Long float trips locate many good spots

Fishing has always been a huge part of my life, and as I grew up my wander lust gave me a propensity to always look for new fishing spots.  Growing up in northern WI gave me great areas to explore for musky, trout, salmon, walleye, bass, and panfish.  Often I would have my dad drop me off early in the morning at a bridge on a creek or river with nothing but my rod, waders, and a back pack full of tackle, water, and a little food.  At dark I would have him pick me up at a crossing 10-15 miles upstream.  If fishing was good (and mostly it was) I was way late making it to the extraction point; leaving my dad to wonder in the darkness what could have happened to me.  A majority of his gray hair is undoubtedly my fault.  Along the way, my only company was the wild animals that also used the watershed, and the fish within that kept me coming back time and time again.

Many anglers seldom stray from the comfort zone of their home waters, but going out in search of new spots is what I live for.  Sure I have spots that I love and go back to again and again, but the allure of the unknown calls to me like no other.  It’s the promise of greener pastures, the promise of undiscovered monsters, the promise of a better day.  It is the myth of el dorado, that magical place that no one knows about, waiting to be discovered by the angler with the fortitude to find it and the skill to unlock its treasure (i.e. me).

Call me childish.  Say I am out of touch with reality.  Call me whatever you like, but the fact of the matter is that I take my fishing when, where, and how I want; and at the age of thirty I have a better repertoire of productive waters than many anglers will build in a lifetime.  It doesn’t matter what time of year it is, or what is going on with the weather.  More often than not, I can find biting muskies as long as I have the time, money, and necessary resources.  I have great spots for other species as well.

Remote location, poor ramp, great fishing

When I explore, I don’t always have great success.  Sometimes what I encounter is a straight up bust, but often times I find great populations of fish that receive much less pressure than those in more popular waters.  I often get the “who told you” look from local anglers fishing these “secret” waters.  That is if I see anyone at all.  Also, getting away from the crowds puts me in some of the most picturesque angling locales I have ever seen.  Places most people don’t know exist and will never lay eyes upon.

My adventures always start with home work.  Almost every night before I go to sleep I read my state atlases, lake maps, lake information books, and print outs of DNR surveys.  The floor on my side of the bed is a chaotic pile of fishing information.  Usually, what I look for are “out of the way” bodies of water that I think have or could have solid populations of my target specie.  I look for lack of quality access.  If a body of water is accessible only on foot, through a difficult landing, or by floating up or down a small creek or river; then the chances of it having strong populations of lightly pressured gamefish are pretty good.

Remote under-utilized lakes, flowages, and reservoirs are harder to come by than remote underutilized streams and rivers.  Most lakes, large rivers, and flowages are at least fairly accessible for most anglers, and therefore will have at least moderate fishing pressure.  In moderate to high pressure scenarios, smaller bodies of water will most often provide average results at best.  Larger bodies of accessible water will usually hold up to pressure better, but they do not meet my criteria of remote adventure fishing.  Medium to small Rivers and streams on the other hand often wind through miles of remote country between any type of access point, giving gamefish within a nearly constant refuge from fishing pressure.  These environments are often high in water quality, suitable habitat, and forage abundance; and therefore usually have great gamefish populations consisting of many quality individuals.

Nothing like the wild river

Rivers and streams are usually only underutilized if they cannot be effectively and safely navigated up and down stream by a boat with an outboard motor.  This means that they will have many shallow, fast, rocky, and/or wooded areas.  These rivers and streams are best fished on foot or by floating a canoe or small flat bottomed boat downstream from one access to another.  It takes extra time and effort to make these trips, and conditions can definitely get sketchy from time to time, which is exactly why these waters are underutilized.

Forty years ago and beyond, these waters were comparatively easier to access than large lakes because larger safer long range boats were much harder to come by.  Boats to safely and efficiently fish waters of 500 acres and up were simply not available to most anglers, so smaller waters were the only option.  Anglers could fish on foot or do float trips in the small water craft that were much more readily available.  Fast forward to modern times, and reliable long range boats are basically dime a dozen.  A large portion of anglers own boats capable of comfortable fishing trips on large easily accessible waters.  Because of this, the small out of the way waters have become less pressured because now they are the most difficult to access.  It is a simple matter of convenience and most anglers will go for the easiest and most comfortable opportunity to fish.

Of course, exploratory fishing doesn’t have to take place on remote underutilized resources.  Fishing a popular body of water is exploring if I have never fished it before.  Learning any new body of water is exciting and will lead to more productive fishing in the future.  Every individual body of water and the fishery it contains is unique and therefore responds to seasonal change and current weather conditions in its own way.  Once these patterns are documented on various waters and a repertoire of different waters is established, the chances of finding a good “bite” becomes easier under any given set of conditions.  The larger the repertoire and documentation I have, the better the chance I have of finding fish that are “on”.

As I mentioned earlier, I have regular waters that I love and when the right conditions occur, I can usually do very well on at least one of them.  However, I only have these waters because I explored them at one point.  The more I explore, the more options I have.  The most important thing to keep in mind when exploring, is to have an open mind.  Some of the best fisheries I have found were those that weren’t supposed to be that good.  I don’t believe what I hear, I believe what I see.

Motor restrictions mean few anglers and good fishing

When deciding on a body of water to fish it is important to take into account the real time productivity of the water and not just the amount of fish it is putting out.  Often, the amount of muskies a lake or river puts out is highly dependant on the amount of angler effort on the water body as well as the quality of the fishery contained within.  Therefore, real time productivity is actually the measure of angler hours needed to capture a certain size, quantity, and specie of fish.

For instance, a large popular easily accessible lake may get 1,000 musky anglers per season averaging 40 hours per angler for a total of 40,000 angler hours during said season.  During the same season, a medium size river that is difficult to access may get 20 musky anglers averaging 50 hours each for a total of 1,000 angler hours.  If the lake produces 200 50” plus muskies and the river produces 10 50” plus muskies to their respective anglers during that season, at first glance it may seem that the lake gives an angler the best chance at a 50” plus musky.  However, the lake gives up a 50” plus musky to its anglers every 200 hours of angler effort, while the river gives up a 50” plus musky to its anglers every 100 hours; which means that the river is actually twice as productive as the lake at producing 50” plus muskies.  These statistics are reached by dividing total angler hours by the number of target fish caught during those angler hours.

Of course, fish statistics are much more readily available than angler effort statistics, so accurate estimations and educated guesses become very important to an angler who wants to examine which waters are the most productive.  Case in point:  Well known lakes that put out lots of big muskies almost always get a large amount of fishing pressure.  This in turn attracts more anglers who plan trips to these destinations.  They often arrive to find very crowded water and tough days of fishing.  However, muskies are steadily being caught on that water because odds are that no matter how slow the fishing is, some fish will be caught due to the sheer numbers of anglers making presentations at all times.  Said lake produces lots of fish, though the individual experience is less than desirable more often than not.

On the other end of the spectrum, I used to shy away from waters that I heard nothing about and that my research indicated put out few fish and/or fish lacking in size.  However, I have come to learn that many such waters have lots of muskies and often big fish as well.  They just don’t seem to be productive because they receive little angler effort.  The people who do fish these waters often find muskies that are much more willing to bite, and generally have more good days on the water.  Of course, the popular waters are often popular because they harbor the biggest, often potentially record breaking fish.  Overlooked waters often have some amazing fish, but most will not have the same top end potential of the popular trophy and/or record class waters.

Anglers planning a trip should take into account exactly and realistically what return they want on their invested resources.  The few true record class waters out there are often very expensive to get to and/or very highly pressured.  Investing huge amounts of money is not possible for most anglers.  The accessible record class waters are so heavily pressured that good action is usually limited to brief windows of action created occasionally by season, moon phase, weather, and low light.  The majority of the time, resistant muskies will be the norm; so much so that most on the water experiences will be disappointing for most anglers.  Many waters with slightly less top end potential still have excellent trophy potential and provide steadier action day in and day out.  These are in fact some of my favorite waters.  At this point in my fishing career, I am not ready to sacrifice steady action to target solely record class fish on a regular basis.  Going for it is cool once in a while, but I love catching any musky.  I love experiencing the fish and their behaviors in a wide range of environments more than anything else, so the size of the fish isn’t always a top priority for me.  Waters with good trophy potential suffice for me most of the time, and I still like fishing waters with very little trophy potential as well.

