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Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | Being that it’s winter and still freezing… I was thinking what lakes I would stock musky into. A few of my hometown favorite lakes came to mind; Clearwater, Bay lake, and farm island (all near Mille Lacs). I honestly picked these lakes because of nostalgic reasons, except Farm island. Farm island would be an amazing lake.
2000 acres + cisco + amazing structure = success IMO.
What Minnesota lake would you stock and why?
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Posts: 2368
Location: Chisholm, MN | Winnie. State record fish, and fertile water. It would be an awesome fishery. |
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | the Ely area would be a dream
if not, a fully loaded Rainy Lake ( yes I know they have a small population already) |
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Posts: 2056
| IMO there are 100's that would be great, Grandparent's had a cabin on Turtle River Lake north of Bemidji,.. 1700 acres, full of whitefish, great weedlines, it could be just like the "Planet" , maybe better. |
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | Long Lake by Park Rapids. Not sure if has tullibees or not, but it could grow tankers regardless. Plus we have a cabin there. |
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Posts: 1828
| Kirby Budrow - 3/3/2014 12:18 PM
Winnie. State record fish, and fertile water. It would be an awesome fishery. I agree with the thought of doubling down on an existing fishery to make it better.
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Posts: 20244
Location: oswego, il | Kabetogama, Namakan and Crane. |
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Posts: 1828
| But for a totally new lake, Trout in Coleraine would be fun to fish, and I imagine it would grow some big muskies. Produces big slime, that's for sure. Lots of forage in there. |
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Posts: 357
Location: Duluth, MN | X2 on Rainy. That could be an incredible fishery with a boost in the population! |
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Posts: 631
Location: Bloomington, MN | Big Birch near Grey Eagle.
Edited by Clark A 3/3/2014 1:16 PM
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Posts: 209
| Gull - amazing structure |
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Posts: 697
Location: Minnetonka | Think about the regions that don't have good muskie fishing nearby. Fill in the gaps.
Green Lake - Spicer, MN. |
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Posts: 223
Location: Victoria,MN | Koronis would be a good one, of course the stocked fish would eventually get into Rice Lake and the Crow River  |
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Posts: 298
| Local = Clearwater and that is never going to happen.
Green lake would be a great addition to that part of the state even though it already has a few in it. Koronis would be an intersting lake in the same region. |
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Posts: 19
| The Whitefish Chain, Gull, Pelican, North Long, the Brainerd Lakes area is in dire need of a musky fishery that is close. So many lakes with potential here. |
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Posts: 20244
Location: oswego, il | How about some of the larger dishpan lakes in southern MN? Give them an earlier opening date. They are loaded with bulkheads and other forage. It would work. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | imo Hammskie has the best idea.... find the areas or regions that don't have good lakes and put em in there...take some pressure off the areas that do... |
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Posts: 785
| I thought it a shame most the lakes proposed on the last go around weren't approved for stocking, North Long being a big one. A few others it'd be cool to see brought into the discussion to put fish in though would be Lizzie and Lida, Big Sandy Lake, and a couple more lakes in the Faribault area where the pressure is fairly intense for one 800 acre lake to support. Lots more come to mind, as mentioned areas with no musky water should get the most attention. |
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Posts: 397
| I would love to see tetonka finally get approved. see as i live 10 minutes from it. other than that i have to drive minimum of an hour to fish |
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Posts: 130
Location: Duluth, MN | Big Sandy would be at the top of my list. Also on the list would be Rainy, Kabetogama, and Burntside. |
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Posts: 23
| Tetonka its already proved it can grow 50 inchers from the fish that escaped into it from the hatchery. German Jefferson chain would be sweet too. |
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Posts: 69
| wabana chain |
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Posts: 2368
Location: Chisholm, MN | Yeah, big sandy or almost any lake that is connected to the ol' Miss. It's all a fantasy though. |
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Posts: 49
