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Posts: 199
Location: Anchorage | I know most people don't use them out there but a buddy and I are headed to Isle next week and we wanted to have some to try a few different things. Obviously we can't drag 'em while we cast like we do in Wisco, but they're always a good thing to have when you know a big fish is around. |
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Posts: 785
| I personally don't use them ever, but noticed Maleens (in Onamia), and the Conoco station near Vineland has them. I'm sure all the bait and tackle stores around the lake cary musky size suckers though. |
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Posts: 719
| is it legal on Millacs ????? |
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| Don't forget the camera for all the dirty looks your gonna get!
suckers on mille lacs is a no no to most. |
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Posts: 32926
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Ahh, I was waiting for that. |
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Posts: 198
| Remember in Minnesota the largest size sucker you can use for bait is 12 inches. Don't believe me then look at page 4 in the Minnesota Fishing Regulations booklet. |
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Posts: 636
Location: Bloomington, MN | I was also waiting for a similar response. Using suckers for muskie fishing in Wisconsin during the fall is acceptable/expected. Doing the same in Minnesota is BAD? This also brings up the long debated question of what is a legal hooking set up in Minnesota (# of trebles/spinner/distance between hooks and an attractor/what is an attractor?/legal max. size of live bait). I haven't used a sucker since the early 80's on Pewaukee on a very cold and snowy mid-November day. I ended up naming the untouched bait, and probably let it go at the end of the day(as illegal as that is). I've never liked using a fish to catch a fish, but it is a logical method to use for individuals who are physically inable to do the casting thing all day long or where two lines are legal.
Thanks Silver Scale. I would then have a difficult time believing that bait shops would carry any suckers over 10".
Edited by Clark A 9/15/2007 7:52 AM
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Posts: 719
| well ya know what they say,
fool em not feed em |
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| I have heard many people say you must dress a sucker to make it a lure by adding a blade. However, I don't see anything on this subject in the regulations. The only thing I found that was close is you cannot fish with a trebble hook not attached to an artificial lure. Does adding a spinner somehow constitute an artifical lure? |
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Posts: 2378
| Not a tree hugger - 9/15/2007 8:52 AM
I have heard many people say you must dress a sucker to make it a lure by adding a blade. However, I don't see anything on this subject in the regulations. The only thing I found that was close is you cannot fish with a trebble hook not attached to an artificial lure. Does adding a spinner somehow constitute an artifical lure?
yes, adding a spinner blade makes it an artificial lure |
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Suckers a no no in MN?
Come Oct. you'd be hard pressed to find a member of the FM MI chapter that doesn't fish with suckers.
Regs are very vague, you do need to attach a spinner to a quick strike rig, as having a treble hook on a line by itself, or attached to live bait is illegal. A treble has to be part of a lure, adding a spinner makes a quick-strike rig a lure.
You can fish with suckers over 12" long, bait shops can't sell them though, as they are considered game-fish.
By law, you can't transport live game-fish, which is anything over 12" long in MN.
But there is no law that says you can't fish with a sucker that is over 12".
DNR needs to do some house-keeping on their regs, you can ask DNR CO's and they won't all give you the same answer on what is legal and what isn't.
Most bait-shops do sell big suckers, because it is a law that isn't enforced.
Brett Erickson from Thornes was a guest speaker at our MI club last winter, and said "I won't fish muskies with live bait, that isn't fishing."
Room got real quiet after that.
To each his own I guess.
JS
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| Do what you want with suckers, however from what I have heard through the grapevines, suckers are not all that effective on Mille Lacs, at least not as effective of many other methods... To confirm this theory of effectivness, Mille Lacs has many of the best musky fisherman in the nation guiding on it.. I will bet any amount of money you will probably not see any of them dragging suckers, and I will guarentee if it was the most effective method, they would be...
I am very biased at sucker fisherman, because the ones I have seen (in fact EVERY single one) on Mille Lacs, feed the fish line for several minutes, let them get it all the way down, than set the hook.. I even watched a guy throw a 42" (estimated) in a large cooler last year..