Later that day, still no competition

I examine my goals and I do what is best for my fishing.  My goals are not what they were ten years ago, and ten years from now they may not be what they are at present.  Sometimes my goals change daily, but regardless of what my goal is, I research and plan in order to put the odds of achieving it in my favor as much as possible.  Depending on my angling goals for an individual outing, the decisions I make will all have many different pros and cons.  Here are some examples:

If I fish locally on my west metro home waters in MN I have excellent trophy potential just minutes from my house.  However, they are highly pressured waters and success is often very elusive for many reasons.  Also, the setting of these waters is much less picturesque than those in the north-woods, and recreational traffic gets disgusting much of the time.  During cooler water periods of the season, I get good early morning windows, but they are very short most of the time, only in late fall do they start to last longer than 1-2 hours.  I don’t waste my time fishing outside of these windows, but this means that I spend preparation time, travel time, and money for a small amount of fishing.  During certain months however, this type of fishing allows me excellent productivity for both numbers and size of muskies.

Sometimes, I like to get away from it all and go to northern WI and MN to fish waters in gorgeous settings that receive very little pressure.  I enjoy this, because even on a summer weekend I can fish all day and see very few if any other anglers and deal with no recreational traffic.  Often, these waters don’t have the biggest fish, it takes at least a few hours of travel time to get there, and accesses are often more difficult than a standard launch.  On the upside, the numbers of fish are often good and they are much more willing to bite than more pressured muskies.

During the winter, if I have the time and money, I like to travel south to fish muskies.  It is a great change of pace from the nasty winter weather of the upper mid-west and it feels great just to be casting to open water again.  However, winter muskies in the south can be very tough even if water and weather conditions seem right.  Action can be very good, but in my experience it is either feast or famine.  The problem with this is that it is almost impossible to make sure they are on before I leave, and it is an expensive trip to take to get very little action.

If I had unlimited resources, the only problem I would have is deciding which options to take advantage of.  No matter how wealthy an angler becomes, time is always a finite resource.  There are more musky fisheries than any one angler could ever even partially take advantage of in a lifetime.  Unfortunately for me, I am bound by both time and resources, and it seems that the harder I work the more tightly bound I become.  I am well aware that I am not alone in this crunch, and the one piece of advice I can offer to those caught in the ever tightening noose with me is to take into consideration exactly how much time and resources are available, examine goals carefully, and invest available time and resources as wisely as possible.

Underutilized water, but certainly not secret

Maybe it is my definition of secrets that makes me doubt how many really exist.  To me a secret is a piece of information I will take to the grave with me, that no one else will ever know about; and since humans have a distinct desire to get things off their chest and share with others, little of that information is ever kept completely to one’s self.  It is as if the information was a glowing ball of fire burning them from within, of which the only way to extinguish was to confide to find relief.  Therefore, I think there are very few real secrets out there.  There is certainly a plethora of little known information, underutilized water, little used effective lures, and other resources only slightly tapped, but no secrets.

Secret bodies of water are the most laughable to me.  Every body of water in the musky’s range in North America can be looked at on a map, yet many anglers will treat a body of water as if it had been viewed by no other human eyes aside from theirs.  I have seen people who I once thought of as reasonable act like they had a secret musky lake, when in fact it was clearly documented in one of those popular “best musky lake” type books.  To me this says a lot about the human condition.  Our desire to keep and take secrets from one another is so strong that it often not only defies logic and reason, but often spits directly in its face.  This desire of secrecy also contradicts the before mentioned desire to confide.  I think it is human nature to possess many strong and directly conflicting desires, and that these conflictions cause most of the world’s problems.  But I digress.

Great action, but still on the map

All maps are basically public record, and with the proper resources any angler can access the same public waters as anyone else.  Some waters and the fisheries within are underutilized for a few or even many reasons, but in the modern era of advanced communication and travel there are no secret waters.  If a guide is willing to take me to his “secret” spot, I am fully aware of the contradiction in terms and am at the very least a little weary.

In the same light, a secret lure that is for sale is by definition no longer a secret.  Are there anglers out there who have home made lures that no one else has ever seen, lures that the creator of takes great pains to keep secret?  I am sure there are, but such scenarios are few and far between.  However, this is no reason for concern because such a lure maker would never let another angler use his lures, and even if he did the chances of said lures being more productive than any quality lures available on the market are slim to none.

There are always a handful of musky anglers out there thinking outside the box, pioneering new tactics and waters, showing the muskies something different and usually they are doing pretty well with it.  However, the real secret of successful musky anglers is that they really have no secrets.  Those who catch large numbers of muskies and/or big muskies put in lots of hours, work hard, fish with skill, and work off of a solid knowledge base.  All of those are gained only through practice, experience, and gathering of knowledge, all of which take time.  There are no secrets or any other short cuts.

First Of Two 50's On A High Pressure Lake In Nov.

I have heard theories centered around forage fluctuations and the effect these fluctuations have on the muskies’ willingness to strike artificial lures.  An example would be that a boom in the yellow perch population has caused muskies to relocate and loose interest in artificial lures.  This to me is absurd for three reasons.  First, MN muskies are notorious for using shallow structural edges the majority of the time.  Certainly they will drop deeper or suspend from time to time, but this would not account for an entire season of decreased action.  Second, these lakes are so full of a variety of forage that muskies are never dependent on one specie, at least not for long enough to throw off an entire season’s action.  Third, no matter how much forage is present in a lake, muskies will still strike well made presentations during feeding windows.  I fish musky lakes that are full of panfish and carp near my home.  These lakes have thousands of adult carp, of which the females produce between one and two million eggs every year.  In the face of all those panfish and juvenile carp, I still get good action under the right conditions.

Weather is another scapegoat for a bad season, and while extremes of weather and unstable weather can turn muskies off for several weeks at a time in extreme cases, the muskies will come back on when conditions improve, and often in a big way.  I have never had weather ruin an entire season, and I always have a good bounce back when conditions improve.

Lack of action is also rarely a sign of depletions in size structure and density of a particular musky population.  In the past, before wide spread catch and release ethic, this was a common problem.  Today, natural die offs will rarely occur.  Also, several poor years of natural reproduction in waters that rely solely on natural reproduction to sustain a musky population can cause problems, but most MN muskie lakes are intensively stocked to prevent this.  So populations are almost always healthy.

What has caused the reduction in action is most likely that the fish are becoming pressured and educated.  The MN musky programs are very young.  Fast growing Leech Lake strain muskies were stocked in large fertile lakes that were full of all of the appropriate forage for every stage of musky growth.  This plan was well researched and employed and it worked.  The lakes quickly became full of big muskies, that for their size had seen relatively few presentations (due only in part to their young age).  The many lakes that had no muskies prior to stocking also received little pressure until the fish reached a size that would attract any significant angling pressure.  Therefore, muskies reached adulthood and beyond in these lakes with little exposure to musky lures.  So compared to the rest of North American musky water, the lakes had a larger amount of big fish and the individual big musky was much less educated.  These combined factors made for the comparatively excellent action that was experienced for a while.  Now, in the face of all the pressure that that action attracted, the muskies have gotten smarter and tougher to catch.  They are still there and bigger than ever, they are just tougher to catch.  MN still has better all around big fish potential than anywhere in the nation and possibly North America.

51" 1 Hour Later, Cold Water Trumps Sunny Skys

The new hot lure syndrome is indicative of over pressured fish.  One hot lure is used to death and the bite on it cools off, until the new band wagon comes rolling through town and things pick up again until the muskies are wise to that one as well.  The night bite phenomenon is also a huge indicator of the over abundance of pressure.  Those huge fish would still bite during the day if they weren’t so heavily pressured.  The big muskies will also grow wise to slow rolling double tens under the cover of darkness, and a new approach will become necessary.  In late fall, I can fish a weedline with live bait that has been pounded all day with artificial lures and take big fish strikes.  It is just a matter of showing them something they haven’t seen or looks better or both.

It is natural for musky fishermen to hope that their own pursuits are not causing the slower action.  Also, many don’t like to think that muskies are really that smart and adaptable.  However, in the face of all evidence, I think these are the only reasonable conclusions.

Landing A 41 Incher On Foot

Two-Toned Musky

I haven’t been in the sport of musky fishing as long as some anglers, but I can still remember the days of being the lone nut out on the water using gear antiquated by today’s standards.  In the last decade, musky fishing has grown exponentially both as a sport and as an industry.  Booming musky fisheries are popping up around the country where no muskies previously existed, and the musky bug has spread faster than the swine flu.  Bass and walleye fishermen get a taste of the action, and many never look back.  State fisheries managers and private organizations alike have taken action, and now there are more musky fisheries and muskies than ever before.  Tackle manufactures have also heeded the call, and now there are at least twenty times the products available to musky fisherman than there were just 15 years ago.

