# Alum



## EDD (Apr 11, 2004)

Fished 4 hours for smallmouth , caught 3 muskie's instead , all around 24" . Hit a rock pile , foundation or stump off comes a muskie . Ive caught or had about 13 followers ( all 24" ) on my main lake spots this year , there taking over many of the bass hangouts .


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## alumcreeker (Nov 14, 2008)

2 nights ago was out casting cranks for saugeye and got 1 saugeye and 3 muskies all were 30in or less but man they are fun however they must be the stinkest fish in the water


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## Danshady (Dec 14, 2006)

they are fun to catch once in a while,and im sure the die hard musky guys would disagree, on a personal level i think the musky are eating up alot of the other lake species. over the past several years, although i have still caught alot of bass and crappies out of alum but i have also became a lil bit better angler, back to my point, the quality and number of fish have gone down it seems and the number of musky catches, breakoffs and followers has doubled and tripled even. fish of 10,000 casts my @$$!


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## crittergitter (Jun 9, 2005)

How many 10 lb LM bass has Alum produced before this year? The fish are still there. Ever see a tourney weigh-in at Clearfork which has probably had muskies in it the longest of any Ohio resevoir. I have seen guys with a 5 lbr in their limit not finish in the money. It's one of Ohio's best bass lakes in my opinion. 

Also, a musky's primary forage in order of preference goes something like this:

- shad
- suckers/shiners
- creek chubs
- baby carp
- bullhead catfish
- then spiny finned fish such as bluegill, crappie, perch
- young bass or saugeye would show up last on the list everytime.


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## ohiohunter43015 (Feb 23, 2009)

I watched a special on TV last night called River Monsters. It was pretty much all about muskies, it showed human attacks where they have attacked young kids and swimmers it was pretty interesting. The preffered food list is probably right but if Muskies are anything like anything else on the planet they eat the first thing available. My favorite food is grilled chicken but sometimes I will eat a bologna sandwich just because it is there.


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## crittergitter (Jun 9, 2005)

ohiohunter43015 said:


> I watched a special on TV last night called River Monsters. It was pretty much all about muskies, it showed human attacks where they have attacked young kids and swimmers it was pretty interesting. The preffered food list is probably right but if Muskies are anything like anything else on the planet they eat the first thing available. My favorite food is grilled chicken but sometimes I will eat a bologna sandwich just because it is there.


I totally get what you're saying. My favorite is steamed shrimp, but I am not going to pass up a fresh perch fillet waiting on some steamed shrimp to come along.


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## ohiohunter43015 (Feb 23, 2009)

Exactly, seriously though if you ever get to watch that show it is amazing and tells alot of information on Muskies I have never seen anything like that or that in depth on one species of fish.


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## Columbusslim31 (Sep 1, 2007)

Sounds like Alum could benefit from some selective muskie harvest. (Bracing for impact. LOL)


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## seethe303 (Dec 12, 2006)

if muskie taste anything like pike...

{

pike are delicious

}

//braces for impact


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## Phil Carver (Apr 5, 2004)

I will agree that Clear Fork has had muskie's for a very long time and that the Bass fishing there is awesome. Butin my opinion, there is a big difference in the two lakes. Clear Fork is full of weeds. Bass and other fish stand a better chance of surviving due to haveing better cover for them to survive. At Alum , there is no structure that is dense enough to prevent the muskies from being able to chase down and eat anything that they want. Crittergetter may be on to something as well. Over the years , Clear Fork has become full of perch as well. They used to be very few and far between when I was growing up. Now they are everywhere and some are decent sized.


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## sixtyminutes (Jan 3, 2009)

You bass fisherman start eating musky and we musky fisherman will start eating bass. Sound like a good idea ?

If a bass is too slow and dumb to learn to stay away from those long skinny fish with all the teeth then they should not be allowed to remain in the gene pool anyway.

They do smell stronger than the average fish though don't they ?


