I truly believe, my purpose in life is to use my creativity, analytical skills, and enthusiasm to inspire and empower people to be successful and happy on the water and in life. In addition to being a full-time musky guide, I fulfill my life purpose through the content I create for television, outdoor publications, social media, seminars, and Musky Insider (a weekly online publication I co-founded with Nick Lindner in 2019). If you enjoy the content you find here, be sure to check out Musky Insider and our virtual classes we offer.
Great video man! I recall experiences where Its one thing to unhook a tangled up badly deeply hooked 45 inch fish with conventional pliers, cutters… but when its a 55inch plus fish that is deeply hooked (which will crush your wrist when it gator rolls if your not ready and experienced) those longer/stronger salt water tools can save the fish and your hands… aka the long hook pik The other factor people forget, is your adrenaline when you are dealing with a very big fish (55 and up) its such a special moment, that this adrenaline spike and unexpected anxiety spike can impact our ability to execute a badly hooked fish in time. (Shaky hands, breathing heavily) So to your point, the right tools help greatly.
Josh, thank you for spreading the word. I am taking the survey now and letting em know that we need some more damn fish in the lakes. The metro lakes (Minnetonka, Eagle, White Bear, etc) can support more fish than they are being managed for. Thank you for mentioning the tiger lakes. There are fewer than ever before and many of those lakes are also fished heavily for bass and other species. Bass and Walleye guys accidentally running into Tigers isn't great for the population. I know bass guys that kill the tigers that they can because they believe they are bad for other fish populations. A few lakes stocked and managed primarily for tigers would be awesome.
If anybody wants to save some time. Basically, the DNR stocks less muskies. Therefore, you catch less. you’re welcome) the only way this changes is if we push the DNR to stock more fish
At this years Musky expo here in Minnesota the DNR had a booth. I walked up the guy manning the both and asked if he was the complaint department! 😂 I did have a nice conversation with him. He sounded on board with what you were saying. I asked why the hell Woman lake doesn’t get supplemental stocking? His answer, Lake Association. They didn’t want it. Once again it’s politics that dictates biology and Nothing more. I’m 53 and just Seriously started musky fishing in 2018. Gull lake could be the next boom to bust lake in the cycle?
Awesome recap Josh! Sad situation for us Minnesota musky guys. Walleye anglers probably outnumber musky anglers 10 to 1 in Minnesota. I am sure they have mobilized their forces this week to complete thousands of survey entries, so it's concerning to think about how the results may turn out.
I'm from Ohio and fished Lake Vermilion last year during the last week of June and I can tell you, out of all the boats I saw and Anglers I spoke with I was the only muskie fisherman. Unfortunately, I made the 1000mile drive for the great skulking when my friends were having nearly 10 fish days back home.
This is an awesome video, thanks for sharing. A have a couple of thoughts; When you look at targeted survey data, there are often lakes that have similar Muskie densities to years where we’ve experienced better fishing. I think there is a strong correlation between newly stocked lakes and fish catch ability. I think if they discontinue stocking in certain lakes they should establish stocking in a new lake to create a new opportunity. I’m curious how you all would feel about a stamp similar to trout or walleye that all proceeds go into Muskie stocking/ research? Lastly, in your figures, I would be curious to see it CPUE by anglers vs year. Thanks again for an informative video
I would be all for a Muskie stamp especially if they allowed us to buy as many as we wanted per person. However, I’ve been told that the money that it would cost to run and create the stamp may cost more than the amount of money it would generate. I have a hard time believing that though. Regarding CPUE. I have suggested that Muskies Inc should include this in their lunge log. That woud mean people make entries every time they fish Muskies even if they don’t catch any. Muskies Canada does this on their log and it helped tip off the Ministry that something was wrong on specific fisheries (I think St. Lawrence might have been one of them?) because they could throw angling hours changing drastically. So it helped move things faster and they went out and started doing assessments to determine what was wrong.
There is a number of hours since last fish caught in the lunge log, but the data is all over the place. I’m assuming many anglers don’t log their hours on the water very well.
@@scott6031I am talking about each time you fish on specific water record how many hours you spent on that water what you caught. If you caught nothing, you still make an entry for that day and that you caught nothing. This would give Muskies inc some specific data they could share with dnr. It would tell us catch rates on all water everywhere not just MN. The question I posed was is the lunge supposed to help the angler or fisheries. Right now it helps anglers but not the fisheries. This change would potentially help the fisheries and reduce wait times to resolve issues when fisheries take a dip.
SLR should be world class. As of now I catch maybe 12-15 fish a season in 3-400 hours. It’s absolutely awful compared to what it was ten years ago. The current plan is 2500 GL strain fish, I can’t remember if it’s yearly or every other year stocking. 2500 fish in a system connected to Lake Superior is laughable. I wonder how that compares to Green Bay l’s stocking fish per acre numbers. I have more action going to lakes that aren’t even supposed to have muskies in them. It’s depressing.
