On the not-so-frozen tundra of Green Bay, Wisconsin, the Bay lays out like a giant playing field for world-class muskie fishing. Forget the green and gold; the hometown players in this game are cloaked in spots and have facemasks full of gnarly teeth. Mean as a middle linebacker and punishing as any strong safety, Great Lakes spotted muskies rattle the nerves of anyone who treads on their turf, and they now call Green Bay home. The visiting teams consist of muskie hunters looking for the opportunity to hoist their next trophy, if only for a photograph. The muskies have a decided home field advantage, but who doesn’t want a shot at the champ?
These fish quietly arrived on the scene 20 years ago and are now making some noise. They may even claim another moniker for Titletown, U.S.A.—home of the world-record muskie. Enough 50-inch-plus fish have been caught from the Bay in the last several seasons to make it a contender worth naming alongside world-class muskie waters such as Georgian Bay, St. Lawrence River, Mille Lacs and Vermilion lakes, Ottawa River, Lac Suel, and Lake of the Woods.
What’s in a Name?
Green Bay is an industrial town of some 100,000 situated at the extreme southern portion of the Bay where the Fox River enters, while the Bay itself stretches 120 miles from north to south and constitutes the largest freshwater estuary in North America. Averaging less than 10 feet deep at its southern end, the basin progressively gets deeper to the north, with a median depth of 65 feet throughout the main basin, plunging to a maximum of 176 feet near Death’s Door at the tip of the Door County Peninsula. With relatively little mid-basin structure, the Bay is the proverbial haystack with muskies for needles.
For muskie hunters in search of big fish—perhaps even record fish—the big view reveals that the lower part of Green Bay is only the first part to explore. In addition, recent stocking efforts have shifted away from the Fox River and lower Bay to areas where future natural reproduction is more likely. Far too many anglers focus exclusively on the lower Bay due to its convenience to the city, while most fishery experts expect the next giant muskie to be caught far from the shadows of Lambeau Field. To take advantage of this expanded playing field, a short history lesson offers important insights for locating these spotted muskies.
How They Got Here
Beginning in 1989, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources embarked on an effort to reintroduce Great Lakes spotted muskies into Lake Michigan. Decimated by commercial fishing, loss of habitat, and water pollution, the Bay’s historic population of muskies had vanished by the 1940s. The reintroduction program consisted of a three-phase plan: Obtain an appropriate strain of fish to successfully rear and stock; establish a local captive brood-stock population; and document natural reproduction and a self-sustaining population. As with any major fishery project, unexpected hurdles occurred throughout the program.
The original eggs and milt were obtained from lakes Huron and St. Clair, which offered an historic native population of Great Lakes muskies suitable for Lake Michigan. By successfully hatching and rearing these eggs at its Wild Rose fish hatchery, the state achieved the first phase of its reintroduction program in 1989. After maintaining a local captive brood-stock source in a nearby natural lake from 1989 to 2001, the state established one in the Fox River in 2002. This source was threatened in 2007 when the potentially fatal fish virus, Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS), was discovered in Lake Michigan.
To counter this setback, Wisconsin secured 1,200 yearling Georgian Bay-strain muskies from Fleming College in Ontario, Canada, in April 2009. These fish were certified VHS-free and determined suitable for stocking in Lake Michigan. For the future brood stock population in the ongoing reintroduction program, the state will utilize three inland Wisconsin lakes as rearing locations for these muskies. Unfortunately, the fingerlings take 5 to 7 years to reach sexual maturity. Absent new disinfecting techniques to certify that current adult brood-stock muskies from Lake Michigan are disease-free, there could be a gap of several years in stocking. On a positive note, strong stocking numbers for the years 2002 to 2006 suggest good year-classes of big fish through 2016.
The final pieces of the puzzle require documentation of natural reproduction of spotted muskies within the Bay and the development of a self-sustained fishery. The first half of this equation was realized last year, when the state confirmed the recovery of an unmarked fingerling muskie on two separate occasions from the mouth of the Menominee River. While this limited discovery of naturally reproducing muskies is a long way from proclaiming a self-sustaining fishery on the Bay, all signs point to a healthy fishery.
The lack of any radio tracking studies on the Bay’s muskie population means anecdotal evidence provides the best understanding of their seasonal movements. Through time on the water, local guides such as Bret Alexander, of Alexander’s Sport Fishing Guide Service (alexandersportfishing.com), offer valuable information on the location and behavior of spotted muskies. As a multispecies guide fishing year-round on the Bay, Alexander has a good perspective on what any portion of the muskies is doing at any given time. He charts his various muskie encounters throughout the year, using this knowledge when he wants to pull another needle from the haystack.
Early Summer—Stay Small and Spread the Field
Having fished the Bay since the program’s inception, Alexander focuses on the large flats adjacent to spawning locations once the season begins in late May. Fish gather in these areas to recuperate after spawning. He favors dark-bottomed bays that warm quickly and draw in baitfish such as suckers, drum, and carp. These bays may be as small as a few acres or up to a few thousand. Apart from fancasting to feeder creeks and notable cover on these featureless flats, Alexander utilizes a trolling approach in early summer.
Since most Wisconsin inland Class A muskie waters prohibit trolling, muskie hunters on the Bay borrow from the trolling techniques honed by walleye, salmon, and trout anglers on Lake Michigan. During early summer, Alexander runs 6 rods with Off Shore Tackle planer boards and large versions of walleye stickbaits, using lures like large Rattlin’ Rogues, X-Raps, Bomber Long-A’s, and Yo-Zuri Sashimi Jointed Minnows to track true behind boards and match the size of the early-season forage. “Keep a keen eye on your electronics,” he advises. “Wind and current trap warmer water that attracts pods of baitfish along distinct thermal breaks. Mark these areas on your GPS plotter and make repeated trolling passes through them. Muskies don’t eat all the time, but you have to be in the right place when they turn on.”
Midsummer—Go Deep, Read the Coverages, Don’t Punt
As summer progresses, muskies take on one of two characteristics: They become cover-oriented, or they free-range for forage. Cover-oriented fish set up deeper on large, established weedbeds along the west shore of the Bay. From Peat’s Lake, Long Tail Point, and Sumiaco on the south, to the rivermouths of the Oconto and Peshtigo at mid-Bay, and then stretching from the Menominee River to the northern extremes of Big Bay de Noc, there is no shortage of spots to chuck Double Cowgirls, M/G’s Muskie Tandems, and other assorted bucktails and topwaters.
Color preferences change daily with water quality and locations fished. The lower Bay tends to cloud up quickly with its shallow, soft bottom. Here, firetiger patterns and bright-colored baits dominate. The waters at the north end of the Bay generally stay clearer and colder, and natural colors like white, silver, black, and gold produce better in these waters. However, a strong 20 to 30 mph blow can foul the water in any area of the Bay and change color preference within the course of a few hours.
