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Posts: 2384
Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | Tonka has been tough. Got a 44" and lost one on Wed after fishing for a couple hours. No follows.
Fished yesterday and only saw 2, one 4'er that hit on an 8 (nothing in the net) and another that swiped @ the New Muskie Treat.
Went back to the big girl this morning and she hit my bait and drove it into a stump in one motion. Nothing else.
If I didn't know better I'd say the lake is starting it's turn. Very dirty water. Water temps .5 degree from deep to shallow. Let's hope we get a cold snap so it turns quickly and doesn't linger for weeks like it did a couple years ago. |
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| Thanks Treats - Should I concentrate more on the drop offs, inside/outside weeds..or all of the above?
Wish we could have hooked up this year...Congrats on the Tonka win! Finally got the job I have wanted but that has kept me off the water and I cannot find the pattern as in years past when I was able to fish everyday. |
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Posts: 146
Location: Wayzata, MN | I've been searching shallow, mid-depth breaks and off steep drops. Kind of slow lately.
I agree, I'm seeing foam in some bays, so turn-over seems near. I think different bays turn over in Tonka at different times [due to the diversity of
water, bottom, etc...]. I could be wrong, but it sure seems like it.
Some bays that were 'dirty' are now clearing up, some that were clear, are now getting dirty. The good news is, we can probably always find fishable
water if the turn over is staggered.
Lately, I've had me best luck burning bucktails. This year seems to be a 'hair' year for me. Last year, anything was good, as long as it was a jointed
crankbait ;] For me, I've been seeing the fish right near steep drop-offs lately [due to cold front activity?]. I've been trying to stick to just above the
depth the baitfish are running, and fishing structure near the baitfish groupings. I'm seeing fish, just not boating a lot [yet]....
I'm going to spend about 12 hours out there tomorrow.... High sky and calm [yippee]............................................................. |
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Posts: 129
| It was a struggle on Tonka today. Beautiful conditions, but no fish. People we talked to on the lake said they were changing back and forth between several species.
My wife caught a small northern, so a boat at the launch said they wanted to follow us tomorrow. Don't have a plan yet for tomorrow.
Think we will look for clear water with depth.
It's a puzzle.
Tom |
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Posts: 146
Location: Wayzata, MN | Fished Tonka for 13 hours on saturday [dawn to dusk]. Three follows and boated a 41 incher [I'll post the pic after I get the roll developed - I need to
buy a digital camera!].
We tried everything, pretty slow. One follow was out of some tight cover [7am], shallow. One was off a 12' to 20' break [noon]. I boated the 41 off a
weed edge in 17' of water [1:15pm], dropping down to 28'.
We saw a lot of muskies early in the day surfacing. They appeared to be hunting sunnies. We talked to one boat [family] that was fishing for sunnies
and they reported the seeing muskies chasing the sunnies too...
A couple of the bays are definitely turning over...
We tries to stay in the clean water...
Beautiful day. Nice colors on the waters edge.
[another "Tonka special"]
Fishing a point marked by a bouy. The bouy is 35' feet from us. A 21' IO is screeming at us. He could easily go around us [and should have]...
Nope, he adjusts course to buzz right between us and the bouy! Of course, as he screems by, he is too gutless to look at us [his head is turned
towards shore]. Totally uncalled for! The bay was wide open behind us.
Only two things saved him from a severe beating - my fishing partner, and the fact this idiot had his 4 year old son with him. Yes, he was dumb
enough to come back into the bay 20 minutes later. Yes, he lives on the bay... and YES, I know where...................
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Posts: 27
| Fished WB Sunday morning 7-12. Saw one nice fish and caught 1 upper 20's northern(argh). Water temps from 50.5 to 51.6 around the lake. Turnover soon. A beautiful morning though, and I keep finding new spots to try. Marine1, thought I saw you out there? What was that huge piece of wood you where tossing?
