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Posts: 328
Location: MN | Fished Tonka Sun AM. 40" and 48" (lost the 48" at boatside getting the net and had too much slack on the line). Tons of Pike as well!
Came home around 11am, took son out to Metro lake for bluegill and we had a great dinner last night. 22 bluegill's in 2 hrs - The expression on my son's face is all I needed that day! |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Fished Forest from 2-10pm Friday. Three decent strikes - all between moonset (~6:30) and sunset (~8:30) - two on Topraiders, and one on a Rad Dog spinnerbait. Both the Topraider stikes were short and I didn't get a good enough hook set with the Rad Dog. The fish seemed to want it as fast as I could move it. All were were on weedy humps in 5-7'.
Water is very brown- probably from the harvesters churning up the bottom - only about 6-12" visibility. There's still a fair amount of floating junk, but not so bad that I couldn't work topwaters. Very few out fishing despite the nice overcast conditions. |
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Posts: 129
| Fished Inde this morning. The bloom is almost soupy near the shore. Water
temperature was 75 at 6:30 a.m. Weeds are virtually non-existent. Did get
one explosive strike on a topwater, but no contact. Some incidental non-muskies, but I think
I will wait a month or so before I go back. Talked to a couple of guys
trying for wall-eyes.
tom
Edited by MuskyTom 7/28/2003 2:55 PM
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Posts: 670
Location: Minnetonka , MN. | Fished Tonka on Monday got on the water at 8:30 got a 47" and then my pinpoint took a dump. That is the last time ordered a Maxxum. |
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Posts: 129
| Fished Tonka this morning. We caught a few of those other fish.
Kathy had a monster musky follow her in and lazily veered off at the
boat. this has been the year of follows, we will just keep at it.
Tom |
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Posts: 43
Location: United States | Struggled again on Tonka last night. This lake has got my number. My buddy had 1 follow which was fairly assertive, following his figure 8 a couple times but wouldn't go. Fished some good looking spots when clouds moved in but was denied. This is the year of few follows for my boat. The good news is that we've had more strikes than follows, but it's nice to have confirmation that were fishing the right spots by seeing a few fish. |
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Posts: 328
Location: MN | Fished Tonka this AM. Had a huge fish completely miss a bucktail I was zipping thru some weeds. Looked like Tarpon flying out the water...
That was my fun for the day! |
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Posts: 3165
| Got a 44 on tuesday out of Harriet,,,skipped going to the seafood buffet on weds because I wanted to hit eagle in maple grove for some evening and night fishing on this hard pounded lake-moon phase,calm,storm approaching only boat on the lake and the creeper blooping in rare form,,,every thing you have ever read about in musky hunter or essox angler has an Ideal situation,,,one lousy blow up and had frozen pizza |
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Posts: 656
Location: Forest Lake, Mn. | LOL! Happy. You should get a job writing travel brochures for fishing vacations, just leave out the fact that you end up with frozen pizza.
Got out on the Big Bear for a few hours today. It was the usual trip on that lake. No fish caught and no fish strikes. Did see a good sized one though. It was 50 or more yards from the boat. Just before we saw this fish, we had a hen mallard swim around the boat looking for handouts. We didn't have any bread along so had nothing to give her. After awhile she realized that she wasn't going to get anything and took off toward the next boat. I went back to casting and didn't think anything more about her. A few minutes later I looked off in the direction that she went and I thought I saw her feeding, you know head down in the water and butt up in the air. I watched her for a few seconds and then realized that it wasn't her but a large muskie swimming along the surface with it's mouth open and head out of the water. I told my wife to look and she said that she had been watching it and also thought it was the duck. After a few more seconds it just tipped over and dove and we saw the back and tail come out of the water as it dove. Why do they do that? It was to far away to give a good estimate of size, but to even see from the distance that we did, I know she was a big fish.
Otherwise, just the typical cast retrive, no follows, no fish day on The Bear. Why do I keep doing it? |
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Posts: 480
| Second hand report: My brother/fishing partner/netman finally put one in the boat this morning on Harriet using a topwater. No other fish seen. But plenty of cops, they nabbed a undesireable breaking into a white van (belonging to muskie guys). The dude won a free police car ride. There goes the neighborhood. Surface temps nearing bathwater, 80 degrees F. I'm taking a few weeks off. Capt bigfish |
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Posts: 129
| Fished Waconia today. Getting there was a pain in the neck until we figured it out. Had some bonus bass, but unfortunately no muskies for them to be a bonus to.