| The best lake bar none would be potato lake in park rapids. The lake is big, great forage, tullibee , smallmouth,walleye, pike, sucker, Ect. Plus it's a clear lake that hits 90' ft. With lots of structure such as mid- lake rock humps. Lush cabbage bays. Rivers coming in and out for spawning. Plus we have a cabin on the lake which would make it that much better;).but this would never happen...... People would go nuts if they here that their lake is going to stocked with musky. What I don't understand is that every great Muskie fishery is a great walleye fishery, leech, mile lacs, vermillion, lake of the woods..Every lake should stock Muskie's
Edited by bbradley1 3/3/2014 8:57 PM
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | Crane Lake, and Kabetogama are excellent choices and are great Walleye Lakes.... The Structure on these two lakes are off the charts. |
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Posts: 46
| Whitefish chain would be sweet! |
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Posts: 284
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I will give another vote for Long Lake near Park Rapids. My buddy has a cabin there so I stay up there every year. The drive to Mantrap & Leech isn't bad at all, but I would rather just step out the door and be on muskie waters. |
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Posts: 633
| The Whitefish chain would be great. So would Potato. With Island, and Eagle feeding into it, I think it would be a fun area. Plus that would eventually take a little pressure off Mantrap, and Elk. I know other lakes in the area are on the Minnesota Muskie list, but they have very small populations of Muskies. I would love for them to replenish the populations in some of those other lakes in the area of Park Rapids. |
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Posts: 925
| I too would like to see a few of the lakes mentioned in the Park Rapids area get stocked. For sure take some pressure off of Mantrap. Then definitely Kabetogama and Rainy. That would be awesome. |
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Posts: 697
Location: Minnetonka | T-Bone - 3/3/2014 1:33 PM
Koronis would be a good one, of course the stocked fish would eventually get into Rice Lake and the Crow River :)
Was gonna say Koronis too! It would be a nice combo for that region... might as well throw in Big Kandi and Lac Qui Parle since we're dreaming about it. |
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Posts: 50
Location: Duluth | Had the local DNR tell me that Whiteface Reservoir would be a match. Would be butting heads with walleye guys to try and get it stocked though. |
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Posts: 833
| Kabetogama. It would be a drive, but it has some incredible potential for big fish with it's forage base.
Big Burch in Todd County: Ciscoes, Perch, White Suckers, strong forage base.
Big Deer near Effie: Probably has a nascent population due to tributary to Big Fork River, would be low pressure, has Ciscoes.
I'm biased on the last two since I have easy access.
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Posts: 357
Location: Duluth, MN | Slow Eddie - 3/4/2014 12:16 PM
Had the local DNR tell me that Whiteface Reservoir would be a match. Would be butting heads with walleye guys to try and get it stocked though.
Ive heard the same about Whiteface as well for a few years now. Hopefullly it happens! Be nice to have a lake between Duluth and Vermilion... |
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Posts: 833
| Going to need lobbying $$$ to make that happen. I know old T-Bone is dying to see Koronis get stocked. That lake has Ciscoes too! Would be a fun one for sure. |
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Posts: 223
Location: Victoria,MN | Brad P - 3/4/2014 2:02 PM
Going to need lobbying $$$ to make that happen. I know old T-Bone is dying to see Koronis get stocked. That lake has Ciscoes too! Would be a fun one for sure.
I'm not that old Brad lol
Koronis has some decent habitat |
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Posts: 670
Location: Otsego, MN | Whitefish chain for sure it would be awesome! I've seen 2 of them in there already. |
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Posts: 187
Location: West Metro, MN | I have always thought that Big Marine would be a great muskie lake to add another option in the metro. Tetonka would be great too, the south half of the state is very under represented. |
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Posts: 45
| Fish Lake and Boulder Lakes north of Duluth would be awesome. Both flow directly into Muskie waters/St Louis River. |
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Posts: 203
Location: Alexandria, Minnesota | Minnewaska near Glenwood, MN was a stocked lake back in the 70's would be an awesome lake or the Chain of Lakes in Alex, Carlos is loaded with Tulibees....Also would like to see Winnebigosh stocked like Mille Lacs used to be, put 10,000 fingerlings in there for 10 years.. |
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Posts: 357
Location: Duluth, MN | Boots Electric - 3/4/2014 10:31 PM
Fish Lake and Boulder Lakes north of Duluth would be awesome. Both flow directly into Muskie waters/St Louis River.
