Muskrat Lake

Post by **HogHunter** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 2:59 pm

Hey guys, going out for my first time to muskrat lake to try and get some lakers (for the first time). I have never even seen the lake, nor do I have any idea about depths, or popular spots or anything (even if I did know I still wouldnt know how to find the lakers) Should be quite a trip. Any info would be great folks...especially where I would drive on, maybe a spot known to hold them. What to use. Anything, I'm desperate to catch one. Thanks.

Post by **SCUBA_STEVE** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 3:11 pm

yes i to would like info sounds like i might get out there soon

zort

Post by **mosquito** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 4:23 pm

A place to start for lakers on Muskrat Lake would be in a bay at the end of McFarlane Rd. The road is on your right about 3-4 km past the village of Cobden. You will see a banch of smelt shacks, most of them are over the drop off in about 80-100 fow. People say that quite a few lakers have been taken there recently on smelt lines. For more locations check the posts for the past few weeks.
For lures I would suggest 3-4" white/silver tube jigs, 2-3" swedish pimples and jigging rapalas in larger sizes (#9?). Check all the depths, lakers
can be at any level.

Post by **mosquito** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 4:46 pm

For about 10$ you can buy a pretty good depth chart of Muskrat Lake
in the Map World, Richmond and Holland.

Post by **Aaron Shirley** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 5:01 pm

I fished Muskrat for a couple of weeks a few years ago in the summer and loved it. There are tons of pike in that lake, and some big ones too. I did try for lakers for an hour or two in the middle of the day but came up empty in the summer heat. Most of my time was spent for bass, musky and pike. I can't believe how deep that small lake is... I think I marked 250-feet deep at one point if I remember correctly.

Does anyone know how the pike fishing is in the winter at this time on Muskrat?

Good luck for the lakers.

Aaron

Post by **mosquito** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 5:10 pm

My map has 200 ft as the max. depth but I wouldn't be surprized if the
lake has some deeper holes.
I would rate pike fishing in the winter on Muskrat from good to very
good. On some days I release from 5 to 8 pikes, nothing over 6 lb though.

Post by **iankrzyzanowski** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:49 pm

Aaron, the pike fishing can either be really slow or really steady during the ice on muskrat... they have been slow for my this year, but have sene a couple of nice solid fish swimming under the hole!

I imagine infront of laurentianview would be a great spot!

Post by **Gord** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 8:08 am

Good luck out there lads!! Looking forward to you're report!

nice meetin' ya this mornin'!!

Post by **Aaron Shirley** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:07 pm

Thanks for the info guys. I may get a chance to get out there this year.

Cheers,

Aaron

Post by **Duck Gunner** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 8:12 am

Well let's see...

From what I have heard, the Lakers are being taken in 60+ FOW on smelt lines or by those jigging for Walleye. What is being caught are the sub-adult stockers that the MNR has been dumping into the lake the past couple of years. Unfortunately, from alot of accounts, this has had a real negative effect on the population of Smelt in the lake. So I encourage everybody to get out a catch and keep their quota of Lakers from Muskrat to protect the smelt numbers. As far as tackle, I believe single hook with a small minnow has been the answer for most.
The perch were on in a fairly decent bite a couple of weeks ago. As two of us iced 200+ fish in 6.5hrs. Everything from 2.5inch minis to some 11-12inch monsters.
With the cold weather we've had lately, driving on the lake should be a possible to any spot. Access can be made at the boat launch at Cobden.

Good Luck!!!

DG.

Post by **HogHunter** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 9:11 am

Well thanks to you guys me and a buddy did make it to Muskrat on Saturday. We stopped in at Bits and Baits in Stittsville and met Bowzog where we scored the best minnows I've seen all season, thanks bud! Made it to the lake sometime early morning and entered the lake off Waterview and got set-up. As soon as I dropped my minnow down the hole of my tip-up a 7 lbs pike was all over it. Good start to the day. About an hour later another pike just over 4 lbs. We were only in about 40 FOW so we decided if we wanted to hit some Lakers we better get deeper. Sounded like a good idea at the time but when we got out there we were in well over a hundred and fifty FOW with no vex. Needless to say, no Lakers. We fished every depth from 20 ft to the bottom and no fish. So, back to the pike. We left the lake (the exit from the lake was a nightmare for my little 4 cyl.) and headed to McFarlane Dr. (thanks Mosquito) and went back on the lake. Set-up shop there for a few hours and fished it pretty hard with no luck once again. At the end of the day my buiddy had a nice hit in about 50 FOW but missed it and, surprise, it didnt hit again. But it was a perfect day to be out there and thanks so much for all the tips and info, much apprecited. I will be going back there soon no doubt about it. I do have pics but they are on my computer @ home. Will post them shortly. Thanks again everyone!

Post by **Gord** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 9:23 am

Glad to hear you got into a few pike! Lookin' forward to the pics!

Post by **mosquito** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 12:51 pm

Duck Gunner:
I don't think the lakers have affected the population of smelt in the lake in any negative way. In fact my catches of smelt in the past three years skyrocketed and on some days I had 100-130 fish in 6 hours. The patterns might have changed, but the numbers - I don't think so.
Sometimes their schools are so dense that my fishfinder start
to detect them as the bottom.
In my personal opinion the number of lakers put in Muskrat is just rediculously low to affect the population of smelt. I am not saying this
to discourage you from keeping your limit of lakers. They actually
put there to be cought.