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Posts: 23
| Hello everyone,
I am new to this obsession called muskie hunting. I lve in S.E. Iowa along the mighty Miss., and having never caught or fished for muskie, have no idea where this sudden urge to tangle with one
has come from. I have tried a couple of lakes that are close to me with no luck, although I have
become really good at creating those backlash bird's nests that are such a joy to untangle. I will be
on Big St. Germain Lake the week of June 5th for my first authentic muskie fishing trip, and was
wondering if anyone could offer some advice on how to fish this lake. I mainly have bucktails and
topwaters for lures, and also some reaper tails, plus I was planning on getting some tiger tubes to throw as well. Right now I am planning on working weeds and drop-offs, mainly in the morning and in the evening, since I assume this lake will have lots of boaters and jet ski's during the day. Any other advice on how to fish this lake at this time of year will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance, Greg |
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Posts: 149
| There are others who know more specifically about Big St than I, but in general for northern Wisconsin in early June I'd not even bother with topwaters. The musky season up there doesn't even open until May 29th, so you'll be fishing an early spring season opener type situation in early June. That means smaller size baits fished a bit slower. Smaller bucktails should be just fine, as well as smaller jerks like 6" reef hawgs, eddies, etc. Many guys early on use larger walleye or bass type lures like Rapala's etc. Also give plastics and smaller spinnerbaits a try. There shouldn't be a whole lot of recreational traffic that early either. Maybe a few hardy souls out waterskiing or on jetskis but the water really won't be warm enough for "average joe" to think about swimming until late June or even July. I generally don't mess with topwater baits in northern Wisconsin until the 4th of July. Looking at my log book (I fish northern Wisconsin exclusively) I show water temps in the 50's in late May to early June and 60's from early June up until about the third week of June when I have seen the steady 70's for water temps. In 2001 I had water in the 60's into early July.
Big St is a big lake with clear water (1617 acres and 42 feet deep), so I wouldn't expect it to be very warm in early June. Try looking for any new weed growth and concentrate on the warmest water you can find. It's known as a real good musky and walleye lake, so it's a good choice for a fishing destination. You can find a lake map for it on the WI DNR website along with directions on how to print it out on 81/2 X 11 paper:
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/fhp/lakes/lakemap/1591100z.htm |
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Posts: 305
Location: Illinois | Try the creek mouths(Plum, Mud, Lost), and the weedbeds adjacent with a crane and you should be good to go. Good Luck. hj |
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Posts: 256
Location: Janesville | I was up there looking Big siant over this last wekend. and saw alot of muskys on the east shore in about 6 foot ot water the water temp was 55 degrees. The island is always gothe south shore around linn ann campgrounds the south west shore is good to. This is a good topwater lake and i throw topwater if they are not going on bucktails and jerkbaits. I have caught some nice musky early in the year on topwater wwhen the temps are low. I guide these lake up there and the muskys act like my wife.When you think you figured them out they change there mind again. Good luck magnum. |
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Posts: 11
| Will be heading up this saturday for a week on big saint germain. Have never fished the lake before and was just wondering if anyone was having any luck out there so far. Generally I have heard things have been pretty slow but was just looking for any help possible. Thanks. |
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Posts: 492
Location: Lindenhurst, Illinois | Was up there last weekend. Fished Big St. for about 5 hours. Had one shorty on that I lost and didn't see another fish. Nobody that I talked to saw anything. |
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Posts: 3
| If you can't get the muskies going throw the reapers and you will catch pike. Work the island and around the campground |
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| i use too work on big.st in the summers at a campground. persanly i love this lake. i reccomend useing medium size and smaller bucktails with naturel colors such as gold brown yellow orange and black on this lake. Something else i have noticed to is that the majority of my muskies have come about 1 pm to about 3pm . Yes i know this is sorta strange. but there were jetskis every where to last summer i got a nice fat 45 on a very calm 90 degree day and raised four other fish. with bucktails and had another one hooked on a bulldawg on a deep 20 foot weededge. biggest thing i can say is pay attention to other fisherman on what there cacthing and how deep. such if their fishing bout ten to fifteen feet catching bluegills and perch keep that in mind chances are theres predator fish such as muskies lurking hit that spot later when they leave. |
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| Consider hiring a guide. You will learn a ton about musky fishing in general and will have a much better chance at boating a fish. Give Rob Manthei a call. He owns a resort right on big saint and is one of the top guides in all of vilas county. |
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| Talk about digging up a old one the OP is from 2004 |
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Big St. Germain Lake