Muskie in Shagawa

[Finns]

In the past there has been discussion about whether or not there are/were muskies in Shagawa Lake. I was reading the local Ely newspaper this am and found a picture (with caption) of a 51 lb. 57" mskie taken by a Carver Mn. angler. He registered it at Babe's Bait and Tackle for some sort of contest I believe.

[Wanderer]

Dang! Someone finally got that girl to go! Been waitin on her...

That is an amazing catch if it did come from Shags since there are so few. Yes, there are muskies in Shags and there was a giant pulled from there once before. I did pop one in there several years ago but it was only about 10-12 lbs.

But there's this certain flat I like to cast with the big hardware that almost always produces a big hit but no fish. It's a ritual. Maybe it's over now.

Good for the lucky angler!!

[Finns]

Gosh I hope it's not over !!

Email me and I can send you the pic and info on the catch from the paper.

finns3 at stjoelive dot com

[Great Outdoors]

There have been quite a few large muskies caught in Shagawa over the last ten years, or so.

[Steve Foss]

Muskies are not native to Shags, but muskies have been reared in a DNR pond adjacent to a river several miles upstream of Shag. Consensus is some got out, possibly during high water. I photographed an approximate 30-lb musky from Shags a few years ago.

No doubt there'll be more. Maybe they are even successfully spawning. Try anything hard enough and long enough and it just might take.

If there's a hawg 'ski just three pounds shy of the Minnesota record pulled from Shags recently, that pic and story oughta be posted here, not schlepped around via e-mail.

I can't find an account of the catch on either local newspaper's Web site. Color me skeptical. Possible? OK. Likely? Not.

[Silver Scale]

Catching any muskie in Shag is like winning the powerball lottery. Wonder if it came from Vermilion?

[Great Outdoors]

Stevo,

Contact Jim at Shagawa Inn. He had a crew from Iowa that caught one just shy of the state record (how shy?????) in September 3-5 years ago. It was pictured in the Echo Angler, and was weighed at Zup's grocery store the evening it was caught.

Quite an interesting story, caught it in front of the FS hanger, guys beered up to the max, net man falls out of the boat with his leg stuck under the seat, guy with the fish on has to pull him back in, etc, etc.

[Great Outdoors]

It didn't come from Vermilion. As Steve mentioned, the DNR has ponds fed from Burntside River just off the Wolf Lake Road. They have raised fish for Muskies Unlimited (?) in these ponds. If some escaped for whatever reason, they'd swim downstream into Shagawa.

As previously stated, quite a few Muskies have been caught in Shagawa over the years.

[Silver Scale]

The DNR muskie rearing ponds are for DNR stocking in Vermilion, St Louis River, and Island lake and elsewhere in Minnesota depending on needs and surplus fish which they never seem to get anymore. They are not raised for Muskies Incorporated. As I recall the fish caught a few years ago from Shag in the Forest Service seaplane base bay was in the high 30 lb class and no where near a state record unless it's a different fish than the one I'm thinking about.

[crawler harness]

Steve,

the skies in shag are reproducing, the smallest one that I know that has been caught was about 36". The muskies in the rearing pond are only in there throughout the summer and then released into Vermilion and so forth as yearlings I do believe. I have not seen the picture yet of the 57" but I do know it was caught in Shag. A muskie buddy of mine stopped in the Babe's about 10 minutes after the guy had left with the pig. There was a 51" a few weeks back that broke my buddies line and a few days later somebody seen it floating and took it into the local taxidermist to get it mounted. I have been out on Shag and fished for the skies a few times but never hooked up, my buddies get into them though, I stick to fishing for the eyes and the smallies. The other day I seen probably a 45" sitting up in the shallows sunning itself. They are out there and one would think since they are in shag where else could they be since they shag river dumps out!!

[Steve Foss]

G.O., I photographed the one you're talking about and wrote a story for the Timberjay. It was in the 35 lb range, and the only reason a state record was mentioned was because they thought it might have been a tiger musky. DNR confirmed it was a regular musky.

Crawler harness, thanks for the info. Sounds like enough have gotten in there to spawn (and who knows whether a couple adventurous anglers might not have transferred a few from Vermilion)?