We talked to a guy, who said he had caught one and had a follow, Surface temperature was about 75 all morning. There seems to be a bloom and visibility was about
three feet. Not many boats, so it was a nice morning on the water.
tom |
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Posts: 129
| fished Deer Lake this morning. Got up extra early to get a parking spot. What a surprise to get there and find out that there was a tournament with about 35 boats. The other 35 fished Bone today and will do Deer tomorrow. The wife said I should fish Tonka, but I said I did not want to fight the crowds. After all these years you would think I would listen. Actually having all those boats on the water cut down on the recreational boaters and everyone seemed very respectful of each others space. Too many musky lures flying, so I pulled out the flyrod and had a good morning on bass. Conditions were tough for the musky fishers with the bright sun and blue sky. Most people I talked to said they did not even see a fish, but everyone was very positive. One guy reported a small one and a follow. Surface temperature was in the 77-78 degree range.
Tom |
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Posts: 129
| fished Tonka this morning. did not see any muskies, so ended up fishing bass and caught a number of nice bass. Anyone else doing anything they can post?
tom |
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Posts: 14
Location: Burnsville, MN | Was out on Tonka, Sat, saw 8 fish caught 1 37" at 6:30am. 6 of the 8 fish were seen on a musky candy spinner bait, orange blade, black body. 4 of the fish were over 45", most of the fish came from 5-7 feet over weeds. |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | The ski's were really moving last night on my usual haunt. Lost a really big one (close to 50) just after sunset - hit close to the boat, got a good hook set, but in my excitement to keep pressure on her I got the rod tip too high, she jumped with a massive headshake and was gone. explitive .. explitive... explitive. It was the first really big fish I've hooked into with my new 8' rod and I got it too high. Should have kept the tip in the water and relied on my drag to keep tension. Maybe would have lost her anyway but I know I made a mistake. Then to add insult to injury I hooked into an upper 30's fish after dark that slipped off just as it's head was entering my net. (was alone and it's a bit tricky getting them netted by yourself with an 8' rod). Oh well.
This relatively clear lake is browner now then I've ever seen it. Maybe the fish are less skittish? The shallow weeds are in bad shape but the deeper weeds have really filled in and the fish were high along the shallower edge of these deeper weeds. I was moving them good on medium sized bucktails w/ colorado or fluted blades, moderatly fast speed but not burning. I was out from 7-9 and had two hooks up, one missed strike on a jackpot, and one that followed a bucktail three times around a figure-8 before losing interest. Also threw a topraider quite a bit but nothing. They really wanted the bucktail. Hope to be out a lot this weekend, hopefully the cold front gets 'em moving.
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Posts: 129
| we fished Bone in Polk county on Friday. It was great to fish on a workday, as the lake was open until just before we left. No musky action early, but we caught a number of bass on surface lures and poppers. About mid-morning we alternated between musky gear and bass gear. Caught a 38" musky on a bass spinnerbait about noon. I was daydreaming and looked down as I was ready to pick up the lure. I was surprised to see a musky on the trailer hook. I had felt nothing and it was solidly hooked. After a good fight, we neeted a 38" one. It had a deformity on its back, sort of looked like it had been hit with a propeller years ago. It obviously has not impacted its eating as it was very wide and deep. I kept it in the water and it was very relaxed in the net until I tried to get the hook out and it went ballistic. We got it safely released and it swam off to feed again. The surface temperature was 69 degrees at the landing and was low 70s throughout the day on the lake. The water was a little low, but in great shape. I am still chaasing that elusive 50", but there is so much great fishing for all species it is hard to specialize. We will fish locally on Sunday and Monday and post. Have a great fishing weekend.
Tom |
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Posts: 46
Location: Hugo, Mn | Fished Baldy last eve. Tried shallow weeds in quiet areas that were not getting alot of boating pressure with no luck. We moved out to one of the bars and had one fly out and miss an awacker but didn't get any hooks in it. Had another in the upper 30's hit a grandma off the deep side on the bar at dark. Had it on for a couple of seconds and then it took a run and the hooks popped out (swear here). Tried after dark with nothing to show.