An Ancient Dam In Wisconsin

In many ways I love the modern era of musky fishing.  Some of my favorite waters didn’t have a musky in them 25 years ago, and I surely could never give up my modern tackle.  However, a large part of me misses the way things used to be.  Certainly, I am not an old timer who spent most of his musky fishing life in “the way things used to be” era, but I certainly got a taste of it in the 90’s.  I used to be able to fish uncontested on popular musky waters on summer and fall evenings.  I didn’t have to share any spots, and I could hit them at my leisure knowing the fish would see no presentations but mine.  I liked the looks I got at landings when it wasn’t every hour that someone was showing up with musky gear.  Back in the day, musky fishermen were an oddity instead of commonplace, and I think we secretly received great satisfaction in knowing that.

Making A Plan

I don’t miss dacron and heavy mono, but I do miss the solitude.  If I want some peace and quite on lakes, I have to get out for a few hours very early in the morning, or head out when it is cold, wet, windy, and nasty; and even then it is no guarantee.  Rivers and streams tend to be my last vestige of solitude, especially the ones that are hard to navigate or must be fished on foot.  Often, I can fish these waters all day and never see another person.  However, trying to get on one of the popular big name MN lakes on a Saturday morning can get a little ridiculous.  The obvious argument is that with greater popularity comes greater awareness, effort, and conservation; and musky fishing is true of that, possibly truer than in any other fishing.  Obviously, the sport is better than it has ever been, but I still yearn for the past at times.  Often, just to get a taste of what used to be, I find myself hiking up some small remote stream or river getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.  Sometimes it pays off, often it doesn’t.  For me, these adventures are more about connecting to the past than successful fishing, but it doesn’t hurt to find some less pressured muskies.  The simplicity of walking and casting rivers really brings me back.

Landing A Little Guy

First Of The Day

On the other end of the spectrum, I have recently started fishing the big money musky tournaments.  Morning take off at one of these events will make one aware of just how much technology and money has been dumped into musky fishing.  Tournament musky fishing puts an emphasis on technology and performance in every aspect of the sport; and having the best of everything will make for an advantage.  I enjoy the competitive nature of this aspect of the sport, and certainly a musky hooked during tournament hours gives me a greater rush.  However, it is probably my tournament fishing experiences that make me crave some very simple musky trips each season.  They help to center me out.  It is nice to go from an environment of the most intense musky fishing pressure in existence to an environment of no fishing pressure period.

A Quick Release

Gone are the days of the way things used to be.  A modern era has been ushered in for better or for worse.  The fishing is great and I will still have my memories of being alone with the muskies:  Those quiet summer nights on the lake that seem like a dream long since dissipated to my subconscious.  Alone on a half frozen lake in northern WI that glows deep blue after a fresh snow like a rare precious stone.  The feeling of being on a real adventure.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Ryan With A Hard Earned 49" x 23" Pig

Scenarios like the before mentioned are part of what defines a musky.  If they just struck every time, they would be no different than northern pike and those who pursue them relentlessly would not love them like they do.  The difficulty of taking just one strike from a musky makes their pursuit somewhat mythic.  It is what sets musky fishermen apart from all other fresh water anglers.  The phrase “fear of commitment” has been used for years by women to describe men who refuse to commit to long term relationships.  However, I think this phrase more accurately describes the behavior of muskies than the relationship fickleness of men.  Why are they so interested yet so reluctant so much of the time, and what can we do to find muskies that are willing to commit or make the ones we can find more willing to commit?

Scientific theory would state that muskies strike so seldom because they have a very low metabolism and therefore do not need to eat very often at all.  In fact, research has indicated that a five pound northern pike eats more pounds of forage in a year than a fifteen pound musky.  But, why then the high level of activity following prey they never intend to eat.  Such activity would include multiple follows on artificial lures and following rigged suckers for hundreds of yards, behaviors that I have observed many times.  Simple calories taken in to calories expended logic would say that this behavior doesn’t make any sense.  It would seem that a musky with its low metabolism would remain completely inactive until it needs to feed, but obviously such is not the case.  It would seem to me that their inquisitive nature is the cause of this behavior.  Their curiosity has caused them to approach and follow my boat and even approach my body as I have waded rivers.  They did not approach following lures, and in fact spooked when I attempted to figure eight them.  Some even came back once my lure was out of the picture.

Triggering muskies can be very tricky, and often a single fish is worked for months by an angler before it is caught.  The musky mentioned in the outset of the article displayed that same behavior several times during October of 2009, and it measured 49”X23”.  I know it was that big because in November of that year my friend Ryan caught it on a rigged 3 lb. sucker and I put the net under it.  I know it was the same fish because it stuck like glue to the same inside turn on a shallow weedline and because of its unique size, coloration, and jaw scar.  We wanted her in the worst way, and we finally got her.  Musky fishing is chess not checkers.  The successful fisherman thinks many moves in advance.  In the case of that beautiful pig, we knew where she was and that she liked to play, but that she would probably not commit to a strike on an artificial lure.  So we hit her on the full moon in a storm of wind and sleet and put her in check mate with a big tempting live bait.  I worked the spot through first with her favorite glider, then Ryan brought the sucker through.  The sucker was blind sided just as it crossed her spot.  Of course, such conditions are rare, and when the stars align like that things can be gang busters.  We also caught 48” and  43” muskies that evening.  Striking while the iron is hot is critical.

Successful musky fishing is certainly a long term game of commitment.  If big muskies are to commit to one’s lures, one must be committed to that goal.  One big musky may be a fluke, but many large smart adult muskies per season are never a fluke.  It is a result of dedication.  I pattern fish on bodies of water I hit consistently, but I also hit new water all the time to practice keeping my learning curve short.  It may seem counterintuitive, but some of my best days of fishing have been fishing a brand new body of water.  I think musky location is very predictable, so I don’t usually have to look too long to find the fish.  I think my success on new water is due to the fact that the muskies there had never seen my particular tactics, therefore their level of hesitancy was a little lower.  On bodies of water I fish regularly, I notice muskies becoming conditioned to my “old tricks”.  In such cases, I have to give that water a bit of a rest and fish other water, or I change things up a little.  Sometimes, a simple color change on the same effective lure is all it takes.  The color change is a very important tactic for me, because I love and have confidence in a fairly narrow selection of lures, and I think many anglers are the same way.

Another odd trait of muskies is that certain populations of muskies respond differently to angling pressure than others.  For instance, I live west of Minneapolis in MN and the lakes of the west metro area all get pounded all season long.  However, some lakes aren’t affected as much by the pressure.  A few years back, these lakes had much less fishing pressure than they do currently and as such the action on them was much more consistent.  Presently, all of these lakes produce a much less steady bite than they used to.  However, some have not been nearly as turned off by the pressure as others.  Most of the season, the day time bite is non existent, but on some of the waters I can still get a good sun up bite going much of the time.  However, on other waters, being the first one out in the morning is still met with poor results even though it worked well two years prior.  On the same waters, the fall bite doesn’t come on as steady as it used to either.  Good windows can still be found, but they are much less frequent than they used to be.  It is possible that this is due to some internal factor within the aquatic environment, but to me it seems more like a result of relentless pounding by anglers.  In the west metro, some of my best waters are those most heavily hit by musky fishermen.  Admittedly, on a summer day they are all but worthless, but for a few weeks in June there is a good morning bite especially in good weather, in late August through October the morning bite is also good especially in good weather, and in November the bite can be excellent all day every day.

I am not sure why some populations of muskies respond better to an abundance of pressure than others.  However, I am certain that heavy and even low to moderate pressure causes fear of commitment within muskies.  I am also certain that time on pressured waters will reveal which ones produce better in spite of said pressure.  Times when feeding windows should occur (i.e. low light, good weather, good moon phases, etc.) are very indicative.  If bites occur at a good rate during window conducive conditions, then that lake responds in a not so negative manner to pressure.  Conversely, under the same conditions, a lake that gives steadily poor results probably responds poorly to angling pressure.

In modern musky fishing, angling pressure is one of the largest road blocks to success.  Hitting the right fish at the right time, using unique presentations, and finding muskies that aren’t as pressured or finding muskies that respond well to pressure are major keys to success.

