Posts: 618
Location: Bloomington, MN | One of my favorite things to do before muskie season opens is to cruise the shallows just to look at the fish. I've seen a tiger and a natural laying side by side (?spawning?), males so beat up that it is hard to believe that they would survive, and a small patch of bullrushes that contained at least 25 muskies (only a couple just over 30"). The resort I stayed at for walleye opener had a small stream nearby, which the suckers would run up at night. The muskies would be right there with the suckers, and very seldom did we see a fish under 36" on the rocks. One night a friend and I watched a pair swim side by side down the shoreline right to us. They went under the dock, but didn't come out the other side. We remained motionless, so I didn't think we spooked them. I was shocked to see that they stopped directly below us. The female looked to be in the mid to upper 40's, so I carefully walked 10 feet to my boat to get a measuring stick. The fished were sitting an inch below the surface, and their tails were out of the water. We actually were able to measure both of them without spooking them away, even with my face less that a foot away from the big ones head. The male was 37" and the female 51.5". That was the first "official" 50"+ I've seen in that lake in well over 20 years. Do not go out at night "shining" fish. This is considered "Wildlife harassment" even if you do not have any fishing tackle with you (costly lesson that I did not learn first hand). |
Shallow water viewing