Dave |
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Posts: 480
| Fished Tonka this morning, none in the boat, 5 follows, hooks in one but lost her (low 40"s) close to the boat. Water temp is 71.5 on main part of lake. Fish came from seven ft. water high in the column following white, large blade spinners. 6 snakey pike and 2 bass. capt bigfish |
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Posts: 129
| Fished Tonka this morning..Caught some good bonus fish. About 11:30, as a sheriff's boat is approaching to check out a diving raft, I see a shadow turn into a big musky. I was walking the dog and the fish was following in a zig-zag. I tried to keep the action tight, but could not. It was amazing to see the fish zig-zag under and behind the lure. The mouth opened and she missed several times. The mouth opened, the gills flared, and the combination of running out of real estate and the sheriff's boat approaching had the fish close it's mouth and veer off at the boat. So close, but the memory of that fish is amazing.
Tom
Edited by MuskyTom 9/7/2003 8:41 PM
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Posts: 229
| Fished Tonka this morning. Release a thick 36" and also a nice 2 1/2 lb largemouth. Saw 1 other musky casually swimming above the milfoil away from where I was making my retrieve. Pretty much drifted right over top of him and he spotted me and went down. Circled back around and fished that area pretty hard until I went home, but couldn't coax it into going after anything.
Andy
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Pounded WBL for 7 hrs on Tues without a follow. Shallow, deep, topwater, bucktails, cranks, nothing... With the full moon, cooler evenings, and the wind wailing you would have thought I'd at least see few.
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Posts: 46
Location: Hugo, Mn | Steve,
Man, I thought I was the only one having trouble on WB! I moved over to Baldy and started getting on fish the first day. May try WB later in the fall.
Dave |
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Posts: 129
| Fished Tonka on Saturday and Inde on Sunday. One musky blow-up and lots of good bonus fish on Tonka. Talked to several musky fishers who reported they had many follows, but no biters. On Inde today we had two follows. We did not fish long as the aesthetic of Inde is no longer there for me. Actually, I felt sad thinking about how nice the lake was 3-5 years ago. Maybe I don't get it or it is just the natural order of things.
tom |
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Posts: 654
Location: MPLS, MN | My fishing partner got a chubby 38" Sat on Tonka. Had another blow up at the boat. Went back Sun Morn and not even a look. My partner also got a 34" on Crystal Sun eve. Nice weekend for him. |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Fished WBL from 6:30-noon Sat. Got a 35", lost another of similar size and had a larger fish follow. All after moon set (abour 9:30 am) and all using an 8" Jake covered in gold prizm tape along a large main point in 14--18'. The wind had a significant shift about 9 am and the fish were still using the areas where the S wind was blowing in prior to the wind shift.
Not seeing any evidence of a topwater bite - by this time last year fish were clobbering topwaters but nothing this year yet.
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Posts: 925
| Fished WBL for about 2 hours last night. Didn't move anything on a Jackpot. I switched to a Top Raider and lost a small one at boatside. Next cast I had a nice swirl, but didn't see the fish.
No other follows to report. |
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| Fished Tonka yesterday Morning for the first time with my buddy. We Moved seven fish, had 3 rips and I lost one boatside. We were working the deeper edge of the weeds on the up wind faces. Everything was wind blown, and we bailed out early.
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| Fished Tonka yesterday, had a couple topwater hits. Did anybody else read the musky article in the Star Tibune yesterday? It said a 52x28 was caught out of Tonka. That calculates out to 50.96 lbs. Would like to see a pic of it. |
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Posts: 51
Location: Aitkin, Blaine, Minnesota | Out on Forest Thurs. and Sun. Moved 5 fish boated two 36, 37, One shallow, one deep. Moved a big fish, hard charge on a glide bait. Got her to nip at a follow up spinner bait. Very catchable fish but then some ________hole bass fisherman buzzed us at 50 mph not 30 feet from boat. Look for his sponsor but could find him again!!! |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Been traveling a lot and only got out on WB for 2 hrs Sat afternoon. Boy was it windy! Saw two decent fish along a deep weed edge. One followed a shiny silver-bladed bucktail around an eight about 6 times before giving up. Then had a larger fish in the same area followed an 8" Jake (covered in gold prizm tape) around a couple times. Just wouldn't open up. The key seemed to be the metallic flash.
Didn't get a water temp, but the lake has clearly not turned yet.
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