I believe Fish and Boulder were stocked a bit back in the 70's. Seems I rememebr my old man getting a couple by accident out of boulder back in the early 80's. Also a few summers ago a guy caught what I am 99% sure was a small 30"ish tiger out of Fish....maybe some of them made it?? I think Fish would be a hard sell at the moment as theyre really working on repairing the crash of the walleye fishery there. Id love to see it though as that would put 4 muskie waters right out my back door!
Edited by bdog 3/5/2014 6:44 AM
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Posts: 54
Location: Minnesota | Whiteface and boulder would be a nightmare would love to own a prop and lower unit shop near by!! Fish lake would be a awesome addition to the Duluth area. Big Sandy would produce pigs excellent forage and super structure with hard to reach backwaters. That would be a musky maniacs paradise! |
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Posts: 72
| Pepin |
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Posts: 373
Location: Maine Township, MN | Ottertail. |
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Location: MN | I'd love to see Fish Lake by Duluth but good luck with that. The DNR and locals will pound their heads against a wall trying to make that a walleye lake. To say Boulder and Fish flow directly into musky waters is a stretch. There are mutliple dams between them and the St Louis trib where the majority of the muskies live.
IMO Big Sandy would not be a good candidate. Look at how many fish died and escaped during the 2012 flood. There also a lot of escape routes that would reduce the stocked fish population. I'd love to see it stocked but I would be suprised if the DNR did. |
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Posts: 994
Location: Minnesota: where it's tough to be a sportsfan! | Spread them out in all areas. dreaming= Madison Lake in LeSuer County. The lake is full of shad up to around 5 lbs. Would be a great fertile growth factory of a lake. Southern MN needs two more lakes bad! |
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Posts: 183
Location: Grand Forks ND | Might as well stock Lizzie, there are already a few in there. |
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Posts: 357
Location: Duluth, MN | Is there any avenue for us muskie guys to push/persuade/ask for particular lakes to be stocked? |
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Posts: 1360
Location: Lake "y" cause lake"x" got over fished | Medicine Lake... I swear that lake would do really well for Muskie, Plus its small so the numbers would not have to be super high to get the job done. Plus I can darn near cast to it from my deck
I would have wished the Sauk Chain of lakes if the same question was asked 5 years ago. But they already did that, which is awesome!
Edited by FAT-SKI 3/5/2014 2:35 PM
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Posts: 223
Location: Victoria,MN | jakejusa - 3/5/2014 1:24 PM
Spread them out in all areas. dreaming= Madison Lake in LeSuer County. The lake is full of shad up to around 5 lbs. Would be a great fertile growth factory of a lake. Southern MN needs two more lakes bad!
Madison or Washington I think would be good , southern Mn definitely needs more.
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Posts: 750
Location: Minneapolis, MN | I'd really like to see something in Anoka County but the forage base probably isn’t that great, no shiners or anything like they have up north to get big, so I don't think you'd get giants. They might actually make pretty decent tiger musky lakes though as they have similar forage bases to Lake Johanna.
I could get behind medicine lake as well.
I would certainly get behind the whitefish chain as it would present an option for a weekend trip that isn't as far way from the metro.
Edited by dami0101 3/5/2014 4:06 PM
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Posts: 96
| All of them!! Call me selfish but miss the days when I was the only one fishing muskies.
Still my fav but WAY too many people on the ski bandwagon these days...just not enough lakes to get away from the crowds no matter where you go. |
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Posts: 397
| Francis would be a good lake as well. Like said above we need more lakes in Southern MN more than we do up Nirth |
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Posts: 994
Location: Minnesota: where it's tough to be a sportsfan! | "Might as well stock Lizzie, there are already a few in there." That's what was thought about TeTonka they are already there. But the new DNR commissioner pulled the plug on the stocking in another truly political maneuver. |
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Posts: 45
| Nershi - 3/5/2014 1:16 PM
I'd love to see Fish Lake by Duluth but good luck with that. The DNR and locals will pound their heads against a wall trying to make that a walleye lake. To say Boulder and Fish flow directly into musky waters is a stretch. There are mutliple dams between them and the St Louis trib where the majority of the muskies live.
