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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | A lake near me has recently been getting some stocking of Musky from the DNR. In 1998 they started with 2500 12 inchers. In May of 1999 they did a net sampling of the lake and found some in the 15-19 inch range. How fast do they grow under ideal conditions. The lake is also stocked with tons of walleye and channel cats, both of which are the main target species of the lake because of their numbers. The netting also showed: bullhead(black and yellow), crappie(black and white), bluegill, catfish, carp, gizzard shad, sunfish, largemouth bass, longnose gar, smalmouth bass, walleye, white bass, white sucker, and yellow perch. It seems like the smaorgasboard of available baitfish would make for well fed Muskies. I mention this assuming they would not be slow growing because of the available forage. I also think the lake gets very little attention targeting these Musky.
Anyway, long post to ask how big might they be this year if they were planted in 98 as 12 inchers?
Edited by lobi 2/7/2004 10:35 PM
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Posts: 1046
| Lobi, its hard to say but what I learned as our club stocks every year and the first 2 years of there life is the fastest they will grow for the rest of there lives.The forage base sounds excellent with from what I learned is the bullhead,suckers,WHITEBASS,perch and shad will make-up alot of there diet with all the others mixed in.It will also depend on lake size and water clarity that will affect growth, along with genes. This is things I learned from people doing stocking and in that field. I am not an expect, as to having a hands on opinion!
Oh ya, my guess from the 98`s they would be 32"-38" maybe a couple 40`s
Edited by The Handyman 2/7/2004 3:10 PM
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | Barbee Chain in Indiana where I fish was stocked in Oct. '98. I have seen and heard of guys catching fish into the low 40" range, like about 43". It has been stocked,I think, every year since '98 also. It has a real good population of fish between 35" and the 40" range. We started with fish in about the 10-15" range..Here's a picture.
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 '98 Musky Stocking.jpg (55KB - 280 downloads)
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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | Cool pic of the little ones.
This lake is pretty good size at 1270 acres. It is a dammed off river with a river in on the left of the pic. This pic is about 1/2 the lake. Max depth is 30 feet with most of the lake at about 5-10 ft.
Sounds like there might be some decent fish worth chasing already. Look at the map pictured on the link and tell me where and how you would fish this lake. I know there is a lot of data missing like underwater structure etc but do your best. Zebra mussles have cleaned up the water and the weed growth has risen as expected. The water is light brown but good visability for sight fishing. Help me with the map game. I'm tired of filing hooks, making new lures, cleaning reels, etc. Time to think about actual FISHING!!
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Posts: 1046
| I know one thing,??????? If your opener is may 15, or there abouts would be gett`in 100% of my attention in the spring untill water started getting toward that 60 deg. mark then I would start looking elsewhere.If those spots have some veggies and some wood thrown around I would spend even more time there,espically in a higher water year, but my guess is that they have that place water regulated.After that time frame on that amount of acres with somuch 5-10` structure I think I would start serious trolling myself. Just one mans opinion, looks like a fun springtime place though!
Edited by The Handyman 2/8/2004 7:23 AM
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Posts: 2361
| my normal size groupings seem to be 12-14 stocked at 1/2 year
20-22" at 1.5 years
24-26" at 2.5 years
29-30.5 at 3.5 years
at least these seem to represent most of the fall fish on GR with a gizzard shad forage base |
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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | So.. maybe some 35 to low 40's by now then. Hmmm definatly worth putting in some casting time for. 
Help me out more of you pros who can read a map. I'm definatly thinking Bucktails, gliders and surface baits because of the shallow waters. Do you pound those points? What about the deep spot down near spot 5, even the deeper finger in spot #2?
I hope everyone had a blast at the musky shows. I wish there was a Detroit Musky show, but it is probably better that there isn't. |
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| Lobi
That lake had fish in the 40-42" range in the summer of 2003. They'll be bigger this summer obviously. There is so much good structure in that lake that you really can't go wrong. Watch for the schools of bait that will usually be crappies or shad and concentrate on those areas.
Will |
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| 40 inches for sure in seven years, could be 50 inches in 12-13 yrs |
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Posts: 236
| All depends on location. Unless its down south those number seem hard to believe. Possible if its those fish that live in hotubs. 
Slay em |
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Posts: 32926
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | On Pelican here in Central/Northern WI a 13 year old fish will be between 48 and 51 inches. |
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| Yeah, I know... but those numbers are based on aged (aged by biologists: from clitherum, vertebra, and scales) fish here in NC Minnesota. They grow a lot faster than pike and those numbers seem to be consistent in numerous lakes in this area (Leech, Bemidji, Mille Lacs and etc...) |
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Posts: 140
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I had a young lady catch a fish out of my boat june 8th, 2002.
The muskie was 42 inches long and was pushing 20 pounds. I noticed that this fish had a fin clipped off of it. I called the park office that keeps records of stockings. I asked them when there was left fin clipped Leech Lake strain muskies stocked in the lake.
The answer I got shocked me. This fish was stocking in the lake October 1999 and it was 18-19 inches long.
This fish more than doubled it's length in less than 3 years.
I have other stories of rapid muskie growth in this lake, but that story was by far the most impressive, so I thought I would share it.
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liz fish.jpg (145KB - 180 downloads)
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Posts: 140
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They said that a picture is worth a thousand words, so I dug the picture out and posted it. |
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Posts: 73
Location: Hazard KY | Fish of that age down here in Ky would be between 40-48 inches. It takes about 9 to 10 years to get a Fifty from 12 to 13 inch stockers. fry takes about 4 years longer to acheave the same size. 2 years ago a cleint boated a 44" we got the same fish the next year it was 48" off of the same rock bar. Both of my 52's were 13 years old and a 54 was 12 I think our fish bump out at 12 to 14 years.
Good Fishin
Chris Haley
ww.kentuckymuskie.com |
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