I am heading up to da UP in June and planning on hitting some spots for skis. Is it worth the drive from Michigammee to the Bond fall flowage to try for musky or is my time better spent in Michigammee? I see they plant musky in bond falls but cannot find enough good info to justify spending the time/money for a change of scenery. Tanx
I'm sure a couple other will weigh in here but I'll give you my .02. I will be pretty close to where you're gonna be at the same time. I typically fish Chicagon and Emily. Chicagon is beautiful water but low density, Emily is stained and pretty weedy but has a higher density of fish. My PB was caught on Chicagon(45") and I've had several follows from 40+" fish on Emily. Kingfisher is a big fan of Smokey lake and that's not too far from you either. I honestly have no experience with Bond Falls or have heard/read anything about muskie fishing there. If you're going to drive that far you might as well go a little further and hit the Thousand Island chain.
The DNR does not stock Bond Falls with muskies. The few in there are likely descendants of decades-old Johnny Appleseed-type stocking that used to occur on a highly irregular basis.
The same is true of Michigamme. Both have very low densities of naturally sustaining muskies. Both have phenomenal scenery with mostly undeveloped shorelines. Michigamme is more Canadien shield- like, with more hard rock, and Bond Falls is a little more productive in terms of total fish biomass. Tough call- but if you just factor in the extra couple hours of round-trip drive time, you will either be giving up precious casts you could have otherwise made on Michigamme, or some sleep if you travel by night.
Strictly in terms of your odds of catching/seeing a musky, you will not improve them much by going to Bond Falls. For a similar water body (undeveloped spectacular scenery) with better musky odds, you would be better off heading south to Peavy.
I agree with Duke, Peavy is much better but its hard for me to fish up there and not fish Emily and Smokey. I would skip Michigamme and camp outside Crystal falls at Bewabic campgrounds. From there you are an easy drive to Peavy, the paint river, Emily, Chicagon, Smokey , stanley and if you go furtheu west the Cisco chain. A little south and Lac v. or even Chalk Hills impoundment. Crystall falls is great little town to base out of for fishing that area. Couple of great little food joints right in town as well. Mike
If you stay in Crystal Falls you have two decent bait shops nearby. Crystal Bait in Crystal Falls has a small selection of muskies baits and also sells suckers. Luckey's in Iron River right on US 2 has a little better bait selection and sells suckers too. Bewabic is a nice campground to stay at and being right on 2 halfway between Crystal Falls and Iron River definitely has you in good position. Pentoga Park is a good spot and is right on Chicagon Lake which puts you closer Smokey and Stanley. I'll be at Pentoga June 13-28.
Can't beat the suggestions from these guys here on the other muskie lakes up there but if you do decide to stay at Michigamme I would suggest staying at Van Riper State Park. They have a great facility at the campground there with free public showers and boat access and there are some nice "rustic" campsites further back in the park too. They also have cabins to rent. One of the cabins is right there on the Peshekee River where it enters into Lake Michigamme and there is shoreline where you can pull your boat up at night which gives you easy access to the lake. Only seen 2 muskie caught there in the 12 or so years I have been going there, one in the river and one out by one of the islands, so I am sure the density is pretty low like Duke says but back then I never targetted muskies specifically so I wouldnt have known the difference anyways…
368
51