Bryant and Crystal are 100% still being stocked. Dnr website shows both lakes alternating years with the last recorded being 2022. I have video from last summer of several 40+ in a morning.
Crystal Lake in Hennepin County was discontinued and lost stocked in 2017. Crystal Lake in Dakota county is still being stocked. Bryant was also removed from the west metro fisheries plan and discontinued in 2017. If you visit the west metro fisheries and west metro fisheries pages you can see their current management plan for both hybrid and pure strain Muskies. It only includes the 8 lakes I mentioned for tigers and it been that way for at least fours years. I emailed East and west metro fisheries about this back in 2020 when I noticed the change and also notified the TC chapter of Muskies Inc. It’s my understanding that chapter offer to continue stocking all the tiger lakes themselves rather have us lose them and that offer/request was denied by west metro fisheries. That being said, I saw a photo of small tiger caught out of Bryant and knew something weird was going on as there should not be any that size in lake. I reached out to DNR and asked how this could be and did not get a response. However, I did just look on lakefinder yesterday and see that Bryant did indeed get stocked after a 6 year gap of no stocking. (Which explains that small tiger) It is unclear whether this was a one time stocking or whether they plan to start Bryant back up again and continue. I started digging around on lake finder and discovered Cedar Lake in Scott County (another lake that was discontinued and had been for quite a few years) was also stocked in 2023. Again it’s not clear if this is a one time stocking or they plan to start up cedar again too. (It’s certainly not included on their current management plan) I emailed west metro fisheries yesterday and can let you know what I find out and will try to find a way to update this once I get definitive info.
@@joshborovskyfishing good to know though. Always good to stay on top of what’s happening. Love the video. Just wanted to let you know that Crystal appears still active unless the dnr site is off, which it absolutely could be
Crystal was discontinued in 2017. That year was a very heavy stocking with yearlings for the size of the lake. (Basically one yearling = 3 fingerlings. One fingerling per surface acre would be a high density and that particular year class in 2017 was 4x that. So there should be some left in there. Last year they should have been around 43” this coming season they will be “47 or so but there will be less than last year. (Seems like we start losing fish after age 5 and usually by age 8 they are almost all gone. Heres the link to stocking in last ten years on Crystal (Hennepin). www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/showstocking.html?downum=27003400&context=desktop
I wish. One of the suggestions I made in the survey was for them to determine a stocking quota for each Lake. I know at times they would like to put more fish into the lakes but have limited resources and budgets to do so. My suggestion was to make a separate additional quota of surplus fish that could be stocked with private money, if people are willing to donate or fund the stocking. I got involved with all this 10 years ago when I was doing a lot of Musky Inc. seminars and kept hearing them say at their meetings that they had raised a bunch of money for stocking, but the Dnr wouldn’t let them stock fish anywhere. It is maddening to me that there’s lots of money out there that people want to spend on stocking muskies, and they simply can’t do it because of Dnr is holding them back .
@@PattmanlaxWhat’s interesting is the dnr is fine private walleye stocking. Look on lake finder for Minnetonka and look at how many walleyes get stocked privately and compare to dnr quotas and their plan for walleyes but what they are allowing on top of it. The Muskie crowd is treated differently.
I fish the st. Louis river normally a couple times a week in the summer for muskie. I think that river is in a very good place right now. There are tons of fish in that 26-35 inch range and most of those sized fish don't have tags so it probably means their natural reproduction. The main reason i think people don't fish it, is from the water clarity from the dredging. So on a good day you can see down a foot if that during peak dredging season. But they are getting rid of the pollution in the river from a long time ago from the steel plant and logging mills. But they are almost done from my understanding. That river just needs time and it will become one of the best muskie, walleye and sturgeon factories/destinations in the world in 15 years or so. They just introduced the great lakes muskies in 2019. Hopefully from what they are doing some day they wont have to stock that river from cleaning it up and it all being natural reproduction.
Biggest question I have to our DNR. WHY’RE THEY REMOVING ADULT MUSKIES FROM OUR LAKES I live in itasca county and it’s not just one lake they’ve done this on. For example, North Star lake near marcell in itasca. Removing full adult Muskies for what reason? And what did they do with them? My guess is selling to another state? Idk I can’t imagine adults survive well being transported that far. But why isn’t this public news for one, and for two why’s it even being done in general. We need more stocking and our DNR is out here removing fish? This is absolutely a problem and if you think North Star is the only lake this is being done on you’re wrong. It’s happening and they’re keeping it quiet. I’ve seen the videos and proof from locals on the lake it was happening on.
I have been involved in volunteer efforts with the DNR many times over the years, and have spoken to a large number of state biologists. I do not believe there has ever been fish removed by them on North Star. I would encourage you to reach out to the grand rapids fisheries during business hours.
