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Musky Trip Advice


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Hello All,

My father and I are heading up for a Friday-Tuesday fishing trip this coming weekend. I was curious as to what some of these big girls have been hitting on up here and the best times of day. I'm not looking for specific spots or anything like that, just some tips and pointers to get my first of the season this year. It's been really slow and I would love to finally get one this year as I am getting frustrated after all the follows and then nothing. We'll be fishing Detroit, Pelican, Mantrap, and West Battle Lake. I caught two on W Battle Lake fall of 05 30 mins apart. A 38 and a 46. I fished on Pelican for an afternoon when I was up there at a buddy's cabin. Anything would be of help! Thanks in advance!

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talked to two guys at the DL access tonight and they didn't get any but they had 4 followers. While I was fishing I happened to look up and saw one surface was maybe 36" nothing huge but was cool how it came out of the water just so quietly.

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There is a guy named Jerry Sondag that has been guiding on Pelican and DL. He has a big Ranger with a kicker and I have watched him put 50"+ fish in the boat for clients Sunday and Monday. He seems to do a nice job getting the fish back in the water asap. I have never met him, so can't provide a reference. The fish have been very active lately.

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Thanks for your responses. Should be a great weekend after all this rain and storms and hopefully get the fish feeding again!

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Jerry's a great guy and knows how to get er done. I'm also on Pelican and he puts in alot of time on both Pelican and DL. He likes to stop at a little place on the north side of Pelican and have a bump, you won't miss him as he will probably be the biggest guy in there.

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Whitecaps kept us off the best local spots today, but still managed one in the boat and a huge ski busted a Grandma but shook off. Weeds dying off fast, but still enough cabbage that you shouldn't have trouble locating fish.

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Thanks again all. Should be leaving St Cloud around 6pm tomorrow night and hitting them hard Saturday through Tuesday!

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The word is that Cowgirls are the lure of choice. Big D has been on fire over the last 6 weeks.

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cowgirl bite was dead today, but the suick bite was hot and heavy even in the strong wind. Fish bit for four hours after the wind shift.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well the trip was really fun with all the beautiful colors up there! Unfortunately, only fish caught were some slimers and some bass. We raised a few fish on Pelican and Big Detroit, and West Battle but that was all for action. I had one blow up on a Super Humper out on Detroit Monday night but missed it and one follow a Cowgirl for a little while. The weather last weekend was unbeleivable! Hot, cold, windy, still, rainy, sunny, foggy, misty, cloudy, shirts, shorts, jeans, parkas, gloves, boots, flip-flops! We might have been just as out of sorts as the muskies were. Monday night ran into some problems with the pick up as we left the boat access at 9:30PM the headlights died, then the wipers, then the radio. We tried to let it run for a while and hoped to limp it back to where we were staying at with dim headlights and it just died on the side of the road. Had to call up AAA to get some help but wouldn't help with the boat trailer on the side of the road. We had some great service from Select Auto out of Detroit Lakes towing the pick up and the boat back (for no fee), putting both in their locked shop overnight and letting us use a loaner car (free) to get back to where we were staying. Very nice considering the option of leaving the boat on the side of the road packed full of musky stuff and electronics and rods on the side of a road. So, we were glad that worked out so well. Heading off to Mille Lacs in a few weeks to try that out for a musky. Still need to get a fish this year! Musky Hunter TV arrived in the mail and enjoyed watching that over the dreary weekend.

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