year a guy caught the state record catch and release musky at 57 1/4”. Some of the biggest musky in the world are in that lake, there have been a handful on confirmed 60” fish caught in the past.

[Way north bass guy]

Around here, there’s some fantastic pike and musky fishing. When I used to fish tournaments, I won way more money in the spring fishing pike tournaments than for bass. I used to fish for musky a lot more seriously, but don’t get the chance to do it as much nowadays, but I do still get out quite a bit for pike, especially in the spring, and again later in the fall. When a big ole gator smashes your bait right at the boat, if that doesn’t get your heart moving, you better quit fishing. 

[Ogandrews]

1 hour ago, Way north bass guy said:

Around here, there’s some fantastic pike and musky fishing. When I used to fish tournaments, I won way more money in the spring fishing pike tournaments than for bass. I used to fish for musky a lot more seriously, but don’t get the chance to do it as much nowadays, but I do still get out quite a bit for pike, especially in the spring, and again later in the fall. When a big ole gator smashes your bait right at the boat, if that doesn’t get your heart moving, you better quit fishing. 

Those are awesome fish man. Glad to see some other people that actually enjoy fishing for pike, seems like their so under appreciated here. Granted we don’t have Canadian caliber pike, but if you know what your doing and on the right fishery there’s some fish in the 40’s. Really wish we had pike tournaments around here, would be way more excited to do that than bass or walleye tournaments.

[gim]

13 hours ago, Ogandrews said:

I have really been wanting to fish some of the metro tiger lakes this summer, never caught one.

There are 11 lakes stocked with them in the greater metro area.  While they don't obviously get quite as big as a pure strain, they're generally bigger and more powerful than pike (and significantly tougher to catch too).  If I ever crack the 40 inch mark, I may get a replica made.  The color they have is pretty incredible.

 

You could technically run into one by accident on any body of water that has both pure strain muskies and northern pike.  A naturally-produced tiger muskie would be very rare but it is possible.  I was with my Father once about 15 years ago when he caught one on Isle Bay in Mille Lacs.

 

A friend of mine pickles the small pike he catches.  Occasionally he'll give me a jar of it.  Its pretty good to be honest.  Works well to dissolve those tiny bones in all those 20 inchers.

[Dwight Hottle]

13 hours ago, Ogandrews said:

I have really been wanting to fish some of the metro tiger lakes this summer, never caught one. One thing that is nice about southern mn is that the lakes I fish have low populations and a really solid average size. Mix that with a huge forage base and a longer growth period and you get some really big fish. I have heard multiple times that central Minnesota has an issue with really overpopulated pike.

 

Those are some awesome fish man, I really want to make it up to the NWT some day. Have you ever fished lake vermilion in Minnesota? It’s where I musky fish the most and last year a guy caught the state record catch and release musky at 57 1/4”. Some of the biggest musky in the world are in that lake, there have been a handful on confirmed 60” fish caught in the past.

No never fished Vermilion. Closest I have gotten is Rainy Lake on the Canadian side. I caught my first 50" plus from Lake St Clair back in the late 70's. She was a November fish that went 34lbs. I only have a few Polaroid black & white photos of her. I have been in Musky Jakes a bar/restaurant up on the St Lawrence that has Ken Obrien's monster mount hanging on the wall. That is a beast. 

[Ogandrews]

8 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

No never fished Vermilion. Closest I have gotten is Rainy Lake on the Canadian side. I caught my first 50" plus from Lake St Clair back in the late 70's. She was a November fish that went 34lbs. I only have a few Polaroid black & white photos of her. I have been in Musky Jakes a bar/restaurant up on the St Lawrence that has Ken Obrien's monster mount hanging on the wall. That is a beast. 

That’s awesome, that fish should be the world record musky. It’s amazing the “world record” fish caught by Louis spray out of the Chippewa flowage hasn’t been disqualified yet. That fish has been proven to be nowhere near the size it was claimed to be, as well as the supposed 67 lbs er caught in the same year by cal Johnson. Both of those fish were completely bogus weights meant to bring tourism to the Hayward area. It is hard to say weather or not the ken O’Brien fish was exactly what it weighed but it for sure a much bigger fish then the two others I talked about. It’s a shame there wasn’t the modern day musky record program back then, Larry Ramsell does an amazing job of making sure fish are legitimate. He did a video with today’s angler where he went through and talked about how the vast majority of musky records have been completely faked, give it a watch it’s a super interesting show.

9 hours ago, gimruis said:

There are 11 lakes stocked with them in the greater metro area.  While they don't obviously get quite as big as a pure strain, they're generally bigger and more powerful than pike (and significantly tougher to catch too).  If I ever crack the 40 inch mark, I may get a replica made.  The color they have is pretty incredible.

 

You could technically run into one by accident on any body of water that has both pure strain muskies and northern pike.  A naturally-produced tiger muskie would be very rare but it is possible.  I was with my Father once about 15 years ago when he caught one on Isle Bay in Mille Lacs.

