|
|
Posts: 148
Location: Northwest Wi. | Is Mille Lacs living up to its old name? Or is it just me and everyone I talk to? Not much going on there lately ..Any ideas why? Has anyone done anything there this year? |
|
| |
|
Posts: 454
| Ask Jason Hammernick, I think that there are some fish going out there! All I can say is the people who stayed out there have had some great days the last couple of years. Is it tough? Sure, there are many tough days on the big pond, but fish are still being caught. Many are enjoying the open water and lack of crowds that were once there.
It is a big lake and patterns need to be developed. If you aren't putting in the time, you probably arent finding the success, but trust me, I know plenty of people enjoying the pig factory.
It is not the lake it was in its hay day, but it is still better than most lakes and if you are looking for BIG FISH, there still aren't any better. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | Someone will boat the next state record Muskie on this lake,..... either this fall or next season...... Wanna Bet?
Jerome |
|
| |
|
Posts: 551
Location: Columbus, Georgia | Here you go:
http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/board/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=59...
|
|
| |
|
| Did Hamernick say he caught those two fish on Mille Lacs? |
|
| |
|
Posts: 69
| It has been boated...Jonesi 54x30 back a couple years ago. You can see it on Lax's website. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 148
Location: Northwest Wi. | Nice fish!! But I guess Im wondering if any mere mortals have done any good this year.. |
|
| |
|
| Muskies Inc data is interesting, not all of the fish caught for sure, but i think it's fairly representative of the trends.
State Total Over 50"
2003 122 fish, avg 51.18"
2004 165 fish, avg 51.40"
2005 175 fish, avg 51.17"
2006 235 fish, avg 51.37"
2007 351 fish, avg 51.39"
2008 197 fish, avg 51.51"
2009 271 fish, avg 51.36"
Mille Lacs Over 50"
2003 25 fish, 20% of total
2004 36 fish, 21% of total
2005 39 fish, 22% of total
2006 48 fish, 20% of total
2007 79 fish, 22% of total
2008 20 fish, 10% of total
2009 11 fish, 04% of total
Edited by lambeau 7/19/2010 8:41 PM
Attachments
----------------
 MN 50s.jpg.png (22KB - 126 downloads)
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 1901
Location: MN | Great stats Lambeau. I'm surprised that 2009, the year of no summer, was as good as it was statewide, though ML sure took a hit. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 454
| Interesting Stats Mike. I bet that the # of anglers targeting mille lacs also plummeted during 2009 as well.
No one will ever know how the bite is on Mille Lacs without going out there and seeing for themselves. People have seen how the word spreads fast, and those who endured the tough times will keep it to themselves when the bite is better. From the small network I associate with I tend to think things are improving  |
|
| |
|
Posts: 2089
| Just a little correction....... Jody Dahms caught the Beast in 2006, I netted it. In my humble opinion, there are fish in that lake that will "make ya famous". Jody's fish was pushin' 60# (by formula) 4 years ago and was VERY healthy. I wonder how big She is now? |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1901
Location: MN | Hey Steve, I thought you weighed that fish? |
|
| |
|
Posts: 742
Location: Grand Rapids MN | Hard to say what the graph is telling us other than reported Mille lacs fish over 50" were down. Could be pressure, forage, or the fact the economy tanked and people were not traveling to the big pond. I doubt the fish were removed and they still have to eat.. That's why in August I will be out on the water with Scepaniak looking for the 'one'! |
|
| |
|
| Hard to say what the graph is telling us other than reported Mille lacs fish over 50" were down.
ignore the individual years and look at the trends...
there was a consistent increase in the number of 50"+ fish caught each year from 2003-2006, with Mille Lacs consistently contributing 20% of the total catch.
in 2007, everywhere in MN was way up (weather? year classes?, ???) and Mille Lacs was as well, but still right around 20% of the total.
2008, everywhere was back down to '05 numbers (cold summer?) but Mille Lacs was down to only 10% of the total.
in 2009, the rest of the state was back up again but Mille Lacs fell off the map at only 4% of the total. (cold summer? less people fishing out there?)
if you assume that 2007 was an anomoly on the high end, and 2008 was an anomoly on the low end and then draw a line connecting 2003, 04, 05, 06, and 09 you see that 2009 was back in line with the overall trend upward in MN for number of 50" fish caught - but, Mille Lacs was way off it's "normal" 20% contribution to that total. (notably, this suggests that people were traveling and fishing quite a bit in spite of any economy-related issues, possibly just not on Mille Lacs.)
2010 will be interesting to watch: will Mille Lacs return to it's previous share of the total? will the overall numbers of 50" fish in MN continue their upward trend or will we start to see the plateau that has to occur at some point as there are only so many fish available to be caught?
someone with a lot more time on their hands than me could do some really interesting analysis of the catch rates for various areas or individual lakes, comparing fish capture rates of 30-40" fish, 40-50" fish, and 50"+ fish and i bet they could make relatively accurate predictions about what will be happening in future years.
Edited by lambeau 7/21/2010 8:22 AM
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 742
Location: Grand Rapids MN | It would be interesting to see what the guides have been turning out as far as numbers/sizes the past few years. Strange enough I guess the walleye bite had taken a step back last year also. The word was a large increase in perch and other forage may have contributed to the slow bite. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 221
Location: Detroint Lakes, MN |
More and more MN MI guys are not registering fish. I don't think you can put much stock in any trends based on the Lunge Log due to the fact that participation varies from year to year and lake to lake based on what anglers feel like sharing.
JS |
|
| |
|
| whether or not the MI data is a strictly valid measure of all muskies caught is a red herring to this discussion, John, because we all know that it doesn't include a lot of the fish that are caught by members and/or some of the data is falsified. it doesn't include the fish caught by non-MI members, either.
but...i think when looked at in total rather than on an individual catch basis, the results are still a fair representation of the overall trends, especially since the registered data over that time frame matches closely to the anecodotal experiences provided by people who aren't registering fish. ie., yes, it's a limited tool but it's the best one we've got that allows for a useful visual representation of catch rate trends over time.
or would you suggest that the unregistered catches would paint a radically different picture of the trends over the past 7 years?
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 221
Location: Detroint Lakes, MN |
What I'm saying is that many of the guys who were responsible for entering 50" fish in the early and mid 2000's either no longer enter them, or are lying about where they caught them.
People can take whatever they want out of that statement. I'm just saying MI data is far from complete or even true in many cases.
JS
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 148
Location: Northwest Wi. | Not to get into any MI data flak, Has anyone like a
"Regular Joe" done any good so far at Mille Lacs this season? I have not seen many fish this season, Those I have ,have been small..Just looking for some in-put.
Edited by pitch'n 7/21/2010 8:14 PM
|
|
| |