As a young boy growing up on Lake Superior’s Chequamegon Bay in Ashland WI, my father would take me fishing at various shore spots along the lake.  In those days, many of the massive crumbling industrial docks (left over from Ashland’s boom days nearly a century before) still existed.  Today, most of these docks have been renovated, removed, or made off limits to the public.  One such dock was the pulp hoist dock which is now the Ashland Marina.  Today it is a modern marina with boat slips and services, but back in the day it was a beautiful derelict dock built of creosote pilings, cement, and rock falling apart into the lake.  By today’s standards, the dock would have been deemed unsafe, at that time though it was an angling paradise.  My memories of it are but brief glimpses into the past, but what I remember is an abundance of excellent wood and rock structure, steep breaklines, and fish.

I also remember fishermen and angling methods the likes of which I have never seen since.  In those days, one target specie of my father and I was yellow perch.  This was the target of many other anglers as well.  Our methods usually consisted of simple but effective live bait presentations.  But there were some old timers who used seemingly ridiculous tactics to put together long stringers of huge perch that put all others to shame.  I remember multiple stringers filled 5 and 6 feet apiece strung with jumbos.  Looking back, it is no wonder why our perch fisheries have all but collapsed.  These anglers used long flexible rods and home made lures that looked something like a Johnson silver minnow without the weed guard.  The spoon and its fixed single hook looked way too big for perch, but it worked.  The lure’s action and the bite of the perch were very subtle.  So much so, that was hard to tell exactly what was happening.  The only thing that was clear is that huge perch were being caught one after the next.  One time, one of these men took a break from his factory like production of perch to try (unsuccessfully) to show me how it was done.  The failed lesson consisted of him telling me I had a bite, me not realizing it, the lesson ending, and the old timer taking his rod back and resuming catching the beautiful delicious fish without end.  This is all I remember, but these images have haunted my mind ever since.  Looking back on it now, the memories seem surreal and dreamlike.  Nothing though was more real than the skill of those old timers who were masters of what now seems to be a lost art.  To say the least, they had “the touch” and I think their tactics would have been nearly impossible to mimic by an angler not raised in that angling tradition.  In the future I plan to research this style of fishing, but for now my memories will suffice as a shinning example of hard earned skill.

In May of 2009, I had the pleasure of fishing with my college friend Joe Pavilonis (of Muskies Inc Chapter #03) for the first time in over 6 years.  Joe and I went to school in DePere WI on the shores of the now famous musky factory known as the Fox River.  In those days, I partied more than I fished when I wasn’t in class.  It is shameful I didn’t fish more, but I suppose many of us loose our way sometimes.  Joe on the other hand, was learning the river the whole time, hitting it up whenever he could.  Since graduating, he has continued to fish the Fox regularly.  Watching Joe fish the Fox really opened my eyes to how many aspects of musky fishing I am unfamiliar with.  Joe proved his proficiency as a troller by pulling 6 lines around and amongst piers, bridge pilings, massive floating debris, and vast schools of large carp.  Each day, his expertise lead to multiple muskies.  To the untrained eye, he was just dragging lures through the water, but I could only imagine the disaster that would have ensued if I had taken the helm.  Even if I could keep everything straight, I didn’t know the river.  He knew exactly where to go and what passes to make.  Anybody who has fished the Fox and lower Green Bay knows there is a lot of water there, and that much of it looks exactly the same structurally, and that there is really no water clarity.  It is just the type of water I try to avoid, but the Fox has huge muskies.  I started to realize that Joe wasn’t making asinine passes through the river but had a plan of attack and a clear sense of where he was and where he was going without the use of a GPS.

He also proved to know locations and tactics to catch the Fox River muskies using casting presentations, which I know is very unique and unusual on that water.  As a part of the trolling team, I learned quickly, did well (I think), and caught fish.  When I tried to figure out my own casting patterns, the results were largely laughable.  On the last day we were joined by our friend Brian Zofkie (also of chapter #03) who is also a Fox River veteran and skilled trolling team member.  The three of us worked together well and had good results.  I learned a lot and began the process of developing several new skills.

First Fox River Musky

Knowledge of individual waters is as important as building and practicing skill sets.  Familiarity with the habits of individual populations of muskies is as import as the honed tactics used to catch them.  Knowing exactly how to apply a lure to certain fish is just as important as proficiency with the lure itself.

Often, I think back to the fall musky fishing I did living in northern WI before I moved to the west metro.  Fishing the deep clear water lakes in Bayfield County is much different than chasing Leech Lake muskies in the highly fertile waters of Southern MN.  MN muskies mostly stay shallow until and during freeze up, and maybe after as well, but I can’t be sure.  Northern WI muskies on the other hand, the ones living in clear deep lakes, are mostly deep come fall and have been there since mid-summer if not earlier.

In those days, I spent much of my time probing depths of 20’-40’ with massive sinking 12” Bobbies weighing 10-12 ounces.  I would cast them unless it was so cold that my tackle would ice up, in which case I would creep troll the Bobbies with powerful sweeps and long pauses.  Live bait was a good option, but often I was too poor and/or too lazy to drive to Hayward to purchase suckers.  I spent hundreds of hours working those chunks of wood, lead, and steel through the depths without anything but my knowledge of the water to guide me.  I had no sonar.  In those days, I went out in a 14’ utility boat with a small transom mount electric motor and oars for backup, and that was it.  I was well practiced though, and learned to make those Bobbies look very enticing, and I caught fish.  Days when nobody was out for whatever reason, I was out.  I caught my first 50 inch plus musky like that, and to this day it is still my only WI 50.

Even though it was only four years ago, it seems like it was much longer than that.  Sometimes I wonder if I could go back to fishing like that and be as successful as I was.  I really don’t know what I would do without my digital bow mount trolling motor and universal sonar.  I still don’t have GPS, but the GPS on my brother in law’s boat proves very useful when I fish with him.  Back in the day, all I had to concentrate on was the water, controlling my boat, and working my lure.  That concentration allowed me to develop a style that I fear I have lost, but hopefully I have just evolved into something better. The best I can describe it, is that I was feeling things out down there, and if I put in my time the muskies fell into place.   Looking back, success with such an approach seems unlikely, but I made it work and was regularly one of the more successful anglers on those waters.  I didn’t work much, I didn’t have much money, but I had a lot of time and I used it to learn how to make what I had work for me.  I had no problem telling anybody exactly what I was doing, because I didn’t think anyone would actually try it.  Most people thought I was at least a little “off”.  If others had gone out and tried it, I doubt it would have worked for them right away.  I think they would have had to put in some time to really learn the technique.

Any technique or pattern is like that though.  An angler cannot expect just to pick up the new hot lure and have it work for them right away.  They must learn that lure, and adapt its use to their own style of fishing before it will really work.  I am not saying that instant success never happens, but it is certainly the exception, not the rule.  A lure that feels foreign on the end of your line will seldom work, even if it is working for others.  To be successful with a lure, one must really get to know it.  The lure must feel like “a part of you”.  When I think back to when I first started chasing muskies, all of my tackle felt weird and foreign.  As such, I had very poor results even when fishing good spots at good times.  One thing I did notice though was that my success increased at the same rate as I became accustomed to my tackle.  My rod and reel felt great in my hands and I started to find some lures that I really liked and became more and more comfortable with.  Today, I know my lures so well that I don’t need to see them working to know if they are running correctly.  I can simply feel it.  A good running lure just feels right.  If a lure goes out of tune, it feels like a chipped tooth or new dental work.  All of my tackle is like a living part of my body, I have total control over it and am completely in tune with it.

This control and awareness has allowed me to be a successful musky angler, but it has also come at a price.  I am so in love with such a small handful of lures, that I haven’t broadened my horizons lure wise as much as I could have.  That is to say there are still some types of lures that I should be more comfortable with that I am not.  The lures I love and my tactics with them will cover almost any situation that I have ever encountered, but there are a couple of instances over the years that I can look back on and say, for instance, that I wish I knew how to “really” fish a bucktail well.  Of course, I can throw a bucktail with solid fundamentals and make it look like I know how to fish one, but I cannot “really” fish a bucktail well.  In fact, and readers may want to brace themselves for this one, of the hundreds of muskies I have caught, I have never caught a musky on a bucktail or a spinner of any type.  For years, I tied my own deer hair spinners as my go to lures for trout with great success, and one would think I would have made the connection, but no.  Call it weird.  Call it unbelievable.  Call it dumb.  Call it whatever you like, but it is true.  Check the Musky Inc. lunge log.  I developed great skill fishing spinners for trout, but none for muskies.  So therefore, I can’t “really” fish a bucktail.  I do not know Ken and Wesley Worel (two of Muskies Inc.’s more successful members when it comes to boating muskies) or anything about them really, and I hope they don’t mind me dropping their name.  I am just using them as an example of people who I think can “really” fish a bucktail.  They have designed them, had great success on them, fished them for hundreds if not thousands of hours, and thus “really” know how to fish them.