IMO Big Sandy would not be a good candidate. Look at how many fish died and escaped during the 2012 flood. There also a lot of escape routes that would reduce the stocked fish population. I'd love to see it stocked but I would be suprised if the DNR did.
Not a stretch at all. Boulder flows directly into Muskie water. Fish flows into the outflow of the Muskie water. The reason many of the lakes already stocked, were chosen, was there assimilation to(if loosely) to the great lakes or bodies of water harboring(if but a remnant) Muskie pop. In terms of Duluth area waters, there aren't many better choices, and as the second largest populated region of the state, arguing for another Muskie lake in the area isn't a stretch. Having ties to waters already containing Muskies would be ones best chance for being chosen imo.
Edited by Boots Electric 3/5/2014 5:21 PM
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Posts: 1000
| Kabetogama would become the next Vermillion. Diddo for Rainy.
A couple more:
Clearwater by Annandale - big, lots of structure/forage, and would take some pressure off of Sugar
Farm Island - for the days when you get blown off Mille Lacs
Crow River in the west metro - would add a different type of fishing experience and provide opportunities for anglers who don't have boats. |
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Posts: 12
Location: Maple Grove MN | i would like to see the natural musky lakes that no longer have a fishable population of musky be restored.
May
Sugar
Mule
lower Bottle
upper bottle
emma
stocking
little sand
big sand
Belle Taine
Ida
Long
Spider
Steamboat
Wolf
Girl
Woman |
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Posts: 69
| brenth - 3/6/2014 6:57 AM
i would like to see the natural musky lakes that no longer have a fishable population of musky be restored.
May
Sugar
Mule
lower Bottle
upper bottle
emma
stocking
little sand
big sand
Belle Taine
Ida
Long
Spider
Steamboat
Wolf
Girl
Woman
While they are at it they could fix the lakes they diluted the gene pool on with shoepac fish, moose deer (spider only has shoepac) by stocking a few year classes of leech lake strain. |
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Posts: 540
| woman lake needs more so does little boy and wabedo. also as a new lake ten mile lake in Hackensack would be awesome, technically it should be already with the river systems and the connecting swamps from leech and boy river chain but it never happened naturally I guess or it did but not enough to sustain healthy enough over the yrs and slowly died out of muskies as some of the lakes in this area i believe maybe have. |
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Posts: 13
Location: Dawson, MN | Only problem with lac qui parle is the best part of the lake is closed during Oct and Nov
Green lake or Minnewaska or Ida get my votes |
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Posts: 1084
Location: Aurora | BFD - 3/3/2014 2:04 PM
The Whitefish Chain, Gull, Pelican, North Long, the Brainerd Lakes area is in dire need of a musky fishery that is close. So many lakes with potential here.
x2 |
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Posts: 165
Location: tHe LaKe Of PrIoR, mN | I would like to see the lakes that have muskies in them get the recognition that they are there make it a fishable population
I know lizzie was said and I have personally seen many muskies in fishtrap that got in there via alexander give them the bump to make them a solid fishery
I also would like Long near PR big sandy and heck why not prior lake since i have houses/cabins on all of them |
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Posts: 89
| I would love to see Potato Lake near Park Rapids get muskies I think it has the makings of being good lake. Also in the Park Rapids area I would like to see Long or Big Sand. I think Mantrap receives too much pressure and I've seen to many dead muskies floating around that lakes. The reason I say Potato is because my parents have a cabin on that lake. |
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| kirby is an all-star and Winnie has superfish potential...but i'd prefer to keep pure genetics pure(or as close as possible) probably splitting hairs Mississippi/Leech strain are already in there but there is something sacred about catching one in a purely natural population. I'm with Brenth...fix the lakes we screwed up!
