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| Any one been out to mantrap lately where are thy now |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | I was there during the big front Fri and Sat, I couldn't find them. Had one miss and one follow, that was it. Lots of guys fishing it because all the other lakes in the area were in the FS tourney. Talked to quite a few, heard of two being caught, didn't see anyone have much action. It will get better though |
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Posts: 335
Location: Minnesota | I was there on Saturday trying to stay out of the wind with my kids. I moved one sub 40" fish in about 4 hours. |
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| Has anyone tried Potato Lake near Mantrap? |
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| There are no muskies on potato |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | There are some in Bad Axe, Upper and Lower Bottle and Big Sand though. |
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Posts: 921
| I don't think there's a fishable population on any of the lakes mentioned in the prior post. I've been fishing Mantrap for 15 years. |
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| Someone I know was talking about 5-6 fish nights out on Belle Taine, just down from the Bottle and Sand lakes. And I think I've seen pictures of fish from Potato. Aren't all those lakes connected to Mantrap?
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Posts: 752
| I was up there (Mantrap) from the 1st to the 8th. I fished hard (10-12 hours/day) and put 8 in the bag. There were two guys staying at the resort I was at that had been there for 2 days when I left and I know they had 3 in the bag and 1 lost fish and they were also fishing "hard". IMHO they are there you just need to keep grinding to find them.
Edited by Mojo1269 9/13/2012 9:11 AM
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | Didn't say fishable population, just some. The lakes I mentioned are connected. And I've heard there are fish in Belle Taine also. |
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| Would a person be able to easily try these lakes out in a weekend? Are they close enough together that you could hop between Potato, Bottle, Big Sand, and Belle Taine to look for muskies?
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | Probably, but you'd be wasting your time since there aren't any muskies in Potato. The jokers posting pics and saying they're caught in Potato are catching them in Mantrap. Pretty funny, huh? |
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Posts: 437
| Or the people saying there arent muskies in Potato are trying to protect it. Just a thought.  |
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Posts: 548
Location: MN | Have a cabin on Eagle lake in Park Rapids. Eagle is connected between Island, and Potato. No muskies since 1976. ( you are welcome to test your skeg on the rocks in the main basin of Potato )
Everyone in the area that catches fish and doesn't want to say what lake it was caught on say Belle Taine. 
Nick
Edited by Nick59 9/19/2012 7:10 AM
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| My family has been vacationing on Belle Taine for 20 yrs and I fish it pretty heavily (for bass/pike) - I've never seen a musky there nor have I ever been able to verify a musky being caught there (including speaking to DNR people). There are "silver" pike in the lake which some might confuse for a ski but I've never caught one bigger than about 25".
The chain all the way from Mantrap to BelleTaine is occasionally connected in high water years and very once and a while I've heard of a ski in Bottle/Sand but that ain't often...
It's too bad because in the 40's and 50's that whole chain was a great musky fishery but the dark house groups in Hubbard Co are stong so the DNR "gave in" and made the whole chain except for Mantrap open to spearing and thus don't manage it for skis.
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Posts: 921
| Good point MN Steve. At some point Belle Taine had to have a fishable population of muskies as Nevis has a musky as the landmark in town and even have Muskie Days. At some point before my time Nevis was the musky capital. And I'm only 38. Been fishing muskies for 15 years in the Park Rapids area and never heard of muskies on any of the lakes mentioned except Mantrap. |
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Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | MuskyMidget - 9/19/2012 11:11 PM
Good point MN Steve. At some point Belle Taine had to have a fishable population of muskies as Nevis has a musky as the landmark in town and even have Muskie Days. At some point before my time Nevis was the musky capital. And I'm only 38. Been fishing muskies for 15 years in the Park Rapids area and never heard of muskies on any of the lakes mentioned except Mantrap.
I have a buddy who has a cabin in on Belle Taine. It was built in the 20's I think. There are old newspaper articles and pictures still left on the wall clearly showing Muskies being caught on the lake (an others in the area). Also had a list including the biggest caught for the year etc. Too bad the DNR doesn't reintroduce them since they were native... |
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Posts: 833
| Belle Taine is listed as a Musky Lake in the MN DNR Long Term plan, but when you check out the lake on the lakefinder there is no stocking and no fish in the survey. Doesn't mean there are not any in there, but probably not a large population. |
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Mantrap lake