I never really expected them to stock muskie in these pits. I too would rather have rainbow trout and fly fish for them. I love fishing for trout in the Smokey Mountains. Wish I had the means to take a trip out west somewhere to fish for trout someday.

Muskie may not survive our summers down here. We will have to wait ans see how they do and if they can reproduce in our waters. That's the key to keeping them in the pits down here. If the water it too cold or too hot or too polluted or the pH is not right they may not make it very long.

They can be a lot of fun to catch and I have the tools to fish for big muskie. Dad and I use to go up to Ontario Canada one a year for a few years and we got setup to catch big Pike or Muskie. He bought the big rods and reels and the heavy lead center line for big fish. We have super sized lures for those big Muskie. Some of the Muskie lures are 6" to 9" long I would guess. Big spoons and big crank baits that look like Giant Rapalas. I have hooked and landed some 8lb Pike and see many follow my baits that looked larger.

One secret tip when fishing for big Pike. If you get the crank bait to the boat leave about 6" of line between the crank bait and the tip of the rod. Stick the end of the rod in the water if you see a fish follow the bait to the boat. Then make a figure 8 several times with the bait in the water. I've seen some big Pike follow the lure to the side of the boat and not hit the bait until I did the Figure 8 deal in the water beside the boat. Then WHAM the big fish returns and nails the crank bait or spoon. Talk about excitement!!!!!!

Muskie or big Pike were not that good to eat because they have a rib bone structure that makes it hard to get all the bones out of the flesh even when you fillet them. But if you take the fillets and SMOKE them over a slow smoker they can be great. I use to catch 4lb Northerns near the mouth of Eagle River where it Empties into Eagle Lake Ontario and had the camp owner smoke them for or. Or maybe dad smoked them on his smoker. Can't remember which. But once they are smoked really good the flesh can be picked away from the bones. You have to be careful and eat these smoked Pike slow and watch out for tiny bones. But eat them with some Cheddar Cheese and a glass of White Whine (sweet type) and they make an excellent snack.

We fried up the Walleye we caught up north and man that was some of the best fish eating there is on Earth. Better than Crappie IMHO. Maybe it was because I was so hungry from fishing all day and the shore cooked fish lunch always tastes better than home cooking. There is something about cooking in the outdoors and being extra hungry that makes shoreline fish dinners excellent table fare.

Quote Originally Posted by bassmanic1 View Post
Yep , there is nothing we fishermen in southern IN love more than Muskie fishing ! The DNR guy doing the survey last year asked me about it and I didn't think it was a good idea - I suggested stocking Rainbow Trout like they do at Sugar Ridge and Airline Pit in Greene-Sullivan . Trout taste much better that Muskie { just a guess } , the state would make more a the extra stamps and fly fishermen would have a place to go . Oh well .