Bankson Lake

esox64 · Post by **esox64** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 11:47 pm

Has anybody been catching & releasing any muskies on Bankson Lake lately ?

swanezy · Post by **swanezy** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 9:03 am

as far as i know, the lake hasn't been very productive for a while. Most of the people on here mention how the majority of the fish out there were killed off

esox64 · Post by **esox64** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 3:02 pm

A group of guys from Midwest Musky Club fished Bankson in June of this year and one member caught and released a 36 inch musky.

Did they have a fish kill on Bankson in the last two to three years ?

According to the Michigan DNR stocking web site there are more muskies in Bankson compared to Round Lake.

swanezy · Post by **swanezy** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 4:53 pm

People from MMA have claimed that when fishing it in recent years that a lot of the residents kill any muskie they catch..

As well as people setting lines out on their dock with live bait on then pulling in muskies and killing them.

Probably the reason why the density is so low and no one from MMA actually really fishes the lake more than once or twice a year if that anymore.

Same thing is happening with Austin lake. Once a really good lake, but the non spearing law, let all the ice guys kill off probably half the population in the lake the last couple of years. Including some monsters

Smada962 · Post by **Smada962** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 7:55 pm

swanezy wrote: no one from MMA actually really fishes the lake more than once or twice a year if that anymore.

I fish it at least 10-12 times a year, more than that some years. However it is my worst fish/hour lake I fish. Seems to get quite a bit of out of state pressure too.

LonLB · Post by **LonLB** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 5:49 pm

Smada962 wrote:
swanezy wrote: no one from MMA actually really fishes the lake more than once or twice a year if that anymore.
I fish it at least 10-12 times a year, more than that some years. However it is my worst fish/hour lake I fish. Seems to get quite a bit of out of state pressure too.

It was always lots of hours/fish.
But used to be loaded with fish. Last time out there was 06' and saw nothing. Which I thought was odd. Years before that it was hard to not see a fish, even during poor weather conditions.

Ranger · Post by **Ranger** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 3:13 am

Nope, no fish at all in Bankson. All killed off by wild-eyed locals. I shot a few fish myself, drunk on the water at 3:00am with a Q-Beam and a Ruger 22/45 target pistol. And there's no population of totally unpressured monster walleye in the lake, either, by the way.

LonLB · Post by **LonLB** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 10:50 am

Ranger wrote:Nope, no fish at all in Bankson. All killed off by wild-eyed locals. I shot a few fish myself, drunk on the water at 3:00am with a Q-Beam and a Ruger 22/45 target pistol. And there's no population of totally unpressured monster walleye in the lake, either, by the way.

No comment on the walleye

dlw681 · Post by **dlw681** » Mon Oct 17, 2011 10:48 pm

Wow Ranger....sounds like that target pistol needs to be shoved up your azz!!!!

Kingfisher · Post by **Kingfisher** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:55 am

Ranger is being sarcastic

I have not been there in a long while. The last time I was there I observed several docks with meat rigs unattended in the water. I didnt have a cell phone so didnt make the call until a day later. There has been some local harvest but Im not sure to what extent. I am also aware of some out of staters taking a few home as well. I believe the group was from Ohio. Mike

Hamilton Reef · Post by **Hamilton Reef** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 11:19 pm

The abuse of Michigan's muskie lakes is not new and will continue as new lakes such as Hamlin Lake try to be developed. Education alone will not solve the problems. The MDNR needs to firm up the muskie program with good science regulations and law enforcement needs more local support. This will become more important with the GLS conversion. Dealing with local violators is another hot topic thread of its own.

mskyprey · Post by **mskyprey** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 8:54 pm

Ranger wrote:Nope, no fish at all in Bankson. All killed off by wild-eyed locals. I shot a few fish myself, drunk on the water at 3:00am with a Q-Beam and a Ruger 22/45 target pistol. And there's no population of totally unpressured monster walleye in the lake, either, by the way.

True what he said, you just have to understand what he said.

There are still fish in there, have contacted fish out there last year and this year, and Smada I hear you on the hours/fish ratio.

Ranger · Post by **Ranger** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:15 pm

Dale, I appreciate yer PM. We be cool.

I joke about guns in the boat but the truth is that one of my life goals is to die without being convicted of a felony. Or at least retire without a felony.

Wish me well!

Ranger · Post by **Ranger** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:21 pm

Ok, truth....

A couple years ago a boated 18 muskies in Bankson, with 3 between 40" and 44", all the rest were mid-30"s. The lake is chock full of walleye that are REALLY hard to pattern. And because there's a decent population of big walleye, it is possible to find roving pods of really big perch.

Using a Q-Beam in the middle of the night helped me understand a whole lot about how the fish behave at different times of the year.

Also, talking to old timers who know where fish cribs, legal and not, are planted, helps find fish.

Deal.

mskyprey · Post by **mskyprey** » Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:08 pm

Ranger wrote:Ok, truth....

A couple years ago a boated 18 muskies in Bankson, with 3 between 40" and 44", all the rest were mid-30"s. The lake is chock full of walleye that are REALLY hard to pattern. And because there's a decent population of big walleye, it is possible to find roving pods of really big perch.

Using a Q-Beam in the middle of the night helped me understand a whole lot about how the fish behave at different times of the year.

Also, talking to old timers who know where fish cribs, legal and not, are planted, helps find fish.

Deal.

If you look in the members section I have a few sonar fish crib pics recorded in the fish reports from several years ago.