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Posts: 2
| Duluth Musky fisherman.
I am planning on buying a house on a lake / river in Duluth (moving there for work). What lake or body of water would be the best to buy for musky fishing. I'd like to stay within a half hour of downtown. Island? Fish? St. Louis River?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks |
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Posts: 13
| Island and river are only two destinations with skis in Duluth...that said, and this my personal opinion, Island lake is beautiful but ski fishing can be tough where st louis river is a disgusting cess pool but ski fishing is good.. |
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Location: oswego, il | There may be options on the Wisconsin side too. If you are looking for waterfront proper, there are not many homes on island lake, buying one would be by luck one came for sale and you have what you have.
Edited by ToddM 8/18/2017 7:08 AM
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Posts: 443
Location: Duluth, MN | if your limit is about 30 mins from downtown Duluth your options in MN as stated above are Island Lake and St. Louis River. I live on Island and there are actually a lot of houses on Island but to find one for sale is tough and it has gotten very expensive. A neighbor recently sold what i would say was a 250k house a couple years ago and got 350k for it just last month. Not many places that are actually ON the river. In Wisconsin your looking at Amnicon, Lyman and Dowling. Amnicon is overrun with pike the last 4 years and is not as good a lake as it used to be. Until they do a full fish kill and start over i don't even go there anymore. Lyman is ok but your just fishing numbers really. Anything over 40 is fairly rare. There is no public ramp on Dowling so i have never fished it.
Unless your lucky enough to get a place on Island your probably better off just looking for a nice place in the Duluth Heights area or Hermantown so your closer to Island and just trailer to Island and the River. Island has abut a dozen nice designated island camping spots for weekend trips. |
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Location: MN | A couple other things to be aware of. Many of the houses on Island (as well as some other reservoir lakes in the area) are on Minnesota Power Land and you lease the land. This means you are paying lease payments plus taxes each year. Some properties on Island and the river are in the flood zone and if you need a mortgage the bank will likely require flood insurance which can be as much or more than homeowners insurance, depending on where you are in the flood zone.
There are a fair amount of houses that come up for sale on Island but a lot of them are sold before hitting the market and that is where a good realtor can come in to play. The price tag is going to be pretty steep though. If you aren't set on being on a musky lake there are some other nice lakes in the area that don't have as high of a lake property mark up as Island does.
Most of the properties that are on the river do not have good lake front access. Either they are up a super steep hill, they are in a swampy area or they are on park point where a dock and boat lift aren't very ideal. |
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Posts: 443
Location: Duluth, MN | Yea lease payments on a typical lot can be 3-4k per year. |
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Thanks for the suggestions and information. I am looking at island and the river; there are some houses on superior side of the river but the property taxes are pretty high and the water front is not ideal. Yeah I did a lot of reviewing of the private land versus leased land and it appears the private land commands a higher price. Any issues with the water level being lowered to the point of not being able to get a boat out?
Thanks
Edited by Powerpro21 8/19/2017 5:44 PM
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Posts: 443
Location: Duluth, MN | There can be issues if there are drought conditions. Typically it's not a problem but maybe once or twice in a decade it happens. 3-4 years ago Island was down 3-4 feet all summer long and if you are in a shallow area you can be stuck. I would not base a move there on that though. Here is the website to monitor lake levels.
https://www.mnpower.com/Environment/WaterTable
During the winter they draw down 6-8 feet below summer target. And they shoot for June 1st to have it full. If we don't get enough rain it doesn't fill. They control the outflow as best they can to reach the target but mother nature makes her own rules sometimes.
Edited by Lundbob 8/21/2017 8:21 AM
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