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Walleye Fisherman... Be Prepared!


hanson

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This may sound elementary but I'd like to remind everyone heading up to the pond, or any lake you are fishing this fall that has muskies swimming in it, to be prepared.

Fall night trolling typically involves larger profile crankbaits. Muskies love crankbaits as I found out this weekend on Cass Lake while we were trolling for walleyes. Lucky me! grin.gif

The point I want to drive home is the successful release. Even if you are just targeting walleyes, I think you should really carry all the tools required for releasing a big 'ski in you boat. Borch just happened to have the necessary equipment so we were good to go, just took him a little while to dig out the important stuff.

Equipment would include:

- Large Net (big enough for a 'ski)

- Long Needlenose pliers

- Bolt cutters or something to cut hooks

- Jaw Spreader

- First Aid Kit

- Camera at the ready!

Feel free to add comments or opinions but when you are pulling big baits in the dark on a body of water that has a healthy population of these big fish, you have to be ready in case you do hook into one, even if you aren't targeting them.

Good Luck guys!

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You look ALOT BETTER Holding a Muskie, than a Cat. Did you go with Borch????

I know the discontinued Orange Husky Jerks produce them on Mille Lacs!!!!

AWESOME!!!! grin.gifgrin.gif

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Good topic Hanson.

I was surprised saturday night by a huge pike. the jaw spreaders are a must have as they want to clamp the jaw down other wise and removal would be a pain with out it.

Camera is a must. grin.gif

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Quote:

Did you go with Borch????


Yeah! Got to spend 4 solid evenings riding around the lake with him. What an education!! The 'ski was a bonus!

Poor Borch though... his hands took a beating from that muskie. He reminded me that he probably had it coming as I landed a mid-teens pike for him on URL last winter that cut me up pretty bad. I left a trackable blood trail from the hole to my truck 25 yards away to get fresh camera batteries as both of our digital cameras were dead.

There's another tip...

Make sure your camera has fresh batteries, or you have extras on you!

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Muleshack-

You know... I thought it was a topic worth mentioning as the both of us were well aware a muskie could grab a crank at any moment but this one still caught us off guard.

The jaw spreaders were necessary as this fish had an HJ14 crossways in its mouth back where the jaws come together. All 3 sets of trebles were hooked up. We only had a regular needlenose pliers which meant flesh was going to get very near those big teeth to get that lure out.

Most muskie guys are prepared for stuff like this. Like I said, we were prepared but still caught off guard. grin.gif

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Back in the 80's we use to spend a week on Cass at the old resort "Break on the Lake". We use to go the 2nd week of July. One year we hit the full moon just right. Three days before and after. We trolled shad raps, perch colored, on O'Neills Point.

and one eve I hooked on to something big for 15 min. but never got it up to the boat. It didn't break the line. The shad rap was ripped up, wire and all through the lure.

Glad you got yours!!!

Borch must be "the Man". He said he couldn't wait to get up there!!!

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

The first aid kit is a must!

All these years I've had one and only needed it for a few minor cuts until Saturday night. A few band-aides and some bandaging tape to stop the bleeding and we were fishing again in about 10 minutes after the release. Ended up popping my best walleye of the trip after I got all bandaged up. laugh.gif

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Nothing really big other than Chris's musky.

Just under 25". The group had several fish in that 22-25" range to go along with lots of eaters.

Funny thing is that I had a long hook remover but forgot when the musky and I started sharing a hook from Chris's HJ 14. wink.gif

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Don't forget that Troy knocked Wes's 27-28" eye off at the boat with the net, or was it Wes knocking Troy's off. Either way... someone wasn't happy. blush.gif

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Great fish and great post. I'm chiming in to agree 100% with everything you said.

The first fish I caught during the Sept full moon at Mille Lacs this year was a 48 inch muskie. It's not uncommon at all to hook up with muskies while night trolling, or big pike too for that matter. The night I caught my muskie another boat in my group caught a 42 inch pike. And last year we caught a lot of big pike in my boat night trolling, a 39", a couple 38", and quite a few that were 34"-36". Those are all good picture fish, and are all big enough to cause some problems if you don't have the right gear and don't handle them carefully.

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Chris,

Congrats on the beauty from Cass, and THANK YOU for posting this topic. There will be lots of long green fish caught this weekend I'm sure. The safety of the angler and fish is paramount and preparation is key! Prepare for success. Steve

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Solid advice Chris. Great idea for a post.

'Eyes, muskies, kitties, white bass, sturgeon, crappies; I bet your head is just spinning. grin.gifgrin.gif

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hanson, Great advice! We tag into a Ski or 3 almost every year we are up this time of year. The Pike too. So far this year a couple managable Pike. No Ski's, but now after saying that I know it's going to happen. grin.gif Our biggest 2 years ago was a buluga 47" and she did a cartwheel in the full moon. Never will forget that one. It was awesome, but once on board we realized the work was about to begin. I now have a hook cutter, long needle nose and a good first aid kit. Thanks again for reminding us all to be aware.

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Great reminders, Chris.

Last Fri night I grabbed my heavy duty wire cutters to cut a treble that got buried near the eye of a 26" walleye. I haven't used it in years and it was corroded shut- it took a hard, 2-handed pull to open it up. This week a I bought a

new one and put it into a zip lok bag for protection.

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