If your going to do it, please do it right.. |
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| I have heard through the grapevines, suckers are not all that effective on Mille Lacs, at least not as effective of many other methods... To confirm this theory of effectivness, Mille Lacs has many of the best musky fisherman in the nation guiding on it.. I will bet any amount of money you will probably not see any of them dragging suckers, and I will guarentee if it was the most effective method, they would be...
i've talked first hand to more than one high-profile ML guide who have used suckers and had success. it's just not as time-effective there for people who like to cast because of the one-line limit.
someone throwing a 42" muskie in the cooler doesn't really have anything to do with sucker fishing. that person would likely have kept that fish if they caught it on a bucktail too.
if i were to hazard a guess, i'd say that there is more sucker-fishing for muskies going on in MN than people over there like to think. there's a long-standing tradition of sucker fishing for northern pike in MN, and i've seen plenty of old guys in 14' Lunds dragging big bobbers on trophy muskie lakes over there. one small sucker for pike, one big sucker for muskies. i've even observed the dreaded unattended shore-fishing line set-up.
the problem is that the pike techniques they're used to using involve single-hook rigs. tearing a pike's guts isn't a problem if it's going home to the dinner table; it is a real problem with muskies that you intend to release or are under the established size limits.
imho, education about quick-strike rigs is the key.
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| "i've talked first hand to more than one high-profile ML guide who have used suckers and had success. "
I'm sure you would have success with suckers, just not as much success as you would with other methods.. If I could have 2 lines, I would drag a sucker too, but I can't, so I'll stick with a more successful tactic.. The tactic by the way, is by no means a secret!!!
"someone throwing a 42" muskie in the cooler doesn't really have anything to do with sucker fishing."
Yes it does, catch and kill..... Kinda hard to revive a fish that has a treble all the way down its throat.. My personal experience is that the people I have seen sucker fishing are not using quick strikes. If you want to catch and kill northerns, go to Cove bay, you can have a hayday, these people are sitting on well known musky spots... I fully agree that education is the key.. Like I said before, that is my OWN personal bias based on what I have seen... |
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Personal bias against sucker fishermen?
Don't you mean personal bias against people who aren't practicing good fish handling techniques?
Seeing people let fish take suckers down for a couple of minutes has nothing to do with sucker fishermen in general, any more than seeing one person take a fish, plop them on the floor to take hooks out, use up a whole roll of film for pictures and then just tossing them overboard would cause you to have a personal bias against everyone who fishes for muskies, thinking they all treat fish that way.
You're not witnessing muskie fishermen on Mille Lacs, you're seeing people who have fished for northerns that way for years using the same tactics to try to catch muskies.
You're implying that most muskie fishermen who use suckers don't know what they are doing, and are being hard on fish. That is a completely false notion.
JS
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| "You're not witnessing muskie fishermen on Mille Lacs, you're seeing people who have fished for northerns that way for years using the same tactics to try to catch muskies..."
I was wrong,I don't agree with "education is the key" how do you educate an 80 year old who has done it their whole life?
"got me a 49"er this weekend, going on the wall..."
This came from my wifes girlfriend, apperantly the guy caught his biggest frish...
"Don't you mean personal bias against people who aren't practicing good fish handling techniques?"
YESR SIR!
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| "You're implying that most muskie fishermen who use suckers don't know what they are doing, and are being hard on fish. That is a completely false notion. "
I am just saying what I have seen... I think that WI fisherman know how to use suckers, folks in MN don'T...
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| Woody... Go to MeLeens..... They should set you up... Please be gental.... |
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Posts: 199
Location: Anchorage | Thanks guys. I thought this might stir the pot a bit. I have read the regs and plan on using them despite any locally percieved notions. |
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Posts: 3156
| actually the best place to find "suckers" near Mile Lacs,, big plump ones is the grand Casino on the west shore,,especially at the progresives 
Edited by happy hooker 9/18/2007 1:00 PM
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Posts: 785
| I've seen plenty of guys using them on the lake, I just have often times done just as well if not better using casting methods and covering water. Fall is a different animal though so who knows.
I would think the main reason for the different mind sets over state lines is the one rod limit in Minnesota. Just my take. |
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