Musky Dreams (and Nightmares) – Musky bait is leaving? – Bigguns
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Busy, busy, busy....
Strangely enough, this is a busy time of year in the musky world, despite the fact that most of the "Musky Belt" is iced up.
Show season is just around the corner, and everyone's scramblin' to get their poop in a group. Lots of new gear will be "unveiled" – bucktails, hard baits, softbaits, leaders, storage systems – it's Christmas round two for us musky heads!
Here's a quick show list:
- Ohio Musky Show (Jan 10-12)
- Chicago Muskie Expo (Jan 17-19)
- Milwaukee Muskie Expo (Feb 14-16)
- Southern Muskyfest (Feb 21-22)
- Wisconsin Musky Expo (Mar 6-8)
- W. Pennsylvania Muskie Max (Mar 7-8)
- Minnesota Muskie Show (Mar 27-29)
- Muskie Odyssey (Apr 18)
Should be a fun season!
I can tell ya already, the new 8/8 Stagger is going to popular at the shows.
Should be killer in spring and wherever guys like throwing smaller baits. It's an inch shorter and a half ounce lighter than the 8/9, so you'll have no problem burnin' it high in the water column. Same 1-piece clevis, of course 👌
....And for those of you who can't make it out to the shows, there's gonna be some good TV shows comin' in January to get you amped up for the season: Musky Hunter TV starts up Jan. 4th and Keyes Outdoors on Jan. 5th.
Dreaming about Muskies
While the southern musky contingent is sticking 'skies left-and-right, the northern guys are stuck inside fantasizing about their next musky trip....in SIX MONTHS. 😬
It's a long off-season....
The waiting game can really get to your head.
Sure, you caught over 100 muskies this year, but all you can think about during pillow time is the ONE time this happened:
Hopefully your nightmares aren't this terrifying....
Full video on the TNA Tackle channel 👍
They're packing their bags....
That being the sneaky-important forage fish: the cisco.
As many of you know, cisco (AKA tullibee) are a big deal meal for muskies.
It's no secret that their range is being pushed northwards, but this quote from a Star Tribune article is pretty rattling:
"They’ve disappeared from more than a dozen Minnesota lakes and have lost more than half their total population over the last 30 years. They’ve nearly vanished from Indiana, historically the southern edge of their natural range, and have disappeared from nearly a third of their native lakes in Wisconsin."
Talkin' Minnesota specifically, there were once 650 lakes with ciscos. The scientists believe that just 176 of those lakes are deep/clear enough for ciscos to survive as temps continue to rise.
Here's a quick snapshot of the "survivor" lakes:
Why is this happening?
In short – Ciscos can't survive once water temps reach the mid-70s, so they need to find deeper, colder water in summer. The problem: the deeper the water, the less oxygen it holds that time of year. This leaves a specific band of livable depth where water temps are cool enough, but there's also enough oxygen.
The trend of warming water temps and falling oxygen levels in many Midwestern lakes = Bad News Bears for cisco population.
$700,000 of Whale Vomit
So apparently that's a thing?
Not musky related, but supposedly this funky whale vomit stuff is used to make "musky" scented perfume – whatever that means. lol
Sounds like the guy found this 37lb chunk of petrified puke on a beach in Thailand, Pretty sweet find, but still not as big of a payday as finding this guy's musky box:
QUICK HITTERS:
– Lac Seul cast-to-catch (video)
– River muskies from shore (video)
– Mod: Improved Shallow Invader (video)
– Cave Run musky fishing (video)
– Killing or releasing a world record muskie? (video)
THIS WEEK'S LUNAR TIMES:
(Times based on Minneapolis)
THIS WEEK'S MONSTER MUSKIES:
Tom Rued was in the boat last year when Jason Quintano stuck a 57.25 incher on Lake St. Clair, some of you might remember that fish. Well, this time it was Tom's turn to strike pay dirt with this 40+ pound macho musky!
Timmy Peterzen drilled this beauty earlier this year trollin' a 12-inch walleye flavored Headlock. #camobibs
Not a bad way to wrap up a season of guiding on LSC for Kyle Moxon, busting a plus-sized 53.5" Great Lakes spot-asaurus!
Props to John on whippin' up this fly muchin' fatso from shore. #porky
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