Muskies on the Miss. north of Brainerd

[gorrilla]

What do you guys think of the DNR's potential stocking of Muskies from Aitkin to Brainerd on the Mississippi?

I think its great news since I already fish all species south of Brainerd and think its always really cool to have the potential of hooking a real brutus on my little shap rap.

[jyoung]

I think that it's a great idea. The Brainerd Lakes area needs more muskie lakes/rivers. The area has trophy walleyes, great population of big pike, fantastic large/smallmouth bass and an abundance of panfish. Increasing the muskie population will offer the fisherman a chance at a trophy fish of all species in the area. Adding muskies to area lakes/rivers will only solidify the area as "THE" fishing gem of Minnesota! Why would you fish anywhere else!?

[AWH]

With the abundance of forage in that stretch of river in the form of suckers, redhorse, carp, and much more, it's a great idea. There's already a musky population there, being native to the Mississippi. So it's great to see that the DNR understands all the positive impacts that increasing the current population will have!

Lake Alexander, a lake that first received musky stocking back in 1988 shows strong evidence of how a lake can thrive when introduced with muskies. I've talked to a number of walleye fishermen out there that are very happy about muskies being in there. Not only do they have the chance to hook into something much bigger than they're going after, but they have seen fishing improve in recent years. They've told me that they're catching more and bigger walleyes than they've ever caught out there. And the most recent DNR nettings out there support this claim as well. This is a lake that is definitely thriving. Now whether this can be credited to muskies or not, who knows. I tend to believe that it's part of the reason. But it sure shows that they don't hurt a fishery like many people believe.

Our DNR in this state does a tremendous job of researching which lakes can support musky populations. They don't go out and just decide they want to stock a lake or river without doing their homework first. If they feel that there's a chance that stocking muskies will hurt a lake, they won't make a proposal for that body of water. So when there's a proposal like this that is put forward, I think we owe it to them to support this or any such proposal. They are doing what they feel is best for the fishery based on a lot of sound research.

Aaron

[ccarlson]

The DNR usually hears the most from people that are opposed to their proposed activities. People who are favor of things just never seem to take the time to voice their opinion. Please contact the DNR fisheries to voice your support so it goes through.

ccarlson

[DUCKJ]

BRING IT ON!!!!!

We need some more waters with muskies in them. This is a great thing and hopfully it will continue on and more lake will get stocked.

Duck