 

A friend of mine pickles the small pike he catches.  Occasionally he'll give me a jar of it.  Its pretty good to be honest.  Works well to dissolve those tiny bones in all those 20 inchers.

There recently was a naturally occurring tiger that somebody caught out of the St. Louis river near Duluth that could have potentially broken the world record. Google St. Louis tiger musky and it will come up, fish looks unreal how fat it is.

[Way north bass guy]

30 minutes ago, Ogandrews said:

That’s awesome, that fish should be the world record musky. It’s amazing the “world record” fish caught by Louis spray out of the Chippewa flowage hasn’t been disqualified yet. That fish has been proven to be nowhere near the size it was claimed to be, as well as the supposed 67 lbs er caught in the same year by cal Johnson. Both of those fish were completely bogus weights meant to bring tourism to the Hayward area. It is hard to say weather or not the ken O’Brien fish was exactly what it weighed but it for sure a much bigger fish then the two others I talked about. It’s a shame there wasn’t the modern day musky record program back then, Larry Ramsell does an amazing job of making sure fish are legitimate. He did a video with today’s angler where he went through and talked about how the vast majority of musky records have been completely faked, give it a watch it’s a super interesting show.

There recently was a naturally occurring tiger that somebody caught out of the St. Louis river near Duluth that could have potentially broken the world record. Google St. Louis tiger musky and it will come up, fish looks unreal how fat it is.

I live about a 20 min boat ride away from the exact spot where Ken O’Brien caught that fish, and have fished the same area before. There are some giants on Georgian Bay, and a LOT of water out there that gets zero fishing pressure. 
I also know of a few lakes around here where natural tigers are fairly common. I’ve caught about a dozen out of the one lake over the years, biggest is on my wall, a 41”er. They are one of the most beautifully coloured fresh water fish we have. 

[Ogandrews]

1 hour ago, Way north bass guy said:

I live about a 20 min boat ride away from the exact spot where Ken O’Brien caught that fish, and have fished the same area before. There are some giants on Georgian Bay, and a LOT of water out there that gets zero fishing pressure. 
I also know of a few lakes around here where natural tigers are fairly common. I’ve caught about a dozen out of the one lake over the years, biggest is on my wall, a 41”er. They are one of the most beautifully coloured fresh water fish we have. 

I looked into it a little bit more and Larry ramsell went and weighed ken obrians fish 8 days after it was caught and it was 57lbs. Most likely lost a good amount of water weight in the time it was in the freezer. Still an insanely big fish. In 2000 or so there was a legitimate 62lbser caught in Georgian bay but the guy only got it weighed on a trade scale not a igfa certified one so it wasn’t as official. I know that somewhere out there in Georgian bay and the saint Lawrence/Ottawa rivers there is a world record swimming around. Maybe not over 69 lbs because that was a completely faked number, but definitely bigger than the modern day world record of 58lbs. I know there are fish in Minnesota and northwest Ontario that could break that number too, it’s just a matter of if someone will actually kill that fish when they catch it so it can be certified. One great thing about the Minnesota musky scene is that it is almost 100% catch and release which really lets the fish grow to their potential, and I know Ontario is similar.

[gim]

Lake Elmo in the northeast portion of the metro has some big tigers because it has a reproducing population of ciscoes.  Its a deep, clear lake but its not very big.  The current state record of 37 pounds came from that lake.

 

A 40 inch tiger muskie is like a 50 inch pure strain.  The hybrids just don't get as big.  I'd get a mount or replica if I caught one too.

[Ogandrews]

9 hours ago, gimruis said:

Lake Elmo in the northeast portion of the metro has some big tigers because it has a reproducing population of ciscoes.  Its a deep, clear lake but its not very big.  The current state record of 37 pounds came from that lake.

 

A 40 inch tiger muskie is like a 50 inch pure strain.  The hybrids just don't get as big.  I'd get a mount or replica if I caught one too.

I have seen a few fish come out of that lake that were quite nice. Been thinking about trying a lake called crystal lake by robbinsdale as well. Really little lake with a pretty high population of golden shiners, seen a couple really solid ones come out of there as well. I’m sure most of the lakes that are stocked have a couple bigger ones in there, I just need to pick a lake and make a couple trips there until I tie into one.

[norb]

Any tips you got for me ? ? tried so hard these last 5 days and I only got a single bite. Season just opened and its still pretty cold here in Montreal, Canada so my guess is that they are still inactive and are not shallow yet? any help is much appreciated, im getting desperate now haha. 

[Nelson Delaney]

33 minutes ago, norb said:

Any tips you got for me ? ? tried so hard these last 5 days and I only got a single bite. Season just opened and its still pretty cold here in Montreal, Canada so my guess is that they are still inactive and are not shallow yet? any help is much appreciated, im getting desperate now haha. 

Patience patience patience. Esox fishing is not for everyone.   You are probably not doing anything wrong. 