To an observer, it may seem like I could “really” fish a bucktail.  I am probably skilled enough to put on a good looking facade, but it would be nothing more than a charade.  I could not fool myself though.  I would know it in my heart and therefore it would be so.  The difference between fishing a lure and “really” fishing a lure is in the confident mindset of the user.  The ability to “really” fish a lure comes from practice, experience, and success.

The reason different anglers have different lure preferences is that they have individual personalities and different experiences.  Had I fallen in love with bucktails instead of jerkbaits, things might be different today.  I don’t consider myself a fatalist, but I don’t think it could have happened any other way, and if my lack of diversity has me hurting, at least I love every moment  I am on the water and I am never disappointed with a day of fishing.

There is an interesting phenomenon that often exists between anglers who regularly employ very different techniques.  It occurs when they are fishing the same body of water at the same time and the muskies are biting.  For example, I would be using a Manta Hang 10, and another angler a Double Cowgirl or Bulldawg for instance (not that that ever happens!).  Both of us are likely catching muskies, but if we were to switch lures, it is very likely that our action would stop, unless the other is proficient with the new lure and has confidence in it.  However, this is rarely the case, because there is a reason for the individual’s lure choice.  An unexpected unwanted lure switch would be a total monkey wrench thrown in the system of a musky angler, even if the lure was working for another in the same situation.

Many experienced musky fishermen think a tackle box should be treated like a carpenter’s tool box, and that every on the water situation has but one tool that will do the job right.  If they decide that fishing a bucktail best suites the given scenario, throwing a crankbait would be like pounding a nail with a screw driver.  However, I disagree with this mentality.  Musky fishing is not black and white.  Much like life, it consists mostly of a large gray area with very small margins of clear cut black and white, which by the way is just one of the many reasons I love musky fishing so much.  Getting back to my point, what all of this means is that when you become proficient with a single lure, you can cross boundaries with it and adapt its use to many different on the water situations.  That is why when a rookie musky angler asks me how they can shorten their learning curve to successful musky fishing, I tell them not to buy more than a few lures at first.  Unfortunately, it is usually already too late at that point, but I digress.  I recommend they pick a few they like the look of, have seen a demo and like the action of, or have watched a buddy use and/or catch muskies on.  I don’t think blind recommendations are as good.  Seeing is believing, and confidence starts with believing.  The individual is usually drawn to the lures they like, and they must make up their own mind.  If a tackle store employee is doing their job, they will tell the newbie that they need a wide range of lures.  However, I disagree.  The fewer expensive lures you have to buy, the less you have to work, and that frees up time to be out on the water learning how to fish.  All musky lures will catch muskies if one takes the time to learn any one lure as an individual.  Obviously, maximum proficiency with all types of lures is ideal, but that takes a lot of time.

I have spent enough time on the water to be proficient with all types of lures, but I am not because I haven’t tried to be.  I have not tried to be, because I just don’t enjoy using some types of lures.  In the past, my limited selection of lures I enjoy fishing (and there are very few) have made it tough for me to tackle some situations.  A few years ago though, I began to make sure that if I encountered a situation I couldn’t adapt my favorite lures to, I would find one that did, become proficient with it, and learn to like it.  Now, a few years later, I can honestly say that I have adapted a technique for every new situation I have encountered since.  I can adapt to almost any situation, but I still haven’t caught a musky on a spinner or soft plastic lure of any type.  For most situations, I have little desire to learn either of these lures.  This obviously has more to do with me as a head case, rather than the effectiveness of these lures.  Of course, they are very effective lures for many anglers.  I do want to develop some bucktail confidence for speed triggering, covering water quickly, night fishing situations, and some low water clarity situations; but I have no desire to ever use the large soft plastic lures and creatures that have become so popular, and I hope I never have to.  I am in the process of learning smaller jig and plastic combos for finesse presentations, but I put those in a separate category.

In order to be successful, I think I have to enjoy fishing the lure I am fishing.  I have to be into what I am throwing in order to fish well.  If I am not enjoying how I am fishing, it tends to defeat the purpose of being out on the water in the first place.  The goal is to catch muskies, but ultimately it is to have a good time.  So therefore I have adapted the lures I like and my presentations of them to fit most any circumstance.  Obviously, there are many who would disagree with my approach to the sport, and some of those I am sure even catch more and bigger muskies than me for less time spent on the water.  Maybe they are right, maybe not.  The point is, I don’t care.  I enjoy the way I fish and that is what matters to me the most.

Stadler Says "Do Your Own Thing"

If you enjoy the way you fish, don’t let others criticize your approach.  If you want to make a change that will help you enjoy your fishing more, do it.  If you want to catch more muskies, try adapting your presentations to really fit the individual set of circumstances you encounter every time out on the water.  This can be done by learning new lures, but it can also be done by learning an old favorite better.  Time on the water is always the key.  Fishing is a very natural sport.  It is in our very nature to try and capture living things.  Therefore, increasing angling skill and advancing as an overall fisherman should be a very natural progression.  Do what feels right, not necessarily what another suggests you do.  If a piece of advice or information seems solid, go with it; if not, don’t.  In that way, you will develop skill sets and methods that are completely unique and individual, and thus lead to greater success and more overall enjoyment of the sport.

I have extensively written and published material on the importance of hook sharpening and how to sharpen hooks.  This by no means makes me unique, as many authors have done this.  What does make my writings on this subject unique is the fact that I promote the use of a Dremel (a small hand held rotary tool) for hook sharpening, instead of a traditional flat file.  I began publishing such ideas over four years ago.  I have been using Dremels for over a decade to sharpen my hooks, and to me it just makes sense.  Most construction workers, metal workers, and craftsmen use power tools to increase the accuracy and efficiency of their work, why should fishermen be missing the boat.

I am constantly checking the sharpness of my hooks and touching them up with my Dremel.  I will compare the sharpness of my hooks to those of any other angler world wide.  I would love to see someone produce a sharper hook point than me.  I can put an excellent point on my hooks with a flat file, but it takes much longer and is never quite as nice.  The Dremel makes many precise strokes in a very short amount of time.

Large hooks typical of musky lures are made from thicker gauge metal than small hooks.  That means that a small hook out of the box is sharper than a large hook out if the box for the simple reason that the tip is already thinner.  A small thin panfish hook is fairly sharp right out of the box, but still needs some touching up in my opinion.  I use the fraise “right out of box” a lot because no large hook right out of the box is sharp enough for me, even the new premium hooks that some say are.

The way a musky strikes a lure makes the sharpest hooks crucial.  Muskies are notorious for striking lures in a way so as not to get hooked.  They nip, slash, bump, and purposely put the parts of the lure in their mouths that have no hooks.  A musky solidly striking my lures accounts for only half of my catches.  Much of the time, muskies don’t hit lures like pike.  I cannot keep pike (even the smallest ones) from getting all tangled up in my lures.  I wish big muskies would hit my lures as well as 20” pike.  The big muskies are usually the worst ones because they are the smartest.  Smart muskies have a way of testing, closely examining, slapping, and touching lures before committing to any kind of a decent strike.  If your hooks are razor sharp though, you can hook them during these behaviors if you can get your points to stick to them.

I use a Dremel MiniMite that costs under $20.00 at Walmart.  A higher priced Dremel capable of higher rpms is not necessary, and since they are used in outdoor conditions, replacing the most inexpensive model will be more cost effective.  That being said, they are very durable.  I have soaked mine many times and dried them out with little if any damage.  Even when soaking wet, they usually continue to work.  The MiniMite is also perfect for hook sharpening because it is compact and light weight and doesn’t take up much room in the boat or backpack.  Much of the time I keep it right in my pocket or waders’ pouch.  In conjunction with the small rotary tool, I use a Dremel #952 tapered aluminum oxide grinding stone bit.

When using the Dremel I put a four sided point on my hooks.  I only sharpen the last 1/8” of the point, but I make sure there is a smooth transition between the tip of the point, the remainder of the point, and the barb.  First I sharpen the bottom of the point, then I sharpen the right and left sides, and last I bring it all together by sharpening the top.  After that, I touch up any side necessary to create the finest point.  I bring my hooks to the finest point I can possibly make.  Unfortunately, the finer the point, the easier it will dull.  I spend a lot of time fixing points during the course of my time on the water.  Many musky fishermen don’t want to spend so much time sharpening hooks, so they intentionally leave their points a little more on the stout side so they hold up against abuse a little better.  It is true that this type of point will take more abuse, but it will not catch hold on the musky as well as the ultra fine point.  Meticulous hook sharpening can become very tedious, but when a big musky lightly nudges a lure with a closed mouth and that point catches the outside of its lip, all the hard work pays off.

