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Posts: 55
| I'm looking at spending 10 days or so in late August at Big McKenzie Lake. This would just be a fishing trip, for whatever can be caught. Is there anything I should know about this lake in late summer?
Al |
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Posts: 36
Location: Blaine, MN | The indians have speared most of the muskies and walleyes, so you won't find many of those species. Many northerns and bass now in the lake. Many, many & many sunnies in the lake now. Some crappies, but not many larger than 11" anymore either. |
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Location: Green Bay, WI | Fished it many times in the early 2000s. Never saw anything larger than about 40-42" as far as I recall. There is a TON of awesome structure, and it's a really fun lake to figure out--although the South end gets really weed-choked in the Summer, as I recall. Water quality was very good, and it was a great lake for the family as well. Lots of panfish for the kids and such.
I am sure there must be a big musky or two left in the lake, but I sure never saw anything that impressive. And I talked to a number of guys then who told me that the numbers of big fish had indeed declined. But keep in mind that this was 8-10 years ago, so things might have changed some. I will say that it was a pretty nice action lake, once you learned the structure.
Have fun though...it is a beautiful lake!
TB |
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Posts: 55
| Thanks guys! |
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Posts: 321
| Besides spearing, I believe there were numerous catch and keep muskie tournaments that did a number on the lake. Still plenty of muskie/walleye to catch. H |
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| Anybody else hear the rumor that this used to be one of Bob M's favorite lakes a couple decades ago? |
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| His parents owned a resoret on it back in the 70's & 80"s. |
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Posts: 580
| Here is an email that I received from the WDNR biologist a couple years ago about the muskies in Big McKenzie:
>
>The muskie population on Big McKenzie is very low and probably will remain
>so for some time. We have maintained a regular stocking program but
>survival of stocked fish has been very low for a long time.
>
>I believe the problem has been a huge increase in the bass population since
>size limits were imposed in 1989. Walleye and northern populations also
>declined. The bass essentially over exploited the forage base. Growth rates
>of bass, walleye and northern have all declined.
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>As of May 16, 2005 the bass size limit was taken off Big and Middle McKenzie.
>I hope reducing the bass population will benefit walleye and muskie
>fishery but its going to take a number of years.
>
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Location: Green Bay, WI | Apparently they need to have a few "catch & keep" bass tournaments there, by the sound of things. We did catch a few largemouth bass 10 years or so ago, but I don't recall catching that many. Apparently they've grown more prevalent...
Are bass any good to eat? I don't think I've ever seen many people keeping them.
TB |
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Location: Green Bay, WI | guest - 5/30/2012 2:33 PM
Anybody else hear the rumor that this used to be one of Bob M's favorite lakes a couple decades ago?
When we moving to the Spooner area back in 2001, we looked at buying a house on the lake. I talked to a number of local people about the fishing, and the lake in general. I got numerous reports of "monsterous" muskies, but I suppose those could have been 45-50" fish in the years leading up to these reports. I talked to a could very accomplished musky guys in that area there, and they indeed reported seeing really big fish in the 1980s. Somewhere along the way they either were harvested or died, I suppose. And if recruitment has been in decline due to over-predation of the fry, then that explains a lot about why they haven't seemed to come back.
Shell Lake like like that as well, to some degree--huge fish potential, but a growing Largemouth Bass population.
Time to come up with some sure-fire recipes for LMB...
TB |
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Posts: 62
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When we moving to the Spooner area back in 2001, we looked at buying a house on the lake. I talked to a number of local people about the fishing, and the lake in general. I got numerous reports of "monsterous" muskies, but I suppose those could have been 45-50" fish in the years leading up to these reports. I talked to a could very accomplished musky guys in that area there, and they indeed reported seeing really big fish in the 1980s. Somewhere along the way they either were harvested or died, I suppose. And if recruitment has been in decline due to over-predation of the fry, then that explains a lot about why they haven't seemed to come back.
Shell Lake like like that as well, to some degree--huge fish potential, but a growing Largemouth Bass population.
Time to come up with some sure-fire recipes for LMB.
I agree 100 percent. I'm from Shell Lake and almost every time I've fished it I have seen nice fish. Big Mac on the other hand has skunked me so many times I am about to stop fishing it. The deep structure and crazy boat traffic forces the fish very deep. Trolling crankbaits and getting snagged every 50 yards does not interest me at all for the skis out there.
One benefit is when you're throwing top waters you will get an unlimited amount of blow ups from 10 in LMB...haha |
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| you will be one of only handful of boats on the water Mon-Thurs. You can catch small bass all day long on a leech, lots of snake size pike. Musky few and far between. |
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| guest - 5/30/2012 2:33 PM
Anybody else hear the rumor that this used to be one of Bob M's favorite lakes a couple decades ago?
Yes Bob grew up fishing that area and knows the lake like the back of his hand. He taught me how to fish it and showed me tons of mid lake structure. It is an amazing body of water.
It never was easy fishing for skis there, pretty clear and I think the earliest I ever got one was 4th of July weekend but we had weather rolling in so me made an hour + drive to fish Mac. Not a numbers lake, but yes when they were on putting 2-4 fish in the boat was not uncommon. And the fish were always fat pigs.
I'm sure there are still some fish in there, but I don't think natural reproduction was ever great there and if the DNR hasn't been putting enough in that's not helping the situation.
Sad to hear that the indians ruined the lake I have been there in probably 15 years and would've liked to gone again. |
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Posts: 55
| I did fish it last fall. I missed one nice muskie on a green tensile spinner but that was it for muskie. I did catch one ncie northern on a shallow raider ad some smaler northern. I caught tons of bass up to 3 pounds. It was a tough trip because the water was down about a foot. That lake doesn't have enough depth to lose a foot. The weeds were almost impossible on the one end of the lake. |
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