Muskellunge time

[Mike]

Got word from the AFM yesterday that the tagging part of the muskellunge study at Nockamixon has revealed that some tigers are reaching 14 yrs old and that the pures, now in the lake since 2012 and stocked in a number of following years, are still growing at good rates. Males are surpassing the reported max lengths for males in Wisc and MN, now reaching 43” in Nock and females are moving past the 50” length with more years of growth to come. Likewise, Marburg is producing fish up to 55”.

 

[silverfox]

Got word from the AFM yesterday that the tagging part of the muskellunge study at Nockamixon has revealed that some tigers are reaching 14 yrs old and that the pures, now in the lake since 2012 and stocked in a number of following years, are still growing at good rates. Males are surpassing the reported max lengths for males in Wisc and MN, now reaching 43” in Nock and females are moving past the 50” length with more years of growth to come. Likewise, Marburg is producing fish up to 55”.

PA is quickly becoming one of the primary states to target for trophy musky. My best is a heavy 48, but three of us saw one multiple times we nicknamed Bertha, that was likely pushing 60 and very heavy. I had her lay at my feet for a good 2 or 3 minutes one day. I dropped my fly right on her nose. She did the same exact thing every time she'd follow the fly in. Very slow and cautious, and she didn't seem bothered by people and kayaks. All of us reported the exact same behavior.

Someone bought the property right next to where she lived and started fishing with live suckers, and one guy reported that he was killing them because he said "they were eating all the bass." 🤦‍♂️ (it's really not bass water other than rockbass and the occasional LMB/SMB that wandered in there) We haven't seen her in 2 years now so I suspect she was either dragged out by the misguided landowner or died of old age. It was fun seeing her even if she had no interest in artificial lures of any kind. They get wicked smart at those big sizes/ages.

 

[pcray1231]

so that leads me to believe that you most likely hooked into one of the very large pickerel from that same water body.

That's a possibility. And the 30" is very much a guess, I only saw it for a second or two at like 30 feet distance. It was noticably longer than the best of the smallies we were catching, which were mid teens. And it had that long skinny profile of pretty much everything in the pike family.

I woulda loved to see it up close.

 

[Dave_W]

This is great news. The good ole days of muskie fishin in PA is now. Thanks for the updates Mike (as usual).

If you're itching to FF for muskies without a boat, this can be tough. Most of our river banks are forested and muskie flies have to be hauled rather than roll cast (or at least for me). It's very tough to fly cast under tree cover. If you wish to try river muskies without a boat, it is much easier and more effective with spin gear.

 

[C_kreek17]

This is great news. The good ole days of muskie fishin in PA is now. Thanks for the updates Mike (as usual).

If you're itching to FF for muskies without a boat, this can be tough. Most of our river banks are forested and muskie flies have to be hauled rather than roll cast (or at least for me). It's very tough to fly cast under tree cover. If you wish to try river muskies without a boat, it is much easier and more effective with spin gear.

I will say, there are some central pa creeks where wade fishing for Muskie is possible. One of the tribs to the Susquehanna I fish has some large Muskie that are year round residents. I have seen them sit in the middle of the creek, in cover, and in deep holes in the current break of my legs while wading. Depending on the creek you can sometimes sight fish for them too if you move slow enough, although they tend to be pretty finicky.

This picture was taken a summer or two ago while I was bass fishing. Big girl (probably high 30s low 40s in length) hung out for a few minutes before slowly drifting away.

 

[sixfootfenwick]

I am bot for stocking anything, that said i only advocate for stocking reform not its end because you have to pick a fight you can win. If people want to throw rainbow trout in penny packer In Philadelphia i’m not going to speak out against it like I do for the slate run brown trout club launching a perpetual invasion at the mouth of one of what EVTJV has identified as a potential brook trout strong hold.

To mikes post, no I am not for stocking musky but fishing for them is different than supporting their stocking. I have posted o. These forums taking issue with PFBC stocking 1 million tiger musky fingerlings in swatara creek.

Here is my unmistakable stance. If its not a reintroduction or genetic rescue I am against humans moving fish. Simple enough.

It's not as hard to understand as some make it out to be.

 

[Mikey2006]

Does anyone know anything about musky in Glendale lake? My family goes camping there for a week every summer and primarily bass fish for fun and me and my dad enter evening bass tournament or two , but this year along with fishing some of the local streams for natives I might try and get a musky. I know absolutely nothing about musky but I’ve seen a couple in the lake and heard of people catching some

 

[Silent Ocelot]

I would have said that there there should not be any muskellunge in that stretch, but one or perhaps a few of the spotted great lakes muskellunge stocked perhaps 8 yrs or so ago by Muskies, Inc was (were) recently caught in Auburn Dam, so it’s possible some moved downstream. They should be much larger than 30 inches by now, however, (smallest should be 36-40” males, so that leads me to believe that you most likely hooked into one of the very large pickerel from that same water body.

I agree with Mike that it was probably a pickerel. I can't say for sure that is was but it seems to be the most likely answer. Not trying to discredit cray, but it seems like the most likely suspect given the information available. Me and a friend put a lot of time into fishing the Kernsville dam by Hamburg. Caught a lot of pickerel and a good number were at the 24 inch size. The best fishing was years ago, 2016-2018. We've noticed a decline in the pickerel and smallmouth in this section lately so we haven't put a lot of time into fishing this part of the Skook or the Skook in general. This larger pickerel were taken on conventional tackle by my friend, I netted them though.

I can still recall the one time I witnessed a fish that was close to the the size cray described come out of the depths to check out a perch streamer my friend was tossing. Its head was the size of a dog's head! It came out from the bank too so whoever talked about pickerel clinging to the banks was right on the money. They are ambush predators after all, the police force of fish haha.

 

[pcray1231]

Not trying to discredit cray, but it seems like the most likely suspect given the information available.

No discredit taken, I never said it was a muskie and said pickerel was a good possibility.

I've done very well on smallies in that area. I mean, the number in the 6-8" fish is unreal, you have multiples hitting it every single cast in faster water. They're annoying. So you use a bigger hook and like a 5" stick bait, they still hit the tail but at least you don't hook that many of them. And in between pulling it away from the little guys, there's enough target 10-15 inchers around and the very occasional bigger one. Which is how I hooked the pickermuskpike.

If you wanted and went with a small curly tail or something, 100+ smallies is easy peasy. But 90 of them will be 6-8".

 

[Solitariolupo]

Does anyone know anything about musky in Glendale lake? My family goes camping there for a week every summer and primarily bass fish for fun and me and my dad enter evening bass tournament or two , but this year along with fishing some of the local streams for natives I might try and get a musky. I know absolutely nothing about musky but I’ve seen a couple in the lake and heard of people catching some

Throw some big beefy flies that push some water. Remember your figure 8s.