A steady hand is your best asset when Dremel sharpening a hook.  Steady your arms by holding your elbows tight into your sides.  Steady the hook by holding it against the lure and both the lure and hook firmly in your hand.  Further steady the hand the Dremel is in by holding a finger of that hand against the bend of the hook being sharpened or the body of the lure.  In the low speed setting, sharpen the top and sides of the point by lightly pressing the bit against the side of the point in a parallel fashion.  Sharpen the bottom side by turning the bit and Dremel in a perpendicular fashion to the point and coming up from underneath.  I like to examine my work closely while in progress, so I wear safety glasses or sun glasses to keep steel filings and aluminum oxide dust from flying in my eyes.  Practice will make perfect.  At first it is likely to catch the end of the point with the bit, severely dulling the point. Keep the bit away from the end of the point.  Only work the four sides to create the point.

I bring two Minimites with me just to be safe and two or three fully charged battery packs as well.  I charge them every night to avoid running out of juice.  I always have a spare bit on hand as well.

Using Dremels has kept my strike to caught musky ratio very high.  Missed muskies make for stories.  Landed muskies make for success.  A key example was the 2009 PMTT September qualifier on the St. Croix River, in which my tournament partner Justin Teske and I took third place.  We only took two strikes, but we put two big muskies on the board.  The second and largest musky barely got any of the lure, and came off as soon as it was in the net.  Had the hooks not been Dremel sharp, we would have been left with only guesses and disappointment.  We also would not have finished in the money.  The hook point is the first point of contact with the musky, it is crucial that they be as sharp as possible.  This task is best completed with a Dremel tool.

Justin With A Money Musky

In the modern world of musky fishing, we are surrounded by technology and its benefits.  We invest copious amounts of time and money in finding the fish, getting to the fish, and getting them to strike.  Falling flat at the moment of truth doesn’t make any sense.  It is time to step into the future of hook sharpening as well.  Dremel dynamics put more muskies in the net.

First Look At The Collins

To my knowledge, the Collins River in central TN is the warmest climate musky fishery, if not the furthest south as well.  Even in a harsh winter, good musky action can be found in the Collins if water levels are right.  The Collins supports muskies at its latitude because it is spring fed with clean cool water, too cool in fact to support muskies in its farthest up stream reaches.  Trout inhabit those waters.

Boat Side Battle

The Collins River is part of the Great Falls Reservoir system, of which the entirety has a strong population of muskies.  Great Falls has excellent water quality due to the health of its tributaries.  Muskies are constantly moving between the reservoir and its tributaries due to seasonal change in water conditions, spawning migrations, and forage migrations.  The Collins most likely has muskies that are year round residents, but also has groups of muskies that come and go during the course of the season.

The Fight Continues

The muskies in this system are very fast growing big bodied fish, and muskies well into the 50” 30lb. range have been caught recently from these waters.  A strong population density exists as well.  The waters are fertile and warm, but not so warm that the muskies can’t find cooler well oxygenated water during the heat of the Tennessee summer.  In the Collins River, the water is very fertile due to the leaching of nutrients from the limestone in its watershed.  The musky growing season goes year round.

Admiring A Tennessee Musky

At normal water level, the Collins runs a beautiful blue in color and is very clear.  The river has good current in areas and slow holes in others.  Action is excellent all year long, though I have only fished it in winter.  In January 2008, I fished it with guide Dwayne Hickey and caught 10 muskies in 3 days.  The river was low and clear, with a measured discharge of only 150 cfs.  However, we fished it slowly, quietly, and thoroughly; and had great action.  Water temperatures ranged from 36-39 F, which forced slow yet tantalizing and meticulous presentations.  It was some of the most fun I have ever had fishing in January.

Tempted By A Cast Back

Dwayne is one of the most knowledgeable musky guides on the Collins River and Great Falls Reservoir, and has an excellent secluded stretch of the river almost completely to himself.  I highly recommend breaking the winter doldrums by booking a trip with Dwayne.  When planning a trip to the Collins, make sure to keep an eye on the USGS website for measured stream flow data.  The Collins is highly subject to severe flooding under heavy rains which are common all year, but especially during winter.  Statistically speaking, the Collins has an average measured stream flow of 800-1200 cfs at its gauging station by McMinnville TN.  However, it can reach 10,000 to 20,000 cfs very easily, at which point it is not only unfishable but very dangerous as well.

One Last Look

At average discharge, the river has good clarity, but enough color to give the muskies some security.  The river is fairly fast at this discharge level, and if the water is very cold, the muskies may be reluctant to come out and chase lures.  If cold temperatures have been persistent, fishing the Collins at lower discharge levels is a good idea.  In winter, I had excellent success with Manta Hang 10’s, #14 Husky Jerks, #12 X-Raps, and live bait.  In summer, Dwayne says there is an excellent topwater bite.  Contact Dwayne at www.stonesthrowadventures.com, the website is excellent and advertises many quality fishing and adventure opportunities in the Great Falls area.

Away She Goes

When muskie anglers speak of a body of water that is “on”, it means that a good number of muskies in that particular environment are responding well to presentations.  The reason they are responding well to presentations is most likely because they are feeding heavily in areas where anglers are working.  The reason the muskies are feeding is usually a combination of several environmental and biological factors.

If a lake or river is on, it will become apparent quite quickly.  If a body of water is off it will take a little longer to determine, as muskies often take a while to respond if it is  a marginal day (which is a good day by musky fishing standards).  If nothing is moving after several hours using appropriate tactics in appropriate locations, it is safe to say the lake or river is off.  It is possible that the muskies are on but in unexpected locations and/or responding to unexpected presentations.  However, this is unlikely as muskie behavior is usually fairly predictable even though they are challenging to catch.

Muskies are predictable, and an angler has to have confidence in what he is doing.  Human society has only reached as far as it has because of our confidence in our understanding of the world around us.  If we had no such confidence, we would still be walking the Earth’s landscapes scavenging for bugs, nuts, and rotten fruits; hoping in vain not to be eaten by felines, canines, and bears.  We know how best to catch muskies, it just doesn’t always work out because they are challenging; it is just one of the many characteristics that make them beautiful.

Many factors influence whether a body of water is on or not, including those within the aquatic environment, the local weather, and the fish themselves.  All of these factors are interrelated and affect each other directly.  A successful angler pays close attention to air temperature, cloud cover, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, electrical activity, seasonal changes, water temperature, water clarity, water current, bottom material, shoreline material, moon phase, and levels of dissolved oxygen within the water.  These factors directly affect each other and in turn affect musky behavior.

Perfect Day, Nice Tiger

Weather

Weather plays a huge role in turning muskies on and off.  Weather affects muskies in both direct and indirect manners.  The reason for this is that muskies (and all fish) are somewhat removed from the direct effect of the weather as their environment lies beneath the air water boundary.  Air temperature, light, wind, precipitation, and electrical activity all affect the aquatic environment, but their potency and nature are changed as they pass from air into water.

Air Temperature

Air temperature affects water temperature and thus musky activity.  However, air temperature often fluctuates many degrees in a matter of hours or even minutes, where as water temperature fluctuates in smaller degrees over longer periods of time.  A large change in air temperature usually only causes a relatively small change in water temperature, which usually has a big effect on muskies activity.

For example, it is July and the average daily highs have been holding steady in the mid 70’s F and water surface temperature has been steady at 73 F.  Then, on the three subsequent days, high temperatures only make it to 45 F, it will most likely take to the third day to drop water surface temperature to 70 F.  So, where as it took no more than 12 hours for the air temperature to change 30 degrees, it took the surface water near 3 days to drop only 3 degrees.  This relatively small change in water surface temperature has a large effect on musky activity.  The effect this has on the muskies is that it almost always turns them off, as the before mentioned scenario is obviously a cold front.

The rate at which air temperature affects water temperature varies depending on the disparity between the two and other external factors.  Large disparities between air and water temperature will cause quicker changes than small disparities.  High winds will cause wave action that will mix air and surface water, making for a faster change than low winds.  Sunlight, or lack there of, also affects water temperature.  Clear skies and calm water will cause water to warm or at least cool more slowly if the air temperature is much cooler than that of the water.

