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Muskie Fishing

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MCJ graduate
MCJ graduate
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
3
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6
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Editor Pick

Muskie Fishing

  • November 26, 2005
  • Rated 4 of 5 by MCJ graduate from German Valley, Illinois
I caught my muskie on our last day of fishing. But by this time, I had a good rod and reel (John the resort owner loaned it to me).Finally this giant, predator hit my line. In fact, he hit the line three times and I thought the first two times I was snagged. He was the dumbest fish in Moose Lake, I swear. The following is what happened: this dumb fish pulled down my rod and was on it twice before I hooked him. I thought I had a snag, so under the water I kept pulling the hook out of his mouth (dumb, but not as dumb as the fish). And on the second time, the pole bent in half, and I reeled it in to see if I had lost my bait. The sucker bait was a little marred up, but I dropped the line again. And then, all of a sudden, I noticed my bait came to the top of the water and was doing a backstroke frantically. And then, the next thing I knew, something gobbled the sucker, and my rod was bent in half again. I told Sharon I thought I had a muskie by how the fish pulled and I was going to let the fish play the line for awhile and then reel it in. And that is what I did. Well, we boated this muskie too, and it was a blast! This fish, like the prior one, was mean-looking because of his size and his mouthful of teeth. He measured 36 inches long. He would have been considered a legal size not long ago, but now the DNR raised the legal size here to 40 inches. As a result, we again took the photo opportunity and then released this toothy, giant fish.

For the hours we fished total (less than 12 hours) and the equipment we had to fish with most of the time, I think we did pretty well. Even our resort owner (who is also a guide) said we out-fished six men who arrived a week before we did. They rented a cabin for five days and fished many more hours than us and caught one fish between all of them. And they had the $300 rods and reels and an expensive fish finder.

I highly recommend fishing for muskies. They are mean, toothy, big, and they get your heart racing! They are fun to try to catch. This fish definitely makes fishing a sport. It is not an easy fish to land, and you have to respect this adversary.

We caught our fish not far from Sportsmen’s Lodge’s dock at Moose Lake. Sportsmen’s Lodge is located at 7595 W Pine Point Road. Hayward, WI, 54843 and the phone number is 715-462-3847 or 715-462-9402.

From journal Last Anglers Standing

Editor Pick

Muskie Fishing

  • November 26, 2005
  • Rated 4 of 5 by MCJ graduate from German Valley, Illinois
Muskie Fishing

We were couple of women who had muskies on our minds. No, we had never caught them before, but the thought of catching these giant fish with enormous teeth intrigued us. And yes, if you are asking if we are loony, the answer is absolutely. But unfortunately, we didn’t check our rods and reels to see if they were in top shape or suitable for these predator fish. Shame on us for that! Our small freshwater poles (only can hold an 8-pound fish) and our salt-water pole, unbeknownst to us, had a rusted-out reel. In addition, none of these rods had steal leaders or braided lines. And when you try to catch muskies, you need these; otherwise, you take the chance of these fish chewing off the line and/or breaking the line. Lastly, we only had regular hooks on the poles. And any muskie angler knows that when you fish with live bait (sucker fish), you need treble hooks. Luckily, when we bought our bait at the bait shop, we were told what tackle to use. Therefore, we did have this tackle called quick hit harness. This consisted of a bobber and two treble hooks. Other than that right rig, we fished with our rubbish fishing equipment.

There is an adage about muskie fishing: a fish of 10,000 casts. Hmm, for the muskies we caught, we didn’t cast at all. Instead, we took our poles, dropped the lines not far from the boat and about 15 feet down into the water (water was about 25 feet deep), and waited for the giant. We used live sucker fish as bait (they were 12 to 13 inches long). And because the live bait is so large, you didn’t need a sinker for weight.

Sharon caught her muskie fish after 3 hours of fishing on our first fishing day. This was when she realized that the salt-water pole’s reel had rusted out. She couldn’t reel her muskie in. Instead, she let the fish play itself out and pull the line straight up while I netted it. We couldn’t believe our eyes--it was huge to us. We measured the length, which was 31.5 inches long, but forgot to measure the girth of it. Since the legal size was 40 inches (after we took pictures), we had to release her back into the water. Although Sharon didn’t experience the whole thrill of catching a muskie (the muskie running the line), she did bring the fish up without losing it, an achievement in itself.

Sharon also caught a walleye, but it snapped the salt-water pole’s line. We did see him arch up and then break the line. He was huge for a walleye. I would guess he was 24 inches long, and he did go after the 12 to 13 sucker-fish bait. Also, Sharon had another muskie on her line, but with that darn salt-water pole and reel, she couldn’t reel him in, so he got off.

From journal Last Anglers Standing

Editor Pick

Moose Lake

  • November 26, 2005
  • Rated 4 of 5 by MCJ graduate from German Valley, Illinois
Moose Lake

Moose Lake is an intriguing lake. It is not a pretty lake with clear or turquoise water. Instead, it is a dark-stained lake. In fact, some of the resorts by this lake don’t advertise to say you can even swim here. Hence, they realize that it is not inviting for swimming. However, it is noted to be a Class A Lake for muskies. This means it is a great lake to catch these enormous predator fish.

Moose Lake to some people is shaped like a horseshoe, but I saw a map of it and think that it looks like moose antlers. Despite the difference of opinions here on its shape, Moose Lake has an interesting lake profile: the size and depth of it is 1, 670 acres, with a maximum depth of 32 feet; the featured species are muskie, walleye, perch, crappie, and rock bass; the water is considered moderately fertile and dark brown in color; the bottom of this lake is 30% rubble, 30% sand, 30& gravel, 5% boulder, and 5% muck; the vegetation is cabbage, sandgrass, bulrush, and lily pad; the shoreline is 85% upland, with minimal development; and the forage is very limited, with sucker, redhorse, and perch.

What I like most about this lake is that it is best known for its excellent muskie population. There are 50-plus-inch muskies available here. This makes you want to fish, even in the cold fall weather, like we did to try to get that trophy fish. There are also trophy walleyes in this lake.

When you boat/fish here, you must take precautions. There are numerous stumps, boulders, submerged rock bars, and floating vegetation here. To avoid a disaster, I would purchase a map that has these obstacles marked. In our case, the resort owner of Sportsmen’s Lodge gave us a map of Moose Lake and marked the areas not to come in contact with.

I would highly recommend this lake for fishing. But I wouldn’t recommend it to water ski or swim because of the debris in the water and the brown color of the lake. If you are interested in staying at Moose Lake, I would call, write, or go to the Hayward Lakes Information Center to get more information. The phone number of this place is 800/724-2992, and the address is 15805 1st St., Hayward, WI 54843.

From journal Last Anglers Standing

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