Steve |
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Posts: 699
Location: Hugo, MN | That would have been the world famous Weagle . . . Those STUPID FISH were not hungry on Saturday morning nor were they very curious 6-11 nothing more than a couple of follows. |
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| Lost 3 last week - 1 on forest, 2 on WB. All made lame/lathargic attempts to eat small crankbaits near the boat - all were on steep/inside corners near deep water. One had a Baby DR t-boned sideways in it's mouth at boatside and still managed not to get hooked. pathetic. |
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| Hit WB on Saturday. Had and only saw one nice fish follow about 40-45 in. at 7 a.m. Fished deep weed edges with Ernie's/Grandmas. |
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| Time to lake hop,,,hit two on eastside one turning over the other dead,,went to west side and got 49 1/2 and 44,,get in get out until paydirt found this time of year |
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Posts: 146
Location: Wayzata, MN | Took a vaction day yesterday. Day before the full moon, pre [major] cold front... I thought "Hey, this could be good!" So we hit Tonka.
I was wrong... we managed one follow, a 30 inch class fish... We pounded everything, even new areas we had not previously fished, trying
to find something. We talked to a other people out there, same report. Even the walleye and bass guys were coming up empty.
Some old timers said the lake is turning over... |
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Posts: 479
Location: Eden Prairie & Pine Island | Was on tonka yesterday; it is not turning over, heck the water was 60 degrees! Some places very clear, too. Put one in the net after sunset on a surface bait, but otherwise it was slow. |
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Posts: 27
| Fished WB Sunday a.m. 7 - 12:30 Water temps 53 - 54 degrees, popped a 39" @10:30.
Steve |
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| Fished White Bear Wed from 12-5. One 39" in the net (that seems to be "the" size this year on WB). Came along a deep weedline near 50+ feet on a baby DR. I didn't see it at first and screwed up my initial 8, fish turned away, I did another big fast circle towards it and it came back and nailed it.  It was the only fish of any species I saw/caught and it came a little before moon rise. Several other musky hunters out, only heard of one other follow. Water temp was ~51.
Any info on Baldy or Forest?
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Posts: 633
| Fished Forest on Wednesday. Water temps in Lake 1 were 46 - 47. I saw two fish, and blew it bigtime. Ripped a triple D up from 13', and had a green shadow behind it. The fish turned away, so I started a big circle. I saw the fish come back, so I went deep with the circle. Then my rod stopped, as I hit the fish in the side. It had stopped, and I didn't. Did the drift again, and either raised it back up, or it's cousin came a calling. Fish spooked when it saw the boat this time. Talked to a guy at the launch who caught 1 on a dog. Not to many people out there until after 3:00.
Lance
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Posts: 51
| Fished WBL this morning. Had a lazy follow by a mid 30 inch northern-very strange.
Also saw 2 mid-40 inch muskies; both in 6-8 feet laying in the weeds; but they wouldn't move.
One we ran a spinnerbait right over is back, and it never even the budged.
The other just swan lazily away from the boat.
The only fish in the boat was a bass.
Bill |
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Posts: 27
| Fished Bald Eagle Sunday night 4-7. Never saw a fish, though lots of floating weeds and nasty brown water. Walleye guys where bunching up pretty good on the west end, though they didn't seem to be having much luck either.
Steve |
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Posts: 27
| Fished Bald Eagle Sunday night 4-7. Never saw a fish, though lots of floating weeds and nasty brown water. Walleye guys where bunching up pretty good on the west end, though they didn't seem to be having much luck either.
Steve |
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Posts: 129
| Fished Tonka today. 49 degrees at the Gray's Bay ramp. The rest of the lake we fished was in the 50-52 range.
We caught 2 small northerns. The good part of the day was the 6 musky follows. A couple came in hot, but backed
off at the boat. No fishing until next week-end, so hopefully they will feel a little less pressured next
Saturday. Keep those posts coming to help other people out until ice-up.
