Outdoors notes: Cold water, bad weather hold down tournament

Recent cold weather and still-present cold water put a chill on muskie catching Saturday at the Metro Muskie tournament.

Anglers also seemed turned off by the weather: Entries totaled only 381 anglers, compared to 500 a year ago.

Bald Eagle Lake and Forest Lake were not among the more than 20 metro lakes that competitors could fish this year, which also likely reduced entries.

Those lakes were off-limits due to conflicts with other fishing tournaments.

The contest was won by Matthew Finn, 15, who took two muskies from Lake Waconia, a 50-incher and another measuring 49 inches.

Lucas Elliot, 17, placed second with a 48-inch muskie caught in Eagle Lake.

All muskies caught during the contest were released. Contest hours were 6 a.m. to 2 pm.

Grand prize was a week's fishing trip to Musky Bay Resort on Crow Lake, Ontario.

Twin Cities pro Mark Fisher will be among a small fleet of anglers on a 100-mile-long Lake of the Woods odyssey beginning Monday, which is co-sponsored by Cabela's and Rapala.

The event, which will be chronicled at www.cabelas.com/scatterrap has a trio of purposes: to promote Rapala's new Scatter Rap lure, to provide anglers unfamiliar with Lake of the Woods with possible fishing locations, via GPS coordinates, and to showcase multi-species angling opportunities available on the big lake.

Video updates will be available on the site three times daily. During the five days, anglers will use only Rapala's new Scatter Rap series of baits.

Video tips from Al, Ron and James Lindner also will appear on the site during the five-day trip.

But for anglers who never have fished Lake of the Woods, watching essentially in real time as anglers fish water from Kenora, Ontario, to Baudette, Minn., will be an educational experience to leverage on future trips.

The DNR has launched "Get Out Minnesota," a website for kids ages 5-11.