Well… I have said it before and I will say it again. If there were Muskies in California I would never fish for Bass again. I headed out to Minnesota last Monday (8/18) for 5 glorious days of Muskie hunting. After getting set up in the cabin one of my customers let me use, I prepped my gear for the next 4 days / nights of fishing. To spare the bad details (fishing was VERY tough), I will just give the basic details.

Tuesday – 5am – 1pm. = Had 3 followers that were “slow and low”. They weren’t interested in anything that we were offering them. Fished rock and weeds and didn’t see a whole lot of activity or bait.

Tuesday – 4pm – Midnight = Saw one more fish right at sunset and didn’t get any takers that night.

Wednesday – 4:30am – noon = Saw nothing and no biters.

Wednesday – 5pm – 11:30pm = Saw nothing and my partner had something grab his big bucktail but didn’t get the hooks.

Thursday – 10am – 10:30pm = Fished a different lake and had some action. We managed to move 6 fish from rock reefs, saddles and weedlines. All of the fish were following much closer and were much friskier than the fish on the other lake. We both had a good feeling that we were going to get bit once the sun went down. As the sun was setting, we went back to the areas that we moved fish earlier. We managed to pull up to one weedbed and started making casts. I was fishing over the top of the weedbed with a Mag. Bulldawg (swimbait type creature looking curlytail thingy). I had my bait hung up on some cabbage so I ripped it free and started grinding it back to the boat. A 45.5 incher decided to crush it on the burn. Ended up putting it in the net and we went to work trying to extract the lure from her. After cutting about every hook off, we managed to snap a couple pictures and drop her back in. That was the last action for the night.

Friday – 4:30 – 2pm – Went back to the original lake as there was a weather system that had come in during the night. We thought that the system may get one of them to bite but it wasn’t meant to be. I headed back to the airport to fly home.

In closing… roughly 50+ hours of fishing…. VERY little sleep and one Musky (which was my main goal for the trip). I cannot wait to do it all over again (hopefully in the fall where they are fat and sassy.

One thing to mention... it wouldn't be a gladiator Muskie trip without 30 mile an hour winds the last day. Nothing like having your fillings come out running in 5 footers and fishing from your knees while rolling down the deck so waves don't throw you out of the boat. It's always an adventure on big Minnesota waters.




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Sick man. Gladiator fishing to say the least. I like the 2 sessions you were putting in.

Muskies huh? There is a lake in Western North Carolina, called Lake Adger, that is a muskie lake and has a small horsepower/boat restriction. I'm dying to take my little aluminum rig up there to check it out. I don't know about the size of fish compared to the MN kind, but would be kinda cool to catch a muskie in NC.

Matt

Muskie are some sick fish Mark, way to stay committed during a trip throwing brutal conditions at you. You should have brought some fingerlings back with you for sante fe dam, haha j/k.

Did you have any other takers like Pike. I go to Wisc. every year fishing for Pike. Want a blast. All the top water action that out there.

Good luck next time.

Caught one Pike. We found swarms of them in the shallow weeds but we weren't really interested in going after them.

Nice report.
Sounds like you had a great and successful trip.
I do not think most people know how hard these fish are to even get a bite from, let alone catch.

I have spent six days on the water with a friend fishing for Tiger Muskie. He got one 27 pound fish, and I got broke off on 40 lb.
Not bit off--I was using a loooonnnnggg wire leader.
And I am ready to go again at a moments notice.:P

"Known as the person who introduced swimbait fishing to Japan"

greg... I heard about that trip from your friend. My buddy put 20... Yes 20 Tigers in the boat on Friday. Not to mention he released the state record last year on the same lake you fished.

I've been very fortunate with my Muskie fishing. 40% of them have been over 50 inches.

A 52 inch Muskie must weigh a lot!. The one we got was (if I remember correctly) 47 inches and weighted 27 lbs.

Yes, I certainly can imagine a 20 fish day at Lake X.
What I did not write was that we fished in the middle of the winter, when the temp was only 18 degrees F. Not only did our guides freeze up, but so did our reels! Check out the ice on the hook file in the top pic--this made it difficult to sharpen our hooks. I metered so many fish it was stupid. I have always wanted to go back in the summer, when things are a little warmer.
Even though it was published in a national magazine in Japan, I do not think my friend would be cool with it if I wrote the name of the lake here.
I also know what you meant about pike being around, and you not being interested. Pike do not compare to muskie. I do not know where the Tiger Muskie would be ranked. Between a pike and a muskie?
Again, way to go on the trophy muskie.
Cheers from a hot and humid Japan.

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I'm glad you got a fish. It seems like you have gotten at least one every trip. There's a lot to be said for that. I look forward to this report every year now.

The sweet raccoon sunburn is also worth mentioning. As we know from a certain Lake Casitas trip, there's something about a wickedly bad sunburn that really puts the frosting on multi-day skunk fests :)