[Ogandrews]

37 minutes ago, norb said:

Any tips you got for me ? ? tried so hard these last 5 days and I only got a single bite. Season just opened and its still pretty cold here in Montreal, Canada so my guess is that they are still inactive and are not shallow yet? any help is much appreciated, im getting desperate now haha. 

As long as the ice is out the pike will be somewhere shallow most likely. They spawn in super shallow marshy bays as the ice is going out, and then will stay shallow until the water gets too warm for their liking. First pike I caught this year was in 36 degree water in about 2 fow on a keitech swimbait fished ridiculously slow. As water gets warmer the pike will progressively move away from spawning grounds and to more traditional feeding areas in bays. Weed lines, inside and outside weed turns, points, shallow drop offs, channels and dips in bays, stuff like that. While the water is still cold, and even when it’s warm, I fish super slow most of the time. My top spring baits are a keitech swimbait rigged weedless, a suspending jerkbait, a 4” phantom softtail glide bait, 1/4-3/8oz swim jig, and an s waver 168. Even though pike will eat big baits, if your not getting bites put on smaller baits. I have caught some really big pike for my area in 3.8 keitechs and really small jerkbaits. Once the water warms up more I will start throwing some more bucktails/chatterbaits/spinnerbaits but I very rarely pick them up this time of year. If I was going to a new body of water i would start with the biggest weed flat I could find between 3-10 fow and start working it shallow to deep. If you can find an indent in a flat like 5 feet in a 3 foot flat, that can be absolutely money.

[soflabasser]

Fishing for big bass is very similar to muskie fishing since you need lots of patience and really understand what makes these fish want to bite. That challenge is one of the things that makes these fish so fun to catch.

[norb]

42 minutes ago, Ogandrews said:

As long as the ice is out the pike will be somewhere shallow most likely. They spawn in super shallow marshy bays as the ice is going out, and then will stay shallow until the water gets too warm for their liking. First pike I caught this year was in 36 degree water in about 2 fow on a keitech swimbait fished ridiculously slow. As water gets warmer the pike will progressively move away from spawning grounds and to more traditional feeding areas in bays. Weed lines, inside and outside weed turns, points, shallow drop offs, channels and dips in bays, stuff like that. While the water is still cold, and even when it’s warm, I fish super slow most of the time. My top spring baits are a keitech swimbait rigged weedless, a suspending jerkbait, a 4” phantom softtail glide bait, 1/4-3/8oz swim jig, and an s waver 168. Even though pike will eat big baits, if your not getting bites put on smaller baits. I have caught some really big pike for my area in 3.8 keitechs and really small jerkbaits. Once the water warms up more I will start throwing some more bucktails/chatterbaits/spinnerbaits but I very rarely pick them up this time of year. If I was going to a new body of water i would start with the biggest weed flat I could find between 3-10 fow and start working it shallow to deep. If you can find an indent in a flat like 5 feet in a 3 foot flat, that can be absolutely money.

First of all, thanks for the detailed answer. I mostly use a 3.8 keitechs and fish it very slow. I was fishing in a shallow bay that has a ton of vegetation but didnt get bit. I also tried jerkbaits and flukes without luck. I guess im doing everything right but i’m just unlucky, i’ll keep trying! Thanks for the help

[jimmyjoe]

   Caught 3 pike today on 1) 4/5 oz. hammered nickel Cop-E-Cat, 2) 5/16 double-bladed Aglia in Firetiger, and 3) Pink-n'-Peach 1/2 oz. Zonar .  You don't get much weirder than that kind of combination!   But all were in shallow water, all within 10 feet of shore, lying in wait in the warmer water.

   Also caught 2 bass (dinks) on the same lures. Why does a 1 lb. bass hit a 4/5 oz. spoon?

   I don't know the answer, but it sure is fun to get back to the river for a little while!      jj

[gim]

10 hours ago, soflabasser said:

Fishing for big bass is very similar to muskie fishing since you need lots of patience and really understand what makes these fish want to bite. That challenge is one of the things that makes these fish so fun to catch.

Muskie fishing does require a ton of patience because you can go years without catching one.  If you're going years without catching a big bass...move on to another activity.  Its pretty rare not to catch a single bass in an outing in my opinion, although big ones are obviously rarer.  Get used to going with a fish almost every time you go muskie fishing.

[soflabasser]

4 hours ago, gimruis said:

Muskie fishing does require a ton of patience because you can go years without catching one.  If you're going years without catching a big bass...move on to another activity.  Its pretty rare not to catch a single bass in an outing in my opinion, although big ones are obviously rarer.  Get used to going with a fish almost every time you go muskie fishing.

I caught my first muskie the first day I fished for them and caught a couple more after that one. They are not as hard to catch as some people think they are but they do require more effort to catch compared to bass. You do have to understand what makes these fish bite, where to fish, when to fish, and what to use in order to catch muskie and big bass.