Photo by Pete Maina.

"All of our muskie program lakes provide excellent fishing," said Elmer Heyob Jr., fisheries administrator for the Ohio Division of Wildlife's fish hatchery program and the division's muskie expert.

Heyob supervises the stocking of thousands of 10-inch muskie fingerlings in the state's nine muskie waters -- with amazing results. The ODOW utilizes a tiered system, with some of our best muskie lakes such as West Branch and Leesville, receiving one muskie fingerling per acre of water.

In years of good production in the hatcheries, these surplus fish will be stocked into lakes such as Milton and Pymatuning. The top lakes in the tier are spread across the state so the wealth is shared in every district.

By Sept. 30 of last year, the Ohio Huskie Muskie Club had recorded 1,333 muskies caught across the state. These muskies included five trophy-class fish at least 50 inches long.

(An Ohio Huskie Muskie must be at least 42 inches, and an Honorable Mention Muskie is any fish from 30 to 42 inches.)

Obviously, the lunkers are out there! Here's where to find great muskie fishing near you this spring:

ALUM CREEK LAKE
According to Fisheries Biologist Rich Carter, the muskie fishing at Alum Creek Lake is excellent.

As of Sept. 30, 2007, a total of 138 muskies had been caught and registered with the OHMC, and that number doesn't include several fish that weren't reported.

But it isn't any surprise. Alum Creek Lake has the fastest growth rate for muskellunge ever recorded in Ohio. Two 48-inch fish were found to be only five years old!

May anglers won't find muskies near submerged cover, said Calvin Pyle, a muskie seminar leader with hundreds of Ohio muskies under his belt and a hunting and fishing talk show host on Country Classic Radio.

The fish will be focused on schools of shad, carp and suckers, though it'll be shad 99 percent of the time.

"The muskie's lifestyle is really pretty simple," said Pyle. "They breed for two weeks a year and then eat the rest of the time. Find the food and you'll find the muskies."