Hotspotoutdoors

All I know is because of this thread I'm penciling this lake in as a finalist for a camping trip next summer

Hey Lee,

Thanks for your report. Never really heard about this lake before, so thanks,plus,did a little DNR research of my own, and so me and some of my local Muskie Inc. Chapter buddies plan on coming up over the fourth. There will be actually six different rigs..........mostly Rangers and Tuffys. What color is your 20 foot ranger? Maybe we can meet up for a cold one. Sounds like we need to fish the mid lake humps that don't get bludgdeoned by everyone else that beats teh points, reedy islands, points and obvious weed beds to a froth.

Thanks again for the heads up Lee! If there are any other lakes you wish to mouthpiece over the web as well, we'd be very interested! Post more pics of your 100 over 50, or 50 over 50 that is I guess! LOVE to see those big fish pics! Rarely, do others try an figure out where it is that people are fishing, have fished, live or are putting time in on the water! Oh, by the way, where did you get that buck in your avatar? Or at least, what general area was it? Effie, Bigfork, Silverdale, Marcell???????

Oh, I know North Star generally does'nt kick out any muskies over four foot, so every thing is safe as far as that goes anyways! We're all catch and release anyways right?

Good luck buddy and tight lines to ya,


Jim Gleason

Wow, after reading this thread, I'm thinking about hitting this lake up hard even though I've never heard much about it until now. I mean 5-6 fish days, I'm all over that. Not hard to figure out a small lake, I'll be able to put a pattern together in 2 days tops. I'll be in a red Lund Pro V 90 tiller, stop and say Hi if you see me Lee as I will do the same. Also, thanks for the heads up on this one.

wow.

I was thinking the same thing as Lee; few days of warm stabil weather to warm the water up, storms rolling in with some wind, and moon phase... I could almost smell the slime.. But unfortunately I had to sit home and watch it go by. But it's still muskie fishing and for most we are not able to put in the time to be confindent to put fish in the boat each trip. Lee said he was fortunate to fish a large number of days a year which means he gets to stay on top of the fish and it sounds like he's a talented fisherman. I know a few guides and the numbers they put up seem unbelievable too, but they also put in their time. That's where I lack as a fisherman and when I get out each time I have to start from square one and figure things out all over again which is sometimes to late. I'm not to worried about Lee exposing North Star or Blandin Reservoir or any other lake just because it still takes time to "unlock their secrets"... anyways, nice post Lee and keep up the reports. You don't see to many people that report patterns, movements, and catches for muskies.

The lake is only a 1000 acres. Not that hard to figure out. I would have the pattern dialed in after 2 full days on this lake guaranteed. I do it to new lakes all the time that are two to three times bigger than this one.

I wasn't refering to Dhanson but just in general.

Let us know how you do after your trip....

Well apparently theres alot of people not to happy that I post reports on Northstar. Unfortunatly some are under the belief that If theres people Pounding "their" Lake its the direct reason they arent catching fish. HOGWASH!!! Judging by the email to my website someone was very angry!! O well... they are going to have to "DEAL WITH IT" as a minnesota citizen who purchased and has in his poessession a valid Minnesota fishing liscense I have the right to fish any lake I choose as do we all. People acting Like they own certain bodies of water is just ridiculous but lets all remember to have jaw spreaders and good cutters to release them cowgirl and bulldawg fish especially .....trying to remove a number 7 hook without cutting them is not good for the fish and ive seen a number of boats at the northstar acess with many rods reels and giant baits but no net and no tools!!! If you catch a Muskie that Eats a cowgirl and you dont cut the hooks ....ITS most likely going to die!

geez, some people's children....just keep fishing lee. Don't let these goofs get ya down

More than 10 years ago I used to get frustrated as there seemed to be a huge jump in muskie fisherman and the idea of watching trains of boats working spots used to get to me. But since then I've caught fish right behind boats so I can block it out. This Tuesday I went on my first outting with MI boys on Moose. There are some good avid fisherman and I actually shared a boat with a guy that fishes MN tourney's and knows ya Lee (Gary R). We were on the subject of Northstar so that's how it came about. Anyways, after Gary landed a small fish we started putting stuff together opted for a spot that 3 boats from out group have worked and left already. I ended up landed 1 fish, lost two (one little one I let shake off), had a nice follow and one blow up on a lure in this one spot. No one else seen anything there. It just goes to show you can fish behine boats and still get fish. One of the other boats caught 2 while trolling open water so there many ways to find and catch fish.

Now that I have my first trip under my belt I can't wait to get out again!

Hey folks, I have been reading the musky reports on North Star from Lee, however I'm not a musky guy. The closest I've been to a beast was last year when a musky ate my nice sunfish on Vermillion.

