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Was out to Newton today breaking in a new gun and it is not looking good, it looks to be about were it was when winter came. I wonder how the spring bass fishing will be this year out there? Have any of you caught a Muskie out of Newton? I know they say the musky is a fish of a 1,000 casts but there has to be a way to catch them on a regular basis. I have caught a 10" and 12" bass while using my big Musky lures but no Musky. Any advice for a frustrated musky fisherman? I will be back out there this week to finish the break in of the gun and will have my musky rod with me to work on the 1,000 casts, i think i am at about 550 or so at this point. I have been using Rapalas firetiger and clown jointed lures.
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Muskies are some difficult fare. I have caught a couple of muskies at Newton. It was a few years ago, back when the water was high. One of them I accidentally caught on a rubber worm fishing for bass. The other one was on a buzzbait. My brother caught one that was....I'm not kidding, 50" or so. He caught in on the biggest spinnerbait we had. It is a pretty good time to catch them, the water needs to warm up a little bit but they are active. I have done well on weed walkers and big buzzbaits early in the year. You don't hook up a whole lot, but boy it is fun watching them hit it! It scares you because the strike is soooo huge!
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Im pretty sure you will want to focus on Pineveiw for the muskies, I dout theres much left in newton, considering the water levels been down the past few years with fish kills gettin worse and worse each summer....
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I agree with Frozen, Newton was one of my favorite places to fish, but the last 3 years it's been drained down to the size of a parking lot. Theres still a few fish left in there, but nothing like it once was. I wouldn't waste alot of time fishing there unless it was in my own back yard.
That being said, I have caught several muskies out of there, all but one was when I was fishing for something else and they just happened to bite. When they hit they don't seem to be that picky, I've seen them caught there on crappie jigs with pearch meat, a worm off the bottom, panther martins (I caught two off a white rooster tail) and even a white spineer bait. But They seem to respond best to very large rapalas. I'm talking in the 6 inch and larger range. I was once fishing for them with 4 inchers and was told by some more experienced fisherman that they were way to small. Fish fairly close to shore and like you said, make lots of casts. The tend to be territorial so if you get hits try the same spot a little while later. I'm sure some of the pine view experts could elaborate a bit better than I, but thats been my experience.
Good luck,
Jigz
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I have caught a couple of tiger musky at newton. The first i cought on accident. I caught it on a panther martin, and it came out from under a tree in about 3 feet of water. I have had a couple hit a ~5 inch jointed rapala, including one that chased my rapala right out of the water. Before the changed the rules big dead perch worked as well. I caught a 40 inch tiger musky on a 8 inch dead perch. Unfortunatly i have to agree with the others, there probably isn't much left.
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[red][size 3]Thanx for checking on it and posting even though the news doesn't look good. I'll add another chapter to the same story. I was surprised to read here that the Musky was the fish of 1,000 casts as I was thinking maybe only 20-30 casts at Newton before it got beat up the last two years. They seemed to be more active in the mornings. If I could see one I could usually get it to strike. Watch along the shore line for them cruising. The biggest one I picked up there I saw surface feeding out in the middle, two casts and ten minutes later he was on the shore. Also watch for them sitting motionless on the bottom in the moss beds. I haven't had as much success getting them to hit in this mode and they seem more irritated or distracted when you bounce a lure across their nose, but was still more productive than casting blindly. I like to use a 3" Crocodile retrieved on the slow side. I wonder if there is even enough of a forage base for them this year to even plant them. [/size][/red]
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I fished Newton several times last year. We caught lots of crappie and perch and a few bass. Never even saw a tiger muskie, but it sounds like a blast to catch one. Once last fall we had to carry the aluminum boat and the motor to the water because it was so low the ramp was out of the water. It was after the DWR opened it up to salvage and took off the limits. The deepest water we could find was only 8 feet deep. There were lots of people there fishing though, mainly from the bank. There must have been 25 orientals there fishing for the crappie and they kept every one they caught and put them into a 5 gallon bucket of water to take home for supper. I don't know how many fish are left in the lake after getting hit so hard then. The biggest catfish I ever caught came out of Newton about 6 years ago. I thought my pole was going into the water off my stick before it could grab it. I used to do good on the bluegill with a bead-head nymph fly on a leader pulled behind a bubble. I hope Newton comes back, but right now I don't think there is much left in it to fish for. Acey
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Thanks for the info guys, I knew it got low last year but only 8 feet!!! That is not good at all. I will be back out there on wednesday to finish the gun break in and i will have some rods and lures with me this time. I will let you know if i get ANYTHING.
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