Temperature changes within the muskies’ environment often cause feeding or will shut feeding down.  Warming trends will usually cause muskies to feed unless stressfully warm water temperatures are reached.  Cooling trends usually cause muskies to shut down, unless it is triggering a fall feeding binge or dropping water temperatures down and out of a stressfully high range.

Sunlight and Cloud Cover

Sunlight has a large effect on musky feeding.  Muskies prove more often than not to be low light feeders.  Therefore, most anglers have the best success early in the morning, late in the evening, on overcast days, at night, and sometimes on windy days.  Many anglers overlook wind, but wind causes waves which keep much of the sunlight from entering into the aquatic environment.

In any season, I can trace most of my best fishing days to those that were overcast, those on which I hit a good low light window (morning or evening), or a combination of the two.  Cloudy mornings or evenings are great.  The only thing that seems to salvage a sunny calm day is a full moon.  Of course I have had those odd ball sunny calm days without a good moon phase that produced good action, but they have definitely proved to be a rarity.  Bright skies usually turn muskies off.

Wind Speed and Direction

Wind causes waves and water current.  Waves break up sunlight, which makes for favorable conditions.  Waves also roil up the water, a turmoil in which muskies can more successfully attack their prey.  Current attracts and concentrates forage fish which attract muskies, but muskies are drawn to current regardless of forage.  Muskies evolved in rivers, and though they are perfectly at home in the relatively still waters of lakes, they have a primal love of moving water they will never forget.  Good spots often become excellent when wind blown.  The wind usually turns muskies on.  A change in wind direction will also often trigger a narrow feeding window to occur.   If possible, when a change in wind direction occurs, get to the best spot possible or where a large musky has been recently spotted.  In rivers, strong winds blowing opposite of the current direction can cause current irregularities in a normally constant and unchanging currented environment.  Such conditions often turn river muskies on.

The wind has a tremendous amount of impact on water current, but again not all of the wind’s power is absorbed by the water.  As air is driven across the water’s surface, friction between the two causes some of the wind’s energy to transfer into the water, but certainly never all of it.  Obviously, water currents in a lake never move as fast as the wind, but river currents are a different story.  While water currents in a river usually never move as fast as air currents in a moderate wind, slower water currents are vastly more powerful than faster air currents because the water being moved has much more mass than that of the air.  Therefore the environmental effects of water current in rivers and even those lesser occurring in lakes and reservoirs should never be underestimated.  These effects will be discussed further at a later point in this article in the “Aquatic Environment” section.

The Perfect Day Continues...49 Inches

Precipitation and Electrical Activity

Precipitation usually has an excellent effect on musky fishing, although a light rain or drizzle seems to be better than a driving rain.  However, it is hard to say, because driving rain is usually associated with electrical activity which most anglers don’t fish through.  Therefore, an accurate frame of reference is hard come by.  Some of my best catches have come from rainy conditions.  A late fall snow storm can also make for some amazing action.  Mixed precipitation during fall is also another personal favorite of mine.

Electrical activity associated with approaching storm fronts can really turn muskies on.  Approaching storms can cause extremely aggressive and sometimes unusual behavior in muskies.  Hitting these narrow windows can be both action packed and risky.  I try to hit a good spot and then get to shore, but I have defiantly been caught out in some dangerous weather due to foolish judgment.  While the brief window before electrical activity can be excellent, the muskies are often off for at least a few hours after the front passes.  If the weather was very severe it may even take a day or two to get right again.  However, this is just another set of circumstances where the bad must be taken along with the good.

Change Trigger and Weather Philosophy

Good combinations of weather will make for conditions in which muskies are on, while bad combinations will turn them off as off can be.  River environments and those with dark and/or murky water are less affected by poor weather, but tough weather is hard to overcome on any body of water.  However, long periods of bad weather make the action all the better when good weather finally hits.  During long periods of excellent fishing weather, action will slow from the level it was at when the weather pattern first occurred.  It seems the novelty wears off after a few days, and that any heavy feeding needs have been met and leveled off.  Usually good weather patterns are short, so muskies feed as much as they can, but when the good weather extends, action slows off as the good weather becomes the norm.  Often, a spell of bad weather is needed to get the muskies ready to feed when the next front moves in.  Change is good, and good weather wouldn’t be good if it wasn’t for bad weather.

The Aquatic Environment

Within the aquatic environment, which is the muskies habitat, there are also many factors which affect the level of feeding and activity of muskies.  These elements are water clarity, water current, water temperature, bottom material, shoreline material, and levels of dissolved oxygen within the water.

Water Clarity

Water clarity is a huge deciding factor of whether or not muskies are on.  There are many extremes of water clarity.  I have seen clay banked musky rivers turn to brown paint with zero visibility during a light rain.  On the other end of the spectrum, I have fished clear water lakes in northern WI that have 30’ of visibility during late fall when the small amounts of summer algae completely die off.  No matter what the clarity of the water is to the human eye, muskies can see many times further through the water, and not because of the glare we experience when looking through the surface from above.  The muskies underwater vision is still many times more effective than that of a human’s through a submerged snorkeling mask for instance.  The human eye is designed to see through air, obviously the musky’s eyes (and all other fishes as well) are designed to see through water.

In clear water, as an adapted top predator, a musky can see vast distances under water to detect both potential forage and danger.  In such environments, muskies are visually aware of everything that is occurring in vast sections of their environment.  Muskies that are on and feeding with a high level of activity will move in on presentations from long distances if they like what they see.  Obviously, when combined with the muskies’ lateral line sense and awesome physical ability, high visibility makes for conditions that aren’t even fair for the muskies’ forage.  I have watched small schools of large aggressive muskies hunt large schools of crappies in shallow water, and the results were devastatingly impressive.  The crappies were fast, but the muskies were faster and surprisingly accurate.  They slashed through the schools which of course scattered seemingly to safety.  But when the musky was next seen resting a little distance away, it almost always had one of the school’s larger crappies sticking half out of its mouth.  In my experience, the actual strike was too fast even to be seen (and the water temperatures where near freezing), but they were hitting the crappies with not only accuracy, but size selection as well.

Stained water doesn’t mean low visibility.  Staining is usually caused by tanic acid (bog stain), and only tints the water various shades of brown to near black.  Stained water does have less visibility than clear more colorless water, but it can still have good visibility.  Stained water is often murky, which will cause it to have reduced visibility, but clear water can become murky also.  Murkiness is caused by fine particulate mixing with the water causing a cloudy appearance that can range from very slight to totally opaque.  The fine particulate can be algae, zooplankton, fine clay particles, fine soil particles, fine sand particles, or combinations of all.  Algae and plankton are living and high volumes can exist when conditions are suitable.  They are also usually close to neutrally buoyant and suspend within the water column or float at or near the surface with no help from any current.  Sand, soil, and clay particles are heavier though and need current, an increase in current, and/or erosive factors to come loose from lake and river beds and banks and mix with the water.  These erosive factors are wind and/or precipitation.  However, extremely fine clay and/or silt particles can become permanently suspended in even calm water.  This phenomenon is known as a colloidal suspension.

Muskies in murky water can still see to a degree depending on how murky the water is.  If the water gets too murky, they need to rely much more heavily on their lateral line sense.  It has been proven that blinded muskies can still successfully feed, but this does not mean that they do not prefer sight assisted hunting.  In my experience, very murky water almost always turns muskies off.  However, slightly murky and/or stained water can provide the muskies with a little cover under which they can feel safe feeding.  Very clear water makes it easy for muskies to feed but it also makes them very spooky and cautious.  In clear water, muskies feed much less often, as they often wait for perfect weather, though under such conditions action can be amazing.  Muskies in stained and/or slightly murky water have a much wider array of conditions under which they will prominently feed and are thus on more often.  Muskies in clear water are also more susceptible to being put down by fishing and recreational pressure than those in water with a little less visibility.

If I am faced with tough conditions, I almost always fish water with reduced visibility, opting to hit clear water when conditions are just right.  However, stained and/or slightly murky water is also best fished under the most favorable weather patterns.  If visibility gets very poor, the use of loud steady retrieve lures is usually best.  Loud topwaters are my favorite.  Occasionally, I specifically target just such a bite.

Pre-Fishing Window Reveals A Hot Spot

Water Current

Water current plays a huge role in musky location and activity.  In lakes, reservoirs, and rivers; currented areas almost always attract muskies because of the effects it has on their environment and the food chain contained within.

As currented water moves across structure in these environments, the food chain kicks into high gear.  Plankton, aquatic insects, and crustaceans are knocked free from any nook they may have been holding in.  They, along with those that were already free floating, funnel through areas of natural concentration such as narrows, saddles between islands, channels, around points, and through areas with highly erratic solid structure.  Erratic structure includes boulder fields, areas of dense timber, weedbeds comprised of dense but separate clusters, or anything with similar characteristics to the before mentioned.  These erratic solid structures will cause the water to funnel as well.