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Posts: 399
| Southern Minnesota needs more musky lakes ... stock Tetonka |
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Posts: 163
Location: NoDak | x5 on lizzy, drastically different structure and water than pelican and Detroit lakes. make that region one to spend money in to create an awesome vacation for anyone wouldn't hurt to fill the whole chain in Mellissa, sally, etcetera.. |
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Posts: 18
| Great thread. Love to hear all the different perspectives and ideas. The shame of it is that the DNR has no interest in stocking new lakes with muskies. I worked very closely with them for almost 4 years on stocking muskies in new waters. Being totally "unobvious" to me was that the DNR was not planning on actually do it. They like to talk about stocking new lakes but I don't see it happening as long as they continue to allow the lake associations be the deciding vote. Most lake association as not going to vote for a muskie stock program. Then the Dark House spearers show up in force and scare off the DNR even further. So when I see the new legal length limit move to 55" I have to scratch my head. Their will be so few lakes that will contain a 55" muskie it will be like winning the lottery. If the DNR REALLY wanted to preserve the muskie fishery in MN they would go back to doing the thing that created the awesome fisheries of Mille Lacs, Tonka, and Vermillion. They did this by stock yearling muskies, adults, not fry or fingerlings. Since they have stop this practice, the muskie fishery has been dying ever since on these lakes. What a same! Then to even think about stocking NEW waters....not gonna happen with the present mind set of the MN DNR |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | I would put my vote towards Lake Koronis and Rice Lake. I grew up just a few miles west of Koronis right alongside the North Fork of Crow River. There is tremendous forage in Koronis in the way of whitefish, suckers, bullhead, carp and perch. I caught many big Northerns in that river and Koronis.
To this day, I have never seen another Esox any where near the size of a Northern Pike I saw in the Crow river next to our farmyard. The Crow river out there often gets high in June after heavy rains - just like we're seeing this year. The water goes up after heavy rains and is usually dirty for a day or two. But then it clears out and the shiners and chubs come up and then the hungry Walleyes and big Pike come up after them. (Suppose they still do.) I was walking along the river near the barn and there it was right by the bank swimming slowly up the rapids. At first I thought it was just another log, but it swam away as I walked up to it. Sure wish I had my fishing rod instead of my 22 Marlin. (I needed protection against snapping turtles you know.)
From what I understand, the option of stocking Koronis was presented to the Paynesville Sportsman Club back in the 80s and they were afraid their Northern Pike spearing would be shut down. It seemed that it wasn't well explained to them that they could have Northern Pike spearing and stocked Muskies too. So, they said no. I think that if it was presented differently, they might be open for it.
Edited by Herb_b 6/16/2014 2:12 PM
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | I believe the DNR has started stocking the Horseshoe chain by Richmond, which is about 15 miles east of Koronis. That is a new Muskie water. That system is similar to Koronis/Rice with lots of rough fish for forage. |
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Posts: 18
| Herb
Your Koronis example makes my point for me. Its the perfect lake, there is interest, then along comes the dark house group. The DNR turns and runs. They have talked about stock the Horseshoe chain for 20 years. To this date I have not confirmed any stocking of yearling or adult. The dark house group is all over this one too. Let me know when you catch your first Horseshoe muskie. |
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Posts: 925
| How big of a group of dark house fisherman is there? I could be way off base, but I would assume there are more musky fisherman that dark house spearers? If that's the case, they just come together as a group better and have a bigger voice than we do? |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | I know they have stocked the Horseshoe chain with at least some yearlings caught from a rearing pond. At any rate, its going to take a number of years before those fish reach trophy size. I'd say wait ten years and then check it out.
I don't know if or how much the darkhouse association is involved on Lake Koronis. I would think the Paynesville Sportsman Club would have more of a say on that lake though. I haven't been out to Paynesville much lately, but the Sportsman Club used to be a very active organization.
I kind of doubt if the DNR would want to start stocking Koronis if they are already stocking the Horseshoe chain. |
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Posts: 793
Location: Ames, Iowa | Little Boy and Wabedo have big muskies in them but more fish just equals more pressure. There are a lot of Wabedo fish that seem to stay deep. I trust the DNR is doing it right with starting the correct new lakes and maintaining others. I think Kabetogama would be an interesting addition. |
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| I would pass on Rice. Water gets nasty in the summer and there is hundreds of spear houses in the winter on the lake. Really boring structure in the lake as well. |
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Posts: 1760
Location: new richmond, wi. & isle, mn | Go to kfan and podcast last Thursday on " fan outdoors " (6/12 hour 1). They interviewed a dnr fish biologist about mn muskie stocking. It was very general in nature but informative none the less. |
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What MN lake would you stock?