That sounds strange. I can see fish getting removed from water for a diet study or tagging. If they are leaving the lake entirely the only thing I can think of removal for genetics reasons or dead fish from survey nets. You should reach out to the Grand Rapids fisheries office and ask. I know they have a Muskie biologist that works there who would give you a straight answer I think.
More than the DNR We need to pressure the buisness community aka Lodge owners They have the governors ear They have to/should see the value in musky angling And this day and age of different species anglers not liking each other and bad mouthing each other doesn't help It's forced resort owners (and even some bait shops) To take sides And
I think the reason some MN muskie fisherman don't want more stocking (per DNR comments) is to keep people away from their fisheries (Vermillion/ Mille Lacs).
From 2021 (record drought and wildfire) to 2022 (record snow, rain, and flooding), I don't think the only difference between catching fish on blades was singularly your bait. 2 incredibly different seasons with vastly different water level. But talk your shit Josh. I'll give it a go.
Hate to break it to you. The square tubing is used on many lures. Nimmer uses them on every rotation device he has. It is also used on the mammoth bucktails. Roger from H2o has a similar Cleves with a patent.
If it is a design patent (which it likely is) all a guy has to do is change one measurement. If he managed to get a utility patent (highly unlikely), then he could challenge their design.
@Musky Bites iam aware of that. Even if they have a patten, the process of assembly only needs a slight change to not infringe. Just letting you know the idea is being used already.
Hey @approachingtarget.4503, Sorry you are not impressed by our new clevis. The muskies certainly were! Perhaps some of our other patent protected shapes will be more to your liking when we release them. I am aware square tubing has been used on surface baits including those made by Greg Nimmer. Greg is a a friend of mine and his Wollypog TopwAter is one my all time favorites. If you talked to Greg, I think he would tell you he doesn’t make any subsurface lures with square tubing much less a square clevis system. Roger from H2O is also a friend, and the Hardhead bait he originally designed is also one of my favorites. Roger does make a bucktail that I believe is also in the patent application process. However, our two clevis systems are about as different from each other as two clevises could be and if you talked to Roger, I think he would tell you that. So, I have no idea what you are talking about there. I have never heard of Mammoth bucktails. I googled the name and they do not appear to exist. I can assure you my legal counsel and myself thoroughly researched everything out there and the claims within our patent protect not one, but many different facets of our current design (and future designs as well) that are unique. At this point, I think we pretty much own most if not all shapes of a clevis system that are not round on the inside that can spin on a wire designed to go subsurface under water.
I'm beginning to think that lure vibration is much more important than what most anglers realize. We debate about lure color when we should be focused on lure vibration. Your square clevis supports this idea. It's been many years since we met at Lac Seul.
What happened?...isn't there like over ten fishing lodges on the lake,how.many like hundreds of party's fishing,like probably some mortality by improper handling and all these fishing aids,,not to mention local fishing
Great video! I liked and subscribed. Last year was my first year musky fishing, and I'm so glad I had one of those Knipex cutters. I got one big musky solo fishing and cut hooks and had a good safe release. I like the Knipex so much, I use it on bass and pike too - if I'm not keeping a fish, I want it to live. Replacement treble hooks are not expensive - I keep a Plano box at home full of 3/0's to 7/0's and always have a few of different sizes in my traveling tackle box for the boat. I will get a couple of the tools you mentioned that I don't have, like the hook pick. Good stuff, thanks.
Natives gill net everything on principle as some sort of protest or demonstration of their rights, there are piles and piles of dead fish mostly unused throughout the open water season.
I’m planning to book a trip next week Jan 28th 2022 Never been to MN and this was to be my trip of a lifetime Hard to describe how disheartening it is to listen to these stories I don’t know where to go now. I was planning on vermilion
Excellent video. I have never lost a fish. I have all those tools except the bolt cutter laid out like tools on a surgeons tray. I think that is important to point out.
There are far more Muskies in the lake today than I ever imagined. This I know thanks to Livescope. What I also now know is that these Muskies are extremely boat shy. A high percentage of them will slowly follow, then become aware of the boat and stop - typically 30’ out and 10’ down - never being seen by the naked eye. Follow to bite ratios of 50:1 are the norm for me. That’s fishing pressure causing avoidance behavior. Catch rates have suffered as a result. When those same fish were exposed to angling for the first time, they bit far more frequently. That’s just not the case today and probably never will be again. Lower catch rates can be a function of both angling pressure and overall population. In the case of V today, the former and not the latter seems to be the primary driver of poorer success rates. Just telling you what I’ve seen with my own eyes and has been confirmed through various studies I read about the effects of angling pressure on fish catches.
Combination of many factors. Stocking is probably #2 after fishing pressure. People really need to learn to stop bragging about their trips to vermilion. Or any lake for that matter. Nobody cares about the 50" fish you caught anymore. Keep it to yourself and enjoy the fish. Treat the lakes and the fish with respect and not just your playground for the week you come up.
