Author Topic: Horseshoe Lake (Read 1866 times)

PikeMan1234 · « **on:** Dec 07, 2013, 10:57 PM »

I was wondering if anyone has had any luck with those Tiger Muskies in there? I have tried with smelt on tip ups and jigged a cast master with no luck. I now look at fwp's web site and it says they are starting to plant salmon in there. Have most of these muskies been caught? These seem to be harder to target than Pike. What are your thoughts?

Cornbread · « **Reply #1 on:** Dec 08, 2013, 01:59 PM »

If I remember right they only put like 250 of them in there to kill off the over abundance of redside shiner and suckers etc. that were in there. Then they made the length limit so long that it was only within the last year or two that they would have been long enough to keep at normal growth rates for the species. If they are stocking salmon in there now my guess is at best there are probably 5 - 20 left in the entire lake if any at all. Otherwise stocking salmon would just be a musky feeding project. I would bet they ate up all the forage fish and then ate each other until there were only a few if any left as they were sterile fish that they planted. I think that was what FWP wanted anyhow as it was not designed to become a musky fishery project but a trash fish cleanup project. If they are stocking salmon I would bet they accomplished their goal and there are only a few if any musky left in the lake as well as virtually no trash fish. Sounds like it was a successful project if that is what they wanted to accomplish.

heine · « **Reply #2 on:** Dec 08, 2013, 05:37 PM »

I saw 8 in there this summer when I went, hooked one on a squawfish we caught, he broke 20 pound test like it was a hair. they are definitely in there but they are friggin huge!

lundin-loading · « **Reply #3 on:** Dec 08, 2013, 08:35 PM »

Last august my buddy and his friend landed 2, one at 39" the other at 41". They were both caught on BIG pink generic taildancer style cranks, they were fishing from 1 man pontoons!! The 41 went on the wall and I got to see it in the freezer before it made it to the taxidermist. That being said I've known alot of people that fished for them there and this guy is the only one I've known of catching or even laying eyes on any, if I just wanted to catch toothy critters I'd just run down to loon lake.

PJB_Montana · « **Reply #4 on:** Dec 09, 2013, 10:43 AM »

I will be out there this weekend checking the ice. If able to, I will definitely be catching some salmon then targeting the tigers.

I will post an update.

lundin-loading · « **Reply #5 on:** Dec 09, 2013, 11:44 AM »

There's also a pretty good population of small mouth in there.

heine · « **Reply #6 on:** Dec 09, 2013, 07:20 PM »

when we fished I saw salmon squawfish (politically correct: northern pikeminnow) smallies and muskie as well as a few sunfish

PikeMan1234 · « **Reply #7 on:** Dec 09, 2013, 07:44 PM »

It almost seems as though live presentation is the key to catching these guys?

heine · « **Reply #8 on:** Dec 09, 2013, 07:53 PM »

cough! no I don't think a live fish would work at all :tipup:cough! haha yea its gonna be hard but the squawfish i hooked one on was dead and laying on the bottom

PikeMan1234 · « **Reply #9 on:** Dec 09, 2013, 08:56 PM »

I just did some research and they planted 1,000 of them in there. If they still have a large pop of small mouths then they must not be getting the job done yet?

lundin-loading · « **Reply #10 on:** Dec 09, 2013, 09:15 PM »

they got put in there for the trash fish, its a warm water fishery, and small mouths are managed as catch and release only in there.

PJB_Montana · « **Reply #11 on:** Dec 09, 2013, 09:20 PM »

Tons of northern pike minnows...suckers...an d whitefish as well! They will harass you while koke fishing. I did the same thing using a dead squawfish on a tipup. I had it placed on the south bank on the other side of the west island...in all those submerged trees against the bank....no luck. Anyone have a better location? I placed one there because that's where I see them each summer.

PikeMan1234 · « **Reply #12 on:** Dec 09, 2013, 09:33 PM »

I tried smelt on a couple tip ups. If you go out the boat ramp you see two islands. I went to the island to the left. Fished off the west of it in about 20ft of water and caught nothing, while jigging the cast master.

PJB_Montana · « **Reply #13 on:** Dec 11, 2013, 11:26 AM »

Yup....I fished there and south of the island PikeMan. Use the squawfish that I caught there... kill em..then use them as bait. No dice. I do see every once in a while a big mark will appear on my vexilar while kokanee jigging. Not sure what to make of it. I have half a mind to set my tipup with a dead squawfish right next to where I'm kokanee fishing...

PikeMan1234 · « **Reply #14 on:** Dec 12, 2013, 11:53 PM »

I think it is strange nobody has been able to get one of these muskies. Does anyone know if a person can camp on the islands in the summer

heine · « **Reply #15 on:** Dec 13, 2013, 12:31 PM »

Quote from: PikeMan1234 on Dec 12, 2013, 11:53 PM

I think it is strange nobody has been able to get one of these muskies. Does anyone know if a person can camp on the islands in the summer

there are many campsites around the lake that a guy can use.

Cornbread · « **Reply #16 on:** Dec 13, 2013, 01:32 PM »

Quote from: heine on Dec 13, 2013, 12:31 PM

there are many campsites around the lake that a guy can use.

Yeah the whole road into it has camp sites along it and then past the launch there are a bunch of campsites as well. I will warn you though it is used primarily in summer as a watersport recreation lake so you have tons of skiers, jet-skis, wakeboarders etc. pretty much non-stop all weekend long once it warms up. I fished it from a canoe once, never again. Next time I fish it will be in my 16' boat, if ever.

heine · « **Reply #17 on:** Dec 13, 2013, 07:30 PM »

get out there early or on weekdays and they wont be thick like flies but ill guaruntee they will be thick if you hit it on a hot weekend.

lundin-loading · « **Reply #18 on:** Dec 13, 2013, 09:02 PM »

With all the viable fishing options in that area, horseshoe would be one of the last places Id concentrate on, it is however a very plesent place to camp and swim, and is very centrally located with plenty of opportunity in the vicinity...

PJB_Montana · « **Reply #19 on:** Dec 16, 2013, 10:35 AM »

Horseshoe wasn't quite good enough for my liking to be out in the middle, fishing for kokes this past Saturday... shoreline ice was 4.5 inches though. So it won't be long. Lots of coyote tracks though if anyone is interested!

Cornbread · « **Reply #20 on:** Dec 16, 2013, 11:45 AM »

It's 47 degrees here today. It will probably hit 50 easily. I think after today we are going to have to wait for another cold snap to go out on any ice here locally

PJB_Montana · « **Reply #21 on:** Dec 26, 2013, 01:32 PM »

Heading out to Horseshoe tomorrow for another attempt to get on the ice. Hopefully it is ready. Update coming.

bullpine · « **Reply #22 on:** Dec 26, 2013, 06:53 PM »

The tiger muskies I have seen ice fishing are swimming just below the ice and looking for floating perch or other dead or injured fish. They are of coarse throughout the water column but I would set at one tip-up just a foot or two under the ice.

PJB_Montana · « **Reply #23 on:** Dec 29, 2013, 07:59 AM »

Sweet, thanks for the tip! Kokes are nowhere near schooling up. Just get one or 2 swimming through every once in a while. Soon enough though.

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Author Topic: Horseshoe Lake (Read 1866 times)