Minnesota Musky Opener

The Minnesota Musky season kicked off this past weekend and it was a good one at that. The early ice off this year and warm temperatures leading up to the opener, had many musky anglers very excited.

The muskies got an early start on spawning this year and allowed them to get focused on eating. Water temps were much warmer this opener, ranging anywhere from 62-65 degrees. The weather was more than anyone could ask for. Hot, windy and an occasional storm rolling through. The early season transitional period for Muskies is definitely a puzzle that can be tricky to put together. There are numerous different patterns fish use this time of year. Over the weekend we used two tactics that are pretty common early season. Muskies that are still shallow and Muskies that are moving out to break lines. Shallow Water - We started the weekend targeting the shallow reed areas (2'-5') where muskies like to spawn. Some of these fish are still staged here and haven't broke free from the shallow warm water where they tend to hang out and recover from the spawn. We worked these reed edges with spinner baits and topwater in hopes to coax a shallow water strike. We did find a few curious fish but no takers.

Break Lines - After exploring the shallow areas we moved out to the break lines (6'-10'). One of the keys when looking for the breaks is being adjacent to the deep water and finding any sort of vegetation that can provide cover. This is where you tend find active musky waiting for their next meal. We found more active muskies on the breaks and is where we landed the majority of our success this weekend. We were throwing smaller buck tails and slow moving swim/jerk baits. Overall, a great weekend sharing new memories and stories with all the fellow musky anglers! Looking forward to another great season.