Tom |
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Posts: 146
Location: Wayzata, MN | We fished Tonka saturday for 7 hours [10am to 5pm], wind increased throughout the day, mist to rain to mist, a little chilly [beautiful]... We trolled most of the time, el'zippo... Marked most of the 'baitfish' in the 28' to 40' range. We ran straight depths, zig-zagged in and out of multiple depths, around structure, a little of everything... slow, fast...
The bays we were in have cleared up, temps ranged from 48.7 to 52.9. Only saw one other boat fishing... and a couple cruising through...
We might try a little night trolling this week... something we've never tried before... could be fun. |
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Posts: 479
Location: Eden Prairie & Pine Island | Tonka Wednesday afternoon water temps still at 50 and pretty clear. Fat 41 incher succumbed to a jerkbait. If the bigger girls have been feeding to the same proportions, the upper 40's fish should be pushing 30 lbs. |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Fished WB last Fri and again on Monday. Water temps still about 50. Deep weeds still green in spots, shallow weeds gone in many areas. Fish were moving pretty good but not eating. Saw fish on both inside and outside edges, but more on the inside edges in 3-5' - some on the sand. Fish on the inside were more active, usually charging after the bait but then turning off just as fast near the boat. Fish on the outside edges were more lazy follows. I didn't move/see any fish in the weeds, just off the edges. All the fish I moved were on crankbaits. Depthraiders and Jakes on the outside edges and Mann's 1- and Shallow Invaiders on the inside edges. Also tried Jackpots and tiger tubes but not even a looker on those. As active as the fish seemed perhaps a bucktail would be the ticket.
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| Was on WB Fri - water temps down to 47. Fish were still on inside and outside edges but noticably slower and lazier than a few days ago. Crankbaits were still the only way I was able to move a fish.
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Posts: 129
| We fished Tonka today. The water is in good shape. We took the Aqua-view out
and although we did not see many fish the temperatures were fairly uniform. I had
two follows with similar results to the previous post on WBL. The docks are gone from
the Gray's Bay landing. One guy got on the ramp ready to launch and he started putting
oil in his motor. A reminder that if you go the the buoys are taken out so make sure
you remember where the prop-busters are. It's hard to accept the season is winding down.
Tom |
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Posts: 185
Location: Mendota Heights, MN | Fished WBL sunday 12 - 5, water temps 47-48.5 degrees. One 43" fish caught outside deep weed edge 14' of water at 2 p.m.. Wind was bitter, sky was clear.
Steve |
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Posts: 129
| The water temp in Gray's Bay was 41 degrees and in the rest of the lake
today it was in the 43-45 range. No muskies today, not even a follow. I did get
a 30" northern on a first break. The nice thing about northerns is that
they hit. Only 6 trailers at the
landing, out of the wind it was a wonderful day. Sad to think it might be
the last day on the water.
Tom |
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Posts: 146
Location: Wayzata, MN | We were out on Tonka saturday 9:30am to 4:30pm. Nothing to show for it but a cold face and fingers... I'm still hoping to get out a couple more times, but she's get'n close... |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Hit WB Thurs from 12-4. Water temps about 43. There were a lot of musky hunters out for a Thurs and they were all pounding the deep weed lines with nothing to show for it. I decided to try something diffent and had two follows on shallow on inside edges - go figure?
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Posts: 185
Location: Mendota Heights, MN | Fished WB Sunday water temps 43-44, lost one never seen, and partner boated a 38. What a beautiful day to be on the water!
I am hoping for at least one more weekend before the ice claims the lake and sends me into musky withdrawl.
Steve |
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Posts: 185
Location: Mendota Heights, MN | Fished WB Sunday water temps 43-44, lost one never seen, and partner boated a 38. What a beautiful day to be on the water!
I am hoping for at least one more weekend before the ice claims the lake and sends me into musky withdrawl.
Steve |
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