Finns, thanks for sending the pdf. It was in The Angler, a seasonal fishing publication put out weekly by the Ely Echo. Had a pic. Said the fish was 57 inches long, weighed 51 lbs, and was caught on a Cowgirl by Wade Welter of Carver, Minn., and was registered at Babe's Bait and Tackle. No story, just the photo and caption. So color me a believer now!

[Mike Stark]

can you post the pic here?

[Steve Foss]

No, I don't have it in the proper electronic form. I have a scan of the newspaper page as a pdf, which can't be posted here. And I'm not sure whether converting the pdf to jpeg (easily done in Photoshop) and posting it here will violate the Echo's copyright, so I'm not inclined to do it.

It's in the Sept. 11 issue of The Angler, which is the current issue out there on news stands. Free, I believe.

Definitely looks like a big-un. I'll get in touch with Russ at Babe's and see if he'll e-mail me a pic for posting.

Maybe it was caught on Vermilion and hauled to Ely in the livewell. Presented as a Shags fish, that'll pull a few wannabe musky guys off Vermilion and ease the pressure there a bit. Or not.

[jonesen]

For that fish to be 51 lbs. it would need a 27 inch girth, the fish in the paper is lucky to have a 23" girth, the lenght is tough to tell in any photo but especially in this case cause you can't see the last foot of the fish. This is just another fish story like the 58"x 29" fish from V last fall.

[Steve Foss]

For that fish to be 51 lbs. it would need a 27 inch girth, the fish in the paper is lucky to have a 23" girth, the lenght is tough to tell in any photo but especially in this case cause you can't see the last foot of the fish. This is just another fish story like the 58"x 29" fish from V last fall.

And so it begins.

As a longtime photographer and angler, I've seen pics of big fish that looked small, and pics of small fish that looked big. And everywhere in between. There are a lot of ways to make things look like they aren't with a camera. And any photo of a fish can be deceptive. Not on purpose, just because we make visual assumptions all the time when looking at pics. So I'll settle for a weighed fish.

And since it was "registered at Babe's," I take that to mean it was measured and weighed. I'm a little busy tomorrow, so maybe someone else who has an interest in the topic might make a phone call.

I don't much care one way or another. There's only so much time in the day, and I've sold all my musky gear because there is only one species worth total dedication in northern MN, and it ain't muskies. Heck, muskies aren't even in second place.

[jonesen]

Sorry about the double post

Trout suck

[Steve Foss]

For that fish to be 51 lbs. it would need a 27 inch girth, the fish in the paper is lucky to have a 23" girth, the lenght is tough to tell in any photo but especially in this case cause you can't see the last foot of the fish. This is just another fish story like the 58"x 29" fish from V last fall.

Huh? Why post that for a second time?

[jonesen]

[jonesen]

Quote:

I don't much care one way or another. There's only so much time in the day, and I've sold all my musky gear because there is only one species worth total dedication in northern MN, and it ain't muskies. Heck, muskies aren't even in second place.

I see a lot of internet pro's have sold there musky gear, must be getting tough out there.

[Mike Stark]

thats a pig! i trust that russ at babes bait and tackle weighed the fish correctly. thanks for posting the pic.

[DTro]

LOL

That guy looks familiar

I'll have to ask Wayde about this fish next time I see him.

[Silver Scale]

Is that one of those Shagawa S##t Sharks????

Two big dead fish from Shag in the past few weeks in a lake with maybe only a handfull is going to be put a dent in natural reproduction if there was any to start with....

Trust me there arn't many muskies in there.

There will be more muskie anglers trying it now and after several days of seeing nothing they will go back to Vermilion or elsewhere....

[Steve Foss]

Russ weighed and measured the fish himself. Thought you'd like to know.

[jonesen]

Thanks for the info

Does Russ sell muskie lures?

[Steve Foss]

Does Russ sell muskie lures?

Does a jonesen troll in the woods?

[propster]

Dtro, see if you can find out why he killed the fish. Be interesting to know.

[DTro]

Dtro, see if you can find out why he killed the fish. Be interesting to know.

just a shot in the dark, but I'm guessing it was to put it on the wall

[jonesen]

Quote:

see if you can find out why he killed the fish. Be interesting to know.

so Russ can sell more musky lures.

[Steve Foss]

Just a shot in the dark, but I'm guessing it was to put it on the wall

Good one!

Man, that's the fish of a lifetime. Big congrats to him!

[jonesen]

I heard this one was caught in Burntside.