Is there any hope of a walleye or two on this lake? I have never fished the lake and am wondering if I should put in my time chasing the eye?

the walleyes are there they are alittle tougher to catch but a lindy and crawler or leech or jig and minnow should do it try weed edge or some of the humps out deep
Jason

We took our family vacation there for 6 years straight when the kids were younger. My best luck was low light periods (when you couldn't see the sun) along the weed lines.

Walleye are in there to be had...........clear water though, so low light or evening/night time is the best. Some of them get pretty big too.

all good info...after 15 yrs of being addicted to muskies and fishing hard for days on end ive caught and seen many muskies caught in the sun. However Its tough to beat fishing during lowlight conditions on any lake!!! Can a Muskie be caught during sunny conditions>? MOST DEFINATLY!! ....You will have to work lots harder to catch them however! On clear lakes like deer or northstar muskies will either move to the deeper edges or actually suspend in open water, or on occasions burrow so deep in the weeds you gotta go through an act of congress to get a bait in front of their face. My suggestion......try throwing a mag dawg down the deep weed edges for blue bird conditions.....if its also a cold front work it slow like your jigging for eyeballs. One other thing I can tell you about coldfront muskies is more often than not the last few minutes of light are MONEY!

Just a few words for all you guys that are arguing over skis. Why is northstar getting pounded so bad the last few years. WOW. Rediculous. I remember when I could go out there only see one ski fisherman in a weekend and a few walleye guys. Now you have to just venture to the back spots. Fun Lake though but way over rated.

All of "our" musky lakes are getting pounded harder than 5 years ago because there are way more musky anglers now than there were 5 years ago. Things are changing in the musky world and we are all going to have to learn to deal with it.

Right on, 250,000 muskie anglers, there you go. Come fish the Motley lakes, you need a chopper to drop your boat in because accesses are packed. On Big DL 07 opener we had to park a 1/2 mile down the road. I've been after them since 1988 so I've seen the pressure increase and it has been unreal and likely will keep growing.

Lee,

I have seen you out on star many times while Ive been out, whats your take on the pressure on the lake, and your take on the roomer that the DNR is not stocking the lake anymore????

They have no plans to stock it, i think their goal is a self sustaining population.

MY take is this......one sunny morning after fishing all nite me and my significant other spotted atleast 500 muskies hanging on the weed edge on just one stretch of shoreline.....the fish ranged from 38 to 48 inches ...no real big ones however that was just one are! many more fish than I would have thought. are 500 muskies boated in a single day on northstar????I think not! I think people are to quick to blame pressure on why they are not catching fish. And when people fish the same 6 community spots, rightly so. Northstar Is a small lake Loaded with good muskie structure for a lake its size. Also since I work part time at the grocery store in bigfork Ive heard all about the 53 incher that was caught last week and kept!!! NOT GOOD!!!! I also see many pictures of muskies that ARE NOT 48 inches yet the people are holding these fish in the parking lot of frontier sports, again NOT GOOD!!! How Long will it take before this behavior has a serious effect on northstars muskie population? I dont know all I do know is this is UN-ACCEPTABLE!!!!!! People have this attitude that they spent so much money to catch a muskie that when they do catch one they are keeping it...Muskies are a resource and like water or money the local supply will run out at some point if abused! as for the self sustaining poplulation there must be some spawning going on look at all the habitat for muskies to spawn... a few too many pike but with responsable fisherman northstar should be a great lake for years to come.

The harvest of the fish on N star sucks& more often than not it's non residents. You would think resorts up there would get pretty upset with folks wacking big fish but aperrantly not. As muskie fishermen we should tell places like Fronteer sports dead fish do not get our buisness, they will catch on esspeitially in this economy. I also noticed they took all the muskie signs down at the access whats the story with that?

No idea why the signs are down...my guess is some local who thinks he owns the lake took them down to keep muskie anglers away, but anyones guess is as good as mine.

I rented a cabin at Cedar Point a couple years ago and there was a older fella and his son with identical crestliners equipped with downriggers that would go out trolling the deep basin every day. The older fella caught 3-4 fish during the week and every time he did he would start hooting and hollering out on the lake, put the muskie in his livewell and come back to the resort and show it off to everyone that came running down to the resort dock. He would then take a bunch of pics (dropped at least one of them in the boat) and then let it go in front of the resort. Not a one was 48". Just made me sick, both of what he did and that I didn't confront him and call TIP on him for not releasing sub 48's immeadiately. He was a hero at the resort though.

I dont see anything wrong with grabbing a quick pic of a sub 48 however when I say this I mean QUICK PIC!! people catch a muskie these days and theres a photo shoot in their boat like they are going to be in the centerfold of hustler magezine! Then when the fish is half past dead they release it and wonder why it turns up side down and wont swim!!