BWCA Musky? Recently read a post about them. I didn't know they were in the bwca, any place to target them?

There are no real fishable populations of Muskies in the BDub that I'm aware of, of course Vermillion is the hottest lake going right now for big fish.

If you want to catch Muskies from a canoe try the Big Fork river, the Mississippi, or Shoepack lake in Voyagers Nat. Park.

If your looking for Muskies in a near bwca setting Shoepack and Crescent would fit the bill . Shoepack is in st louis county and you will have to work to get there, Crescent has a boat launch and its in Cook county or right on the border of cook.

Shoepac has its own strain of Ski's (smaller than a Leech or Wisconsin strain of fish).

My buddies dad did a fly in trip to this lake years back (before the no plane restriction) they fished using bass sized tackle and boated over a dozen fish in one day (thats a once in a lifetime day for a Musky angler).

There are several other lakes in northern MN that hold Ski's, do your research because most Musky anglers are going to be very tight lipped about where to find them.

If you looking for a good concentration of Musky and paddleable lakes you might consider Wisconsin, lots of smaller lakes with fishable populations of Musky. They Chippewa flowage comes to mind as an area with many lakes capable of presenting you with an opportunity.

Thanks for the info, cannot see myself forsaking a bwca trip for muskie, just though if they were there it would be fun.

quote CapitalCity: "Shoepac has its own strain of Ski's (smaller than a Leech or Wisconsin strain of fish).


My buddies dad did a fly in trip to this lake years back (before the no plane restriction) they fished using bass sized tackle and boated over a dozen fish in one day (thats a once in a lifetime day for a Musky angler).


There are several other lakes in northern MN that hold Ski's, do your research because most Musky anglers are going to be very tight lipped about where to find them.


If you looking for a good concentration of Musky and paddleable lakes you might consider Wisconsin, lots of smaller lakes with fishable populations of Musky. They Chippewa flowage comes to mind as an area with many lakes capable of presenting you with an opportunity. "

The Shoepac strain is interesting. Apparantly they are very abundant as far as Muskies go so the DNR tried stocking them in other lakes, that's when they realized the strain in that lake did not get very big compared to other musky strains. I've heard 36" is a big musky for this strain?

It is on my to do list, but then again I have too many lakes and too little time.....

T

I would be quite happy with a 36" ski or northern. My dad wants to catch some big northerns in At the end of August.

You are correct, Shoepacs dont get too big. A 38 is a trophy in this strain. There is one lake here in the Metro and one in the southern part of MN that were part of that stocking program (late 70's-early 80's) and the ski's are smaller but more abundant in those lakes.

We kayak fish the uptown metro lakes here (Calhoun, Isle, Harriet, Cedar). These are pure strain and tiger strain fish, we have discovered that these lakes do have some sort of a genetic problem. Usually one gill side is much shorter than the other and in some instances we have even found fish with a gill that appears to be turned up on the outside edge. Beautiful fish none the less, our largest last year via Kayak was a 34in Tiger and a 39in pure strain.

east pike lake has kahunas

Here is what my boundary waters guide by James Churchill says about East Pike lake:

"It covers 496 acres, is 40 feet deep, and is one of the few lakes in the BWCAW that has a possible muskellunge population. Smallmouth bass also live here and are much more abundant."

east pike lake has kahunas

Yes they do! I have had on multiple occasions have one swim under the canoe. I had one size up a 7lb pike at the canoe one year. We have only caught one though. Small one - 5lbs.