Musky lakes?

[dfricke1010]

I am going to be transfering to st. cloud next this fall and wondering if there are any musky lakes in the area. I fish shamineau which is about an hour away but im wondering if there are any that are a little closer?

[IceHawk]

One of the closest ones I can think of is Sugar.

[SchloeRide]

Sugar is the closest lake to St. Cloud with muskies in it.

[Borch]

Closest water is the Mississippi River. Lake Alexander also has a good population.

[dfricke1010]

Alright thanks guys!

[cjac]

Couple options for you: The Alex area to the West and the West metro lakes to the East. Both offer good waters and different lake compositions. Waconia, Independance, Minnetonka are a few on the west side of the metro, plus a few others.

As mentioned, Sugar is the closest option, but does get a fair amount of fishing pressure.

Good luck, Chris

[YummiYammis]

Borch do you know if the river holds Musky in SC limits or is more of the waters north of Paper Mill dam? Thinking bout trying top water for em this summer. Any general idea would help.

[anyfishwilldo]

I have heard of them below the dam, but I have only caught them between the Blanchard and Sartel dams.

[BigGrassBass]

I've caught a couple a few years ago upstream from the Clearwater Access. I was shore fishing/wading for norts and hooked up with a ski. It's a fun deal when you get a 40 incher wrapped around your legs! I got them upstream from the access. You'll be able to see a shallow spot that washes into a 5-6 foot "hole". I've also got quite a few respectable smallies in that same spot and a few norts that were nothing to laugh at. There were never a ton of fish, but the quality kept me comming back.

[Tippman]

The numbers are very low south of Sartell. I've heard of them caught but never seen one myself below this point.

[Borch]

The furtherst south I caught one was just south of Monticello. There are in the St Cloud area though. But like Tippman stated you'll have better ods further north, say between Royalton and Little Falls.

[river huntfish]

Yes the mississippi river holds some good fish, but i would say the best is between the rice bridge and the blanchard dam. There is a lot of activity from sartell to the rice bridge because it is deep enough to tube and ski.

[Dean Schellinger]

Very difficult to catch 'skis below Sartell [PoorWordUsage]. I have heard of people catching them while trying to catch smallies, but its pretty remote. Very shallow and tough to fish. Never know, but north of the dam is deeper and definitely a better option imo.

[SchloeRide]

Caught a tiny one (3 lbs) just below the Sartell dam when I was a kid 20 years ago. I have heard of people catching them below the dam by SCSU too--not directly below but down river from there.

[mrklean]

I heard you are more likely to catch a muskie bass fishing on the river then if your muskie fishing

[muskyjim]

sounds about right. seems like i catch more bass when i'm musky fishing.

[Stick in Mud]

I caught a 51'' beneath the Sartell Dam on a mister twister a few years ago, though there are much better baits than that.

I typically prefer to hook onto a nice rock bass with a crawler or fathead and then start reeling it in slowly. I prefer to pump my rod while doing this, causing a slightly more erratic action while the fish is in the water. Then, when the fish gets by the boat, begin taking it out of the water. Right before the fish leaves the water is your best option for hooking a big ski. Seems like this has happened to me once or twice each year for the last eight or so. Unfortunately, I never get them in after the ski eats them, but it's fun to see a big gator come up and make a snack of a chunky rock bass. Another good bait is a 12'' smallie, though these fish are a little more agile and therefore harder for the ski to get a good grip on.

On a side note, I was fishing the low water south of the dam last summer when I saw a muskie chase (what I think was) a smallie around some water that wasn't much more than a foot deep. If I wasn't positive it was impossible, I would have sworn a crocodile had just grabbed onto some sort of fairly large mammal.