Do people Ice Fish for muskie?

I would imagine you can, I ice fish for northern all the time, but I've never heard of anyone going for muskie. Maybe its because there aren't really any muskie lakes near me.

Do any of you ice fish for muskie? What do you use for lures/bait? Do you know of any muskie lakes around the center city/chisago area? Forest lake is the closest one I can think of without traveling to wisconsin...

Thanks!

Yes, we have targeted and caught them in the past, but we now try to discourage ice fishing for them for a number of reasons. The most notable is that their eyes, fins, gills, oral valve--even their slime coat freezes easily and causes them lifelong disability and can even kill them.

Other reasons include break-offs (most people use lighter gear in the winter than in the summer) and the lures left in them can kill them, and too big of a fish being pulled through too small of a hole (lifting a just by its jaw can result in popped vertebrae just behind the skull--especially with the heavy winter weight that these fish will have. By pulling them through an undersized hole, you are guaranteed of a fish with a 'broken back'. It might swim away, but will most likely die soon after.

The most important reason, they can't hit a topwater through the ice! Muskie fishing is all about the strike and you just aren't going to get that sensation while ice fishing for them. If you want some real excitement through the ice, try lake trout. They are as close to summer muskie fishing as you are going to get through the ice. You're runnin'and gunnin' covering lots of water and aggressively persuing them--and they are aggressive! Just like a muskie, they will follow and they are ferocious when they attack a bait and they will make a drag scream!

As much as we beat the waters to a froth in the summer, the muskies deserve some time-off in the winter. If you do try it, fish out of a big warm house, cut the biggest hole you can (something like a hole some might spear out of) and use adequate equipment. As far as tackle, the lake trout gear works well--tubes, walleye flyers, airplane jigs and various plastics.
Brett Erickson