First musky

[casts_by_fly]

Hi gents,

 

so there are 4 lakes around that I fish that have good musky populations but two of them are smaller and have really good populations. I’ve had follows before and even had one hit a buzzbait once that didn’t get hooked. I see multiple 40” fish every time I go to todays lake in particular. Finally today was the day. I was fishing a buzzbait for bass across some shallow eelgrass.  When it hit the water I saw the fish make a wake as it turned. I immediately knew what it was so I gave the reel a couple extra quick turns and that was enough to get the musky to jump on it. It only got the trailer hook in the roof of its nose, so as good as I could have hoped. It wasn’t one of the big ones that are in there, but you have to start somewhere. 27”.  I threw in a couple 2-3 lb bass for the day also. 

 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Muskie is the only yankee fish on my bucket list.   Ever since I was a little kid I've wanted to catch one.

 

Congrats, and awesome Bass as well.  

[casts_by_fly]

51 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Muskie is the only yankee fish on my bucket list.   Ever since I was a little kid I've wanted to catch one.

 

Congrats, and awesome Bass as well.  

thanks. Now just a tiger musky and that will be all of the common essox species here (musky, tigers, northerns, chain pickerel). We have some other less common pickerel around but they are all small. 

[Further North]

Welcome to the club!

We saw  7 today, had two on, none in the net, in about 8 miles of a river float.

They can be like that, sometimes.

[Darth-Baiter]

WOW!!!  love it.  I wish I had them around me.  but NOPE.

 

I'm gonna road trip to Minn to visit a friend.  I am dragging my HOBIE cross country.  next summer hopefully

[Jar11591]

Nice catch! A pure muskie is probably the hardest catch on the esox bucket list. That’s the last one that remains for me. 

[gim]

On 9/5/2022 at 9:31 AM, casts_by_fly said:

I immediately knew what it was so I gave the reel a couple extra quick turns and that was enough to get the musky to jump on it.

 

That's really cool that you got to experience it with a buzz bait strike too.  Now that you've scratched that itch, its time to go after a bigger one.

 

BTW a 40 inch tiger muskie is exceptionally large.  That's like catching a 50 inch pure strain.  The tigers simply don't get nearly as big.  If you pile into a 40 incher with your bass gear, it'll feel like you hooked into a submarine. 

 

I caught a PB 41 inch tiger muskie in 2020 that I had a replica made of.  LAX out of Conover, WI did it.

[WRB]

4 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

That's really cool that you got to experience it with a buzz bait strike too.  Now that you've scratched that itch, its time to go after a bigger one.

 

BTW a 40 inch tiger muskie is exceptionally large.  That's like catching a 50 inch pure strain.  The tigers simply don't get nearly as big.  I caught a PB tiger muskie in 2020 that I had a replica made of.  LAX out of Conover, WI did it.

Beautiful mount? 

[WRB]

Remember I still have a tackle box of vintage musky and lake trout lures in the garage. 

Will list them in the Flea Market forum at bargain lot price.

Tom

[casts_by_fly]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

 

That's really cool that you got to experience it with a buzz bait strike too.  Now that you've scratched that itch, its time to go after a bigger one.

 

BTW a 40 inch tiger muskie is exceptionally large.  That's like catching a 50 inch pure strain.  The tigers simply don't get nearly as big.  If you pile into a 40 incher with your bass gear, it'll feel like you hooked into a submarine. 

 

I caught a PB 41 inch tiger muskie in 2020 that I had a replica made of.  LAX out of Conover, WI did it.

 

My first follow and hit from a musky was last year on a buzzbait (probably the same one) at the other lake.  He hit it enough that i felt weight when I pulled but the hook didn't set for some reason.  I think soft rod and light mono.  That would have been a tussle for sure.

 

I'm pretty sure this one was a pure strain.  Both are in the lake supposedly (it is 20 minutes from the state hatchery so it gets a few excess fingerlings each year).  I've definitely seen pure strains in this lake that were over 40".  A previous trip I had two cruising the open waters nearby and one followed a keitech right back to the boat without taking it.  This trip I had one cruising in the weeds under the boat while I was casting for bass.  They are definitely monsters. 

 

8 minutes ago, WRB said:

Remember I still have a tackle box of vintage musky and lake trout lures in the garage. 

Will list them in the Flea Market forum at bargain lot price.

Tom

 

Last trip out here my dad brought his old box of musky lures.  Suicks, swim whiz, a buzzbait with a blade the size of a child's kite, and some other stuff.  I trolled the swim whiz once and I'll do it again this fall.  

[gim]

4 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

I'm pretty sure this one was a pure strain.

If you're referring to the one in your photo above, that's a tiger muskie.

 

This might help

 

[casts_by_fly]

3 minutes ago, gimruis said:

If you're referring to the one in your photo above, that's a tiger muskie.

 

This might help

 

 

I was.  And I just looked at that picture actually.  I don't have a picture of the tail, but the fins on the one I caught were pointed like a barred variant.  The lack of spots on the pectoral and 'middle bottom' fins don't have any spots either.  That made me think musky.  Then again, the patterning on the face has me second guessing it.

