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Posts: 11
| I believe we are on the downhill side of it, big fish are still being caught but dwindling government funding and more fishing pressure than ever is changing the fishery. It's time the fisherman to start taking over responsibility for the fisherey. Responsible and ethical fishing is what will save it from being decimated. Strictly my opinion. |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | Therein lies the rub. When you start talking about legislating responsibility or ethics, some folks have a real problem with that unfortunately. |
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Posts: 552
Location: deephaven mn | a new heyday can be created if muskies are introduced to new waters.
we've seen it work, just need 6 or 8 new lakes and twenty years from now
there will be high fives! and ye haws! happening |
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Posts: 374
Location: Bemidji | New lakes will be hard to get with all the cuts being made. This is one of the reasons we have focused on protecting what we have (56in size limit). |
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Posts: 246
| When was the first and last big stocking efforts on Minny,s big lakes?Don't they stock every year or just on select lakes? Thanks |
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| JKahler - 2/5/2013 1:03 PM
I don't fish waters with high fishing pressure, although it is increasing every year. That said, the last couple years have been tough. The heat in 2012, the late spring and lack of weed growth in 2011. I had a lot of action in 2009 when I didn't fish as much, we had an early spring and good weed growth that season.
Can't forget about the summer that never really was of 2010. Weather will always play a part. Rusty's seem to be making inroads, and pressure has surely conditioned a lot of the fisheries. I tend to believe it's a cumulative result with the fish adapting and evolving, but the fish are still there because the majority of us release them and most importantly they have to feed. It's combat out there and you surely have to be on the mark at the right time at the right place more so these days. |
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Posts: 697
Location: Minnetonka | Jason - 2/5/2013 8:28 PM
Can't forget about the summer that never really was of 2010. Weather will always play a part.
If I could have one summer back, it would be 2010. |
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| Go deep and your cup will runneth over... |
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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | I believe what people refer to as the "hey day" was a skewed size distribution resulting from intense stocking efforts to establish a "new" musky fishery. In other words, a larger percentage of the total population were at trophy size than a "normal" population.
Once the fishery is established, the size distribution will stabilize into a tradtional bell shaped curve.... and there will be fewer fish in the "trophy" size range on a total percentage of the whole. Still great fisheries.... but not as "great" as the initial fishery.
My good friend MRoberts noticed this in WI several years ago. Lakes that became HOT for a few years were often the result of a heavy stocking year(s). Heavier stockings that "normal". If you want to consistent fisheries... keep stocking the way we are. If you want to create cyclical hot bites... perhaps instead of stocking 1 fish per acre every year... we should stock 10 fish per acre every 10 years into a given system? Same total number of fish introduced to the lake.... but you are artificially creating strong year classes.
So, you can choose to chase the HOT bite ... wherever it may occur next.... or learn to produce good results with what you have (or complain when it goes COLD). And... if you are really proactive... help to generate the $$$ to establish new fisheries and the next HOT bite in future years.
Short term vs Long Term return on your investment. |
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Posts: 3147
| Heyday or easy fishing
if you dont think the contacting of muskies in Minn has gone down think back to 2004-2008 on this website when 3 times a week there would be pictures of big fish,,now theres alot bigger gaps
This July we were up on the northend of mile lacs in july on a saturday and saw two other boats all day
DO YOU REMEMBER what the notrhend of mile lacs was like in the summer from 2000 -2010??? it looked like omaha beach on D-day there were so many boats uo on the sand.
'i know " there all out in deep water,,,,,thats why the guides some of which have fantastic tournament records cant catch them and have left.
The easy days are gone however I am seeing people leave the sport which means less pressure
'If you build it they will come" but if it starts to fall they run like hell"
Lake St Clair gets the future crowd |
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Posts: 697
Location: Minnetonka | Guest - 2/5/2013 10:08 AM
Fish deep and you shall find thy gold that thy seek.
Guest - 2/6/2013 8:38 AM
Go deep and your cup will runneth over...
This is my favorite guest ever. Seriously. Great, simple insight.
Edited by Hammskie 2/6/2013 11:45 AM
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| I have always wondered this...but why is the NE part of the state, especially up by Ely and the surrounding area, always ignored when it comes to introducing new musky waters to the state? The way some of those lakes are made up I think Muskies would do extremely well there...Also, that area is kind of in a downswing in terms of tourism then what it once was, maybe they could use an additional boost any way they could get it. It might also take away some of the pressure from Vermilion for those looking for a Canadian like experience without actually going to Canada.... |
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Posts: 246
| Great question! If there is a good forage base for the muskies to feed on and we know muskies don,t wipe out the game fish population like alot of old schoolers say why does,nt the DNR and our clubs stock other bodies of water like the boundary waters,Kabtogema,Red lake and some other viable waters with good forage?Just a thought.
Thanks |
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Posts: 2024
| We know musky don't decimate other fish populations, but walleye and bass guys don't... I would love for them to stock Pelican Lake. Lots of weeds and structure, plus it's close to my moms. I wonder if the DNR is hesitant in some lakes due to large pike populations? |
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Posts: 8781
| Money. Money that would be better spent managing fisheries that appeal to the largest segments of the population. There's your reason. And probably a case of being met with more adversity from folks who don't want muskies in their lakes that support from those who do.
My guess is that there is far more money to be made supporting multi species fisheries than spending the money on a fish that only a relatively few actually care about.
That's just a guess. Ask some of the guys who are active in trying to get more MN lkaes stocked.
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | muskies only eat "approved" fish ... |
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Posts: 82
| We don't just get to pick lakes. Lol I wish it was that easy. First the dnr has to identify a lake then comes the fun part. Trying to get public acceptance so then you have to deal with lake associations the MDAA and other politics. Then it goes through a public impute process. And if your real lucky you can get it done in about 4 years. If not (ie) Tetonka 6 years later your still busting your ass trying to get it done. Like I said before you want more lakes muskie fishermen need to talk to the dnr as a few of us are working as hard as we can. Oh yeah and the pay stinks. You get to give all your time spends lots of money on gas and get about $0 per hour. So if you want more lakes start making some noise. |
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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | So... we have people complaining that the HeyDay is over and its too difficult to catch trophy muskies on certain lakes..... and we have others saying its too difficult to correct the "problem". Who is willing to be part of the solution??
Then we have the 56" size limit discussion.... which is based on the idea of protecting what you already have. Is this the "easiest" and "lowest cost" solution to making it "easier" to catch trophy muskies in MN... or anywhere?
What if it becomes TOO easy to bag a 50+ incher? Will we lose the "thrill of the hunt" or diminish the accomplishment of a catching one? Or... will the bar be raised and catching 50's will become commonplace while everyone chases something bigger. Sooner or later it has to end as the size limit or trophy status mark will exceed the growth potential of this great species. Or... perhaps we should just make all musky fisheries Catch and Release only to end the madness. Treat them like an endangered species.....
I apologize for the negative tone this morning. I love to musky fish and can't imagine ever losing the ability to do so. I'm just a little frustrated at some of the motives behind these discussions. Nothing is free. And not everything is... or should be... EASY in my opinion. |
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