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Hey Range,

Thanks for sharing the pic. Sure is sad to think are them monster fish in there are gone now.

I used to fish & swim down there all the time. On an other note back to Blue Lake draining.......

I wonder if it has something to do with Keetac re-starting that other line that was ideled in the 80s. Our company meeting at Minntac says the expansion at Keetac is still on track with hopes of pellets by 2015. Of course they knew nothing of Blue lake being closed or pumped.

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From talking with the DNR and from other guys out on the lake who heard the same thing, it sounds as if the current dike just south of Keewatin where the pipes head to is close to capacity and they plan on moving it west towards Res 2 and Blue lake. Ive heard two conflicting stories, one has them using blue lake as a Water Reservoir much as Res 2 is and filling the Res with tailings, and the other has the whole area being filled with tailings. Guess time will tell.

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speaking of blue lake, you guys here about the 18 1/2" crappie caught outta there yesterday? i have a pic on my phone but cant post from it. pm me yer email if you wanna see it

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Steve Ostrander with the 18"er, weighed 3 1/4 pounds. He practically lives on the ice. I've known him and his twin brother Scott since they were very young kids. Now they're just older "kids". smile

Good people and good for him to catch a crappie like that. I'm jealous!

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I just happened to meet the local taxidermist, Chris Kunze, when I went to gas up for tomorrow's outing on O'Brien Reservoir. He's mounting the fish for Ostrander and asked if I'd like to see it. Kunze said it's the biggest crappie he's ever seen and that's saying a lot. It's really a hawg and actually measures just under 19" instead of 18". Wow.

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wow indeed! i wonder how old a fish that size is, especially coming from iron range waters. or if it was just a fast-growing mutant fish.

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wow indeed! i wonder how old a fish that size is, especially coming from iron range waters. or if it was just a fast-growing mutant fish.

If you look up what it takes to start and keep a prosperous crappie pond youll find out Blue Lake is a HUGE perfect pond. So i imagine there is more then just that hog in there. Lots of lake to roam and some places that people just arent comfortable fishing because of the dead heads.

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News Flash! There's a lot of scuttlebutt going on around here, saying it was caught in southern Mn and the taxidermist took a pic of Steve, who brought it to him. Now I really doubt Steve caught it and that it even came from Blue Lake.

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Are you sure Greg?! I thought that fish was a freak of nature and was skeptical of a fish like that coming from a northern MN lake, but it sounded like a legit story from the guy that told me about it...

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Who knows? There are a few conflicting stories going around, like normal, even if it was legit. You know how that goes. I guess we'll have to wait and see how it all plays out. For the better, I hope.

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Who knows? There are a few conflicting stories going around, like normal, even if it was legit. You know how that goes. I guess we'll have to wait and see how it all plays out. For the better, I hope.

Well greg I was on the lake Tuesday and saw him and i believe his gf/wife fishing there. I was unaware he had a twin. I see him and her fishing their regularly though

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and after the two largest crappies ive personally ever caught have come outta there this year and an 11 1/2 pound walleye, I truly believe this lake is producing monsters!

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Oh there's no doubt that lake produces some TROPHY fish. It's got some big ones. With all of that brush/trees, etc. in there, there's plenty of places for a fish to grow to gargantuan size without ever seeing a lure. Always thought it would be a great fishery to have musky or catfish in. What fun!

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now that ya mention it, blue would be a great lake for channels! it'd be nice for iron rangers to have a place to target kitties. i always wanted to when i lived up there.

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It reminds me of my catfish outings on Lake Fork, Texas, where we had to fish in and around trees and stumps. It's really quite a deal when you have a big channel or flathead catfish wrapped around some brush. We used trot-lines, with about 50 hooks on them. Fun but actually a lot of work.

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The latest gossip says that fish was caught in a river by someone else and Chris let the photo be taken by Osterander.

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wait a minute, gossip in nashwauk? thats new...:) i dont personally know steve, but the guy that sent me that pic knows him & said it was legit so i'm gonna take him at his word til i hear differently from him

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No, sorry Wiggles, I talked to Steve's brother tonight and he confirmed it was a hoax.
really? that's kinda depressing. i was pumped thinking the biggest crappie caught in mn that i've ever seen was from a lake on da range.
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Over the years I have seen many big fish caught. In almost every case, the person that caught it never tells the real lake where they caught it. I'm guilty of that myself. My father built our cabin on Big Sucker Lake back in the early 60's. I personally caught 4 walleyes over 10 pounds off our dock. The biggest was 13lbs - 9oz & 33" long. We won many fihing contests at Mel's Bait in Nashwauk (there is a blast from the past). We always said they came out of Swan Lake. After they improved the road and put in the public access, that lake got pounded to death in less than 2 years. I can come clean now because the cabin was sold 20 years ago and the lake is all but fished out.

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I once seen crappies bigger than that on a lake.south of eveleth. A very small lake too. Fraak of nature things. They didnt make 5lb, but were very close.

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