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## streamstalker (Jul 8, 2005)

sixtyminutes said:


> You bass fisherman start eating musky and we musky fisherman will start eating bass. Sound like a good idea ?
> 
> If a bass is too slow and dumb to learn to stay away from those long skinny fish with all the teeth then they should not be allowed to remain in the gene pool anyway.
> 
> They do smell stronger than the average fish though don't they ?


My big brother told me that I shouldn't eat anything that smelled like fish!


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## Danshady (Dec 14, 2006)

> If a bass is too slow and dumb to learn to stay away from those long skinny fish with all the teeth then they should not be allowed to remain in the gene pool anyway.


im not really thinking the bass we're catching and targeting are getting eaten by musky, its the 6 inchers and last years fry and this years, im sure a musky could wipe out a few balls of baby bass fry or crappie. 


> seriously though if you ever get to watch that show it is amazing and tells alot of information on Muskies I have never seen anything like that or that in depth on one species of fish.


sounds like a pretty interesting show, id watch it, what channel is it on, ill dvr it.


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## EDD (Apr 11, 2004)

My point is if a musky likes a certain ambush point , he is going to dominate that spot over a bass and probably surrounding area . That is what I 've noticed this year


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## ohiohunter43015 (Feb 23, 2009)

Discovery I am pretty sure it was the same show that they had the giant grouper. I searched it and can't find anything on it but I am sure it will be on again.


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## Skunkedagain (Apr 10, 2004)

Musky are no different than any other predator fish(bass, saugeye) They would rather not waste energy chasing a healthy fish around when there are plenty of sick and dying fish around. With the shad base at alum I would think it would be rare that a musky would target a healthy bass or saugeye of any size. I bet that the bass and saugeye do more to reduce their own numbers than the musky do.


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## bassmaniac (May 10, 2004)

I've fished tournaments on Clear Fork and had musky's attack a bass I have hooked. You ought to try Lake St.Clair, musky's hide in the shade of your boat and grab your 5lb. smallie right before you get it in. Another place is Knox, Those musky make a wake chasing frogs. But yes, I like catching them, except for all that slime and the smell is horrendous, pike are the same way.


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## crittergitter (Jun 9, 2005)

streamstalker said:


> My big brother told me that I shouldn't eat anything that smelled like fish!


I suspect he wasn't talking about musky.


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## DelawareAngler (Mar 19, 2009)

lol i was going to comment but i knew id probably get banned


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## Danshady (Dec 14, 2006)

i didnt know knox ahd musky, were they stocked by odnr?


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## duckhound (Apr 10, 2004)

I think they used to stock Knox with Muskies a while back. They dont list Musky on the DNR website as a target species.
Meanwhile they do list Knox as having an "Excellent" population of bass "dominated by 13-18" fish". Since Knox has a minimum keeper size for Bass of 18", it would seem that there is some other reason that the Bass there are not getting to the keeper size. Maybe they are becoming stunted. Back to Alum...wasn't there a post earlier this year of an 8lber caught? Maybe those posting on the negative side of this issue need to change tactics to catch them.


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## bad-luck louie (May 22, 2005)

The bass at Alum get unmercifully pounded by several large bass tournaments every week by mostly semi-pro fishermen. I know they release them back, but it can't be a good thing for the occasional weekend angler. Meanwhile, I hope all the bass fishermen continue to target them, and leave the smelly old Muskies to guys like me.


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## alumcreeker (Nov 14, 2008)

fished alum yesterday in a saugeye tourney and i caught one muskie and my friend caught 5. thats right 5 muskies. so muskies were biting well i would say but i have to voice something. muskie fishermen and hoping not all are like this. so lately i have seen and tried to talk to a number of muskie fishermen and everyone acts as though they are so good they cant talk to u. also everything is so secret. then i tell them yea i got 3 small ones fishing the banks for saugeye and this one guy was like yea well eveyone has been getting them deep and i doubt that is where u really were. like i have to lie. i am a saugeye fisherman and muskies are bonus fish. i thought it may help them since i see them driving around like a bat outta hell and not getting nething. and if you really want to catch muskies at alum fish a reef runner deep little ripper at 3miles n hour fish them in your saugeye spot and watch u can ALMOST avg 1 to 2 a night its sick. good luck to all and quit being so rude muskie dudes.