 

That said, the big ones I've seen in there are 'clear' version from above with a pretty solid tan/brown back and sides.  

[gim]

1 hour ago, casts_by_fly said:

That said, the big ones I've seen in there are 'clear' version from above with a pretty solid tan/brown back and sides.  

Are there northern pike in the lake too?

[casts_by_fly]

4 hours ago, gimruis said:

Are there northern pike in the lake too?

no.  It’s a 50 acre man made lake and the muskies are all stocked. Bass and bluegill are native. Trout get stocked once or twice a year. There might be pickerel because they are in every lake here. Definitely catfish. 

[gim]

10 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

no.  It’s a 50 acre man made lake and the muskies are all stocked. Bass and bluegill are native. Trout get stocked once or twice a year. There might be pickerel because they are in every lake here. Definitely catfish. 

You're probably right then.  Its just an odd colored pure strain muskie.  If you know they only stock it with pure strain muskies and there aren't any northern pike, by process of elimination the fish you caught was indeed a pure strain.

[casts_by_fly]

48 minutes ago, gimruis said:

You're probably right then.  Its just an odd colored pure strain muskie.  If you know they only stock it with pure strain muskies and there aren't any northern pike, by process of elimination the fish you caught was indeed a pure strain.

 

 

So now you've got me digging back through the stocking summaries.  In 2016 the state stocked 75 16" fish in there.  That was the last year they put tigers in there.  In 2012 they put about 3000 2" fry in the lake.  In 2011 they put 700 8" fry in the lake (which I'm sure promptly consumed much of the 3000 2" fry a year later!).  Other than that, no record of tigers being stocked in the past 12 years (records online go back to 2011).

 

They have stocked pure strains around 250 every year, mostly in the 10" range.  One year (2018 I think it was) they put in 100 fish that averaged 27".

 

On balance, I think the likelihood is that it was a pure strain.  A 16" tiger in 2016 means it only grew 2" a year to be a 27" fish this year.  I'm pretty sure they grow a lot faster than that, especially with the forage base that's in there (herring, trout, and bluegill).

 

 

On a separate note, in searching the summaries I found that one of my local lakes that I fish all of the time was stocked with tigers in 2018 and 2019.  About 1500 total with 50 17" fish in 2018.  I've never seen one in there, but the water color is always dirty.  That lake gets a few trout every year, but mostly its stuffed with alewifes and carp, perfect for smaller and bigger muskies.  Also loaded with perch and pickerel so a 17" musky would have no problem surviving and finding enough food to get over 30".  

[gim]

8 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

On balance, I think the likelihood is that it was a pure strain.  A 16" tiger in 2016 means it only grew 2" a year to be a 27" fish this year.  I'm pretty sure they grow a lot faster than that, especially with the forage base that's in there (herring, trout, and bluegill).

Generally they don't stock waters with both pure strains and tigers.  At least that's how it works here in MN.  Yes, tigers grow faster than pure strains.  They have the growth rate closer to northern pike than pure strain muskies.  We have a problem with small pike here.  I think the more sizable muskies (pure strain and tiger) prey on the small pike.  I catch a fair amount of small pike with bite marks and wounds on them.

 

I target both pure strains and tigers.  I generally target the tigers more often because there are three smaller lakes stocked with them within 30 minutes of my house, and I can down size my tackle since they don't grow as big.  Here is a sizable one I caught in August.  I had one on that made this thing look small lol.

 

 

[casts_by_fly]

2 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Generally they don't stock waters with both pure strains and tigers.  At least that's how it works here in MN.  Yes, tigers grow faster than pure strains.  They have the growth rate closer to northern pike than pure strain muskies.  We have a problem with small pike here.  I think the more sizable muskies (pure strain and tiger) prey on the small pike.  I catch a fair amount of small pike with bite marks and wounds on them.

 

 

 

We don't have that many pike and it seems the state has tried to keep them in separate waters mostly.  My closest lake has pike and the state uses it at ice out to trap net breeders to milt at the hatchery.  The other big lake I fished a bit this year (that is currently 20' low) has a bunch of BIG pike and has for years.  Otherwise the only other pike fishery we have is a slow river they have been stocking.

 

Muskies on the other hand go in a lot of places.  Our hatchery nearby has a great breeding program to the point that we sell/exchange musky fingerlings with other states.  I think we trade PA for trout, NY for walleye, and sell to other states.  In addition to the two lakes that I fish for bass a good bit, the state stocks another 8-10 lakes with muskies and all have fishable populations.  The northern third of NJ has a lot of lakes in the 100-800 acre range with deep banks and lots of depth.  They are mostly all glacial lakes that were carved out of the mountains.  Think 'finger lakes' style only much smaller scale.  I'm surprised at the density of fish they are putting in the 50 acre lake though.  That's 5 muskies per acre every year for the past 12 years on top of the little bit of tigers and on top of any excess fry they have.  That completely explains why you can go to the lake on any day of the week and see multiple 40" fish cruising the surface.