February 22, 2025

MN Muskie Expo - Airborne Acrobatics - FFS Regs

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MN Muskie Expo Incoming

Gotta take a moment to give a shout out to the Minnesota Muskie Expo coming up in a couple weeks (March 7-9th).

The musky community has in-person shows all over the place these days (which is amazing). We make it out to some of them, but the Minnesota event is a can't-miss for us here in our home state. It's a great opportunity to rub shoulders with other musky-obsessed folks who you might not have met otherwise.

If you're planning on making it out, make sure to stop by and say hello. Josh will be at the Angling Revolution booth when he's not on the seminar stage.

Speaking of seminars... seems like the lineup is always extra stacked at this event, and this year is no exception. They’ve got 11 seminars lined up with all the bases covered including TV personalities, YouTubers, and an impressive list of A+ guides.

Check out this lineup! 👀👇

Not only is this seminar lineup super stacked, but they're bringing some really strong/interesting topics to the table!

For more info on the expo this year, check out their website. 👈

Airborne Acrobatics

It’s been awfully cold for most of musky country lately. So we’re bringin’ the heat with some spicy acrobatic GIF’s! 🔥

Let’s kick things off with a nice backflip with full rotation courtesy of Tackle Industries.

The Today’s Angler crew says “Every musky is fun in the rowboat!” We agree . . . especially when they do this! 👇

The ‘skie in this AD Outdoors clip decided to make a hard left at boat and gave them an eyeful! 👀

Last but not least, we have this insane aerial display captured by Troll Blazers. #WhyWeDoThis

This one gets a perfect score for height, airtime, rotations, and degree of difficulty! 🏆

Potential FFS Regs Coming

There’s been a lot of chatter this winter regarding potential musky specific regulations being introduced for forward facing sonar (FFS) users.

The specific lakes we’re hearing the most about are Lake Vermilion and Leech Lake in MN along with Eagle Lake in Canada. There’s also been talk of possible statewide musky specific regs for Minnesota.

We just came across this proposed reg for Leech Lake posted on the Bemidji/Cass Lake Muskies Inc. Facebook page.

“The MN DNR is having a meeting on Wednesday, February 26, 2025 about a proposed change to the muskie regulations on Leech Lake.“

Here’s a few excerpts from the current draft of the proposal . . .

Reasons for concern:

The deep water habitat muskies utilize after spawning make them susceptible to angling pressure in a means that was not historically possible. The improvements in equipment including Forward Facing Sonar(FFS) make locating muskies in this habitat relatively simple.

Vast areas of open water can be methodically searched at high speeds until muskies appear as glowing targets on FFS screens. Anglers, furnished with knowledge of congregation sites in combination with advanced equipment, are producing astounding catch rates of large fish.

Furthermore, the number of anglers utilizing this resource appears to be growing.
Concerned resource users feel this will have long-term, sustained negative impacts to Leech Lake’s naturally reproducing Muskie population.

Special Regulation Request for Leech Lake:

From the opening of the Minnesota Muskie season through the Saturday following July 4th, angling for muskellunge in 20 feet of water or greater is prohibited.

Research:

Anglers are willing and excited to partner with the DNR to have a better understand the effects of this “Over Catching” phenomenon. Stakeholders are requesting a partnership with anglers and MN DNR to capture muskies via angling for research in the 2025 muskie season.

Enforcement:

Enforcement may treat this rule period as an educational opportunity for anglers in violation. Anglers with multiple offenses could be treated with the general penalty provisions of MN Statute 97A.301.

There’s more to this proposal than we can squeeze in the newsletter. But that’s a quick overview. It sounds like they’re still looking for feedback both positive and negative on this proposal. You can add your two cents in the comments section of the post right here. But, before you do, be sure you read the entire proposal first.

This Week's Mashup:

Mashup time!

#1 – This MuskyFrenzyTV clip reminds us that you can do a full figure-8 after every cast all day long, but the muskies always show up on the one cast you don’t. How do they always know? 🤷‍♂️

#2 – Check out these new Toddy Tickle Warhammer colors that Ezoko will have on hand at the upcoming Muskie Odyssey 2025. 👀

#3 – Yep, you can order a chainsaw musky carving on Etsy. This one is by DND Custom Carvings.

#4 – Addison Davies (11 yo) took home some serious hardware from the Ohio Husky Musky Club. Her personal best 49.75" was the longest caught by a junior girl, and biggest of all female anglers in 2024! This earned her the Matthew Smith Memorial Award for Junior Girls and the Queen Royalty Award. She received an OHMC Queen Royalty jacket and 3 plaques. Addison also released 10 qualifying muskies, 4 considered “husky,” measuring over 42.”

QUICK HITTERS:

– Hot September Struggle (video) w/ Mayhem’s 10,000 Casts

– 54 minutes LIVE with Jeremy Smith, Linder Media (video) w/ 54 or bust

– Return to Leech (video) w/Keyes Outdoors Musky Hunting Adventures

– Muskie Fishing Adventure On Beautiful Lac Seul (Amazing Topwater Action) (video) w/ Linder’s Angling Edge

– Minnow Bait Musky REDEMPTION! (video) w/ Musky Mastery

This Week's Monster Muskies:

Eric Trevison scored this monster while casting around the deep edges of reefs on Eagle Lake.

Robert Krueger got this broad backed beast while slingin’ with his best friend and guide Carter Natale.

Imagine feeling the head shakes of a 55 incher after 28 hours of no sleep. 😳 That’s how it went down for Jon Freund last fall. He had to wake his dad up to net this beast! #WakeUpCall

Sherry Tomborowsky-Dixon caught this bruiser on the French River. Way to go Sherry!

Wanna be featured in Musky Insider? Send in your recent trophy musky photos by replying to this email. You might just see your pic in next week's newsletter. 🤙

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