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## st.slippy (Oct 3, 2008)

my fishing buddy keeps getting them shallow too. Funny I don't see the musky guys pulling many. We had one today on bottom bouncers. They've been pretty aggressive this year. I wondered why this time of year they were trolling all the way out where they are. I figured it would be 6-12fow for a few more weeks


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## alumcreeker (Nov 14, 2008)

because u cant tell a musky fisherman anything he knows all. though i have boated around 20 this year fishing for saugeye. strange when u do get a guy to talk its always had 4 got 1 in well fish for saugeye they never get away then lol


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## Chef (Aug 28, 2008)

I'm still waiting for my 1st musky from Alum. I live 10 minutes away from Alum and still haven't got any luck. Hopefully I can hook a monster one this year. Alum is really tricky to me.


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## bad-luck louie (May 22, 2005)

Don't know what lake you fish at or who you talked to, but the complete opposite of what you say about muskie fishermen is true. On Alum we have marine radios on channel 68. Every muskie fisherman immediately reports every catch, including area of the lake, which lure, what depth,as well as size and weight of the fish so other fishermen can get the helpful info. Please come to a muskie club meeting and your opinion will dramatically change.Muskie fishermen are the friendliest guys on the lake, hands down. Contact me personally for more info. I wish you and all fishermen good luck!


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## Skunkedagain (Apr 10, 2004)

Didn't know that Bad Luck. Next time I am out I'll have to take my radio so I can hopefully help out with a report.


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## Thick Rick (Feb 3, 2008)

OK, couple things...

First off, musky, bass, crappie, etc etc have co-existed for a long time and will continue to do so. Everything has its place in the food chain. Musky just happen to sit at the top on Alum, but there is plenty of food for everyone.

Second, according to the ODNR and their fish shocking surveys, there are so many thousands of fish in Alum, you just can't believe it. And there is a state record of everything in Alum. ODNR also says that of all the fish in Alum, the percentage of them that are catchable over the course of a season is in the single digits. The percentage of THOSE fish that will actually be caught is in the tenths.

Alum is a very healthy lake full of a lot of quality fish. Water levels, grass beds, clarity, rainfall/levels, currents, and so many other factors are why you are or are not catching more or bigger fish this year. I know the water is much more clear than it was last year at this time. Last week, I could not buy a bite. For 90 minutes this morning I almost couldn't cast and not get a bite. Perfect conditions this morning.


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## st.slippy (Oct 3, 2008)

I have met some really great musky fisherman on alum, and went fishing with a real standup older guy who was willing to show me the ropes. I should not have spoken so quickly. I just hear as many reports of catches from the non musky guys. I've also seen them mock others excitement, because the fish was not big enough, etc. Often I feel like peoples catches may be blown off by them, because they didn't catch them the "right way." I think sometimes its because they have a much lesser percentage chance of catching large numbers of fish and they keep their colors and lures a little more secret, so that everyone is not throwing or trolling the same thing. I will say at the musky show everyone seemed excited and was sharing information. I apologize to any musky guys I might have offended on here


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## esoxhunter (Apr 7, 2004)

alumcreeker said:


> because u cant tell a musky fisherman anything he knows all.


I'm flattered


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## lordofthepunks (Feb 24, 2009)

ohiohunter43015 said:


> I watched a special on TV last night called River Monsters. It was pretty much all about muskies, it showed human attacks where they have attacked young kids and swimmers it was pretty interesting. The preffered food list is probably right but if Muskies are anything like anything else on the planet they eat the first thing available. My favorite food is grilled chicken but sometimes I will eat a bologna sandwich just because it is there.


im pretty sure that the sow you are refering to was called monster quest. i dvr-d the entire season of river monsters and they didnt feature muskie on any show, however the show called monster quest featured muskie and the giant grouper. river monsters is a great show though, they have featured alligator gar, some insanely scary catfish from south america, and pirranha amongst others.


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