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Posts: 20
| Does anyone have any information about the musky fishing on potato lake? How is the water (clarity)? Any advice is appreciated.  |
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Posts: 646
Location: In a shack in the woods | Location would be helpful. |
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Posts: 605
Location: Marshfield, WI | There is a potato in Rusk county, WI. I haven't been there in years. My best action was in June. It has a thick algae bloom once July rolls around. Never caught anything during the bloom. I had some action in the fall, but haven't fished it much either. Best color for me was black with orange blade bucktail.
Krishna |
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Posts: 305
| Fished the one in Rusk Co. about 10 years ago in early october. Water clarity was light stain. Moderate action for small musky and some big largemouth as bonus fish. Hooked and lost a large musky on spinnerbait in the slop. Best pattern was fishing the edges of slop weeds. If not hitting there go deep into slop. Use heavy tackle if you go. Went with a guide one day named bill schmidke(sp?) and he was fun and very helpful. Have considered returning. Give us a report if you go. |
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Posts: 20
| rusk county |
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Posts: 1286
Location: WI | Looked like pea soup when I was there in August about 10 years ago. Had some action on orange or black topwaters. |
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Posts: 20
| thanks guys keep em coming |
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Posts: 757
| I fished it back in the 90's in Sept. The water is like opening a can of pea soup. The ONLY time I moved some fish was right before dark on a tallywacker and a hawgwobbler. For a while,I believe,the DNR was only stocking walleyes in the lake. If I were to go again,I would throw a firetiger pattern D/C during the day and a magnum hawg wobbler or super topraider at night. Kdawg |
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| I would check out the Chain of Lakes nearby (within 5-10 miles). This IMO is a far superior fishery. Clear water AND some really nice fish. Fun water--real diverse. I fish Sand a great deal. If you want some details on Sand, PM me.
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/lakes/maps/DNR/rusk.htm |
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Posts: 580
| We used to fish Potato a decent amount, back in the mid-90's. Pretty good fishery back then, more of an action lake, but some nicer mid-40" type fish around also. Most fish had good body condition, fairly girthy. The lake isn't very big, less than a 1000 acres, but it fishes bigger than that as there is a good amount of structure.
As noted above, the lake would have a significant algae bloom mid-summer...turns pretty green. I think this distracts the fisherman more than the fish. Early season is a better bet if the algae is a turn off for you. Below the bridge there is a smallish basin with deeper water that stays clearer throughout the season. Good weedlines down there. The larger basin north of the bridge is more of a brownish stain early on in the season, and it's shallower so it's generally a better bet early in the season.
Back then, the lake had some issues with harvest. I remember a certain campground where the locals would soak suckers along the shore throughout the summer months and I'm pretty sure alot of muskies were getting caught and kept that way. Not sure whether that's still a phenomenon, or if that harvest was significant to the overall population. Just an observation.
There are some other options in nearby lakes that don't get pressured too hard. Look up the Rusk County muskie lake lake list. As mentioned above, the Chain is also a good option.
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Posts: 726
Location: Eau Claire, WI | Potato is doing better these days. Catch rates are up and stocking resumed and for some time now. Org/blk is a good color combo and I'd stick to small bucks, spinnerbaits, and topwaters.
there are a lot of options for muskie lakes up and down hwy 40. Don't be afraid to travel, it could save your day if the bite is off on tater.
Good luck,
Jono
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Posts: 1243
Location: Musky Tackle Online, MN | I fished it one time back in the mid to early 90s. The pea soup that others have mentioned is the same time frame that I happened to hit. If I remember right there was another basin (south?) that had some clearer water and this is where we saw our only fish. Of course the water was so green, we could have raised some more fish and we never would have known.
Aaron |
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patato lake