As the lowest level participants in the food chain funnel through these areas, minnows, rough fish, and panfish are drawn by their presence to feed.  Muskies will feed directly on these, but they will also feed on walleyes, pike, and bass that follow the food chain in as well.  Factor into this excitement the musky’s natural current addiction, and it is no wonder these areas can become so hot.  Muskies also use currented areas to their advantage because there is often more dissolved oxygen in these areas.  The increase in oxygen content assists the muskies physically, as it allows them to sustain more prolonged aggressive predatory activity.

Wind and wind created currents also concentrate surface water by essentially pushing it to one end of the lake.  This can cause a few different effects.  The first is a seiche tide which makes the water on the down wind side of a lake or reservoir deeper, and the water on the up wind side shallower.  An increase in depth on a down wind piece of structure can cause feeding muskies to move in and feed or at the very least cause existing muskies to turn on.

The second effect is that these currents concentrate water of a certain temperature.  Warm surface water concentrates on the down wind side of the lake, and during certain times, such as spring when muskies are seeking out warmer water, these areas can become dynamite.  A lesser known phenomenon also occurs as the warm surface water gets pushed down lake.   On the upwind end of the lake, cooler water from lower layers wells up to replace the receding warm surface water and concentrates near the shore.  If muskies are stressed by high summer water temperatures, they may take this opportunity to move in from deeper haunts to feed comfortably in the shallows of these areas as they fill with relatively cooler water.

Water Temperature and Seasonal Change

Water temperature is a major factor that influences the seasonal feeding behavior of muskies.  Depending on the season, muskies have a wide range of temperatures and temperature trends that induce heavy feeding.  For example, cooling water and a 50 F water temperature during spring or early summer usually makes for terrible fishing.  However, the same conditions during fall can cause some of the best action of the year.  During summer, muskies prefer temperatures in the low 70’s.  During spring, the water doesn’t have to be warm to have good action.  It just needs to be warming.  There is little worse for turning a body of water off than a spring cold front.  During fall, steadily cooling water temperature is often better than long periods of stable water temperature.  The cooling water seems to create a sense of urgency.  The approach of winter makes them want to feed.

Winter is an interesting time in terms of musky activity.  In many bodies of water, muskies seldom if ever show any signs of activity during winter.  Surprisingly, ice cover is not always the determining factor of this.  Some northern bodies of water have good ice fishing action at least part of the winter every year.  Conversely, some southern bodies of water that never develop any ice cover are consistently marked by poor winter fishing.  Lakes with good ice fishing for muskies are usually stumbled upon by ice anglers who are targeting other species.  Reasons for the under the ice activity could be the need for additional calories to fully develop adequate numbers of eggs in females, insufficient forage during previous months, and/or simply a specific propensity within the individual population.

In bodies of water that do not freeze, muskies are more easily caught from waters where the muskies winter in shallower water due to forage location or the limits of the body of water itself.  Muskies may be on in the cold water; but precise, meticulous, and slow presentations are often a must.  If the muskies are spread out in deep vast lake basins and river channels, the feeding muskies may be near impossible to present to effectively.  During winter, my preference is to fish shallow southern rivers.  If much of the water has a fairly strong current, it is easy to predict that most muskies will be in the deeper slower holes.  From there, it is easy to pick these areas apart with confidence that most of the muskies where presented to properly.

When the heat of summer is on, muskies use their preferred feeding grounds less and less if the water temperature in these areas reach stressful levels.  Stressful temperatures for muskies begin at 78 F and once they hit the low 80’s the situation becomes drastic.  In such conditions, muskies seek cooler water, more currented water, deeper water, or a combination of the above.  These conditions will provide physical safety and proper feeding conditions.

Ryan Starts The Day Off Right

Bottom and Shore Content

Bottom and shore content can play a large role in musky activity especially if the muskies are responding to daily or seasonal weather patterns.  For instance, if the shore and or bottom content of a lake or river are composed largely of clay, silt or other fine particulate; its water will become very murky in the presence of heavy rain and/or heavy wind.  Some bodies of water are more subject to turbidity due to precipitation rather than wind, and vice versa.  Some are heavily affected by both.  Turbid water usually turns muskies off, especially if the water in which they live has good clarity under drier and/or calmer conditions.  On such bodies of water, especially those that are turbid more often than not, muskies often come on in a big way when the water develops good clarity.  Watch for long periods of calm and/or dry weather, whatever is necessary for the particulate in the water to settle out.  Hit these waters hard during those times, and chances are, muskies will be taking advantage of the improved conditions and feeding heavily.

Certain bottom types encourage the water above them to warm faster than others.  In spring, active and feeding muskies are often attracted to bays or protected areas with dark bottoms often comprised of dead leaves, silt, and other decaying vegetation. These areas warm faster in the sun due to the dark bottom content than do areas with lighter colored bottoms such as sand.  During times when muskies seek warming water, such as early spring, these areas can really have active muskies.

Certain bottom content is best for growing the types of vegetation that muskies use most heavily.  Lakes in which the bottom content is composed mostly of sand, gravel, and, rock; seldom have large vegetative growth.  Most aquatic vegetation needs good soil to grow in much as plants on land.  Sandy content within the soil is fine, but straight sand has little if any nutrients to support good growth.  Anybody who has fished sandy infertile lakes knows that good weeds are hard to come by, but that when scraggly patches are located they can be dynamite spots.  Muskies love weeds and will work with what they are given.

The best weeds are those that grow in large vertical columns and have some spacing in between for the muskies to move comfortably through.  If such vegetation grows very thick with little spacing, then muskies will use the edges very heavily and will actually be easier to locate most of the time.

Dissolved Oxygen Levels

In rivers, where currents are usually much stronger than in lakes, muskies move between areas of varying current intensity based mostly on water temperature.  In cold water, muskies prefer low activity and thus do not want to expend the energy needed to hold in and use fast water, thus they seek out slower usually deeper water.  In excessively warm water, muskies need more oxygen but the water is only capable of carrying lower levels of dissolved oxygen.  To combat this, muskies often hold behind obstructions in shallow fast water where the emerging riverbed structure is causing the water to mix with the air, therefore increasing oxygen levels.  The muskies can hold easily while allowing the oxygenated water to pass through their gills with little if any effort on their part.  Muskies can tolerate much more current than most think.  It is impressive to watch them do their thing in water that is ripping along.  At moderate temperatures between these extremes muskies are generally found where the forage is regardless of current.

Unfortunately, I have watched some of my favorite musky lakes get very stagnant in the heat of summer.  I am sure they were nowhere near the point of summer kill, but when this happens muskies become very inactive.  As mention before, warm water cannot physically contain as much dissolved oxygen as cooler water.  On its own, water at 78 F and above will have low enough oxygen levels to make muskies much less active than at slightly cooler temperatures.  However, other problems (mainly algae bloom) often accompany overly warm water and make matters much worse.  Algae bloom causes the water to absorb more of the sun’s heat while blocking the sun from reaching aquatic vegetation.  At first, the lack of sun disables the rooted aquatic vegetation from carrying out its needed life processes, one of which is producing oxygen.  Sunlight isn’t directly used in producing oxygen.  Sunlight is used in photosynthesis which produces sugar that the plant uses for food, which creates the energy the plant needs for respiration, the process by which plants absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.  This further compounds the oxygen reduction within the aquatic environment.

If heavy algae bloom persists, it will often cause rooted aquatic vegetation to starve, suffocate, and die.  As the vegetation dies, the amount of shade and thus cool water it provides reduces as well.  Algae bloom can sometimes become so thick that it impedes the wind’s ability to produce wave action which is the main source of water oxygenation in lakes.  This may sound silly, but I have encountered patches of water so thickened by algae bloom that my boat slowed down when I motored through them.  Granted, it would be an understatement to say that I don’t have the hottest of boats, but it was still very thick

Perfect Conditions Provide Another Fish

Moon Phase

Knowledge of moon phases is extremely helpful in determining whether or not muskies will be on or not.  It is a very external entity, as it interrelates with the above mentioned environmental factors very little if at all.  Yet, it is profoundly powerful in determining musky moods.  Moon phases have effects that reach far and wide and have the ability to simultaneously turn on many if not most musky waters across the musky’s home range.

My best moon phase action has occurred on full moons and the days prior.  Many people like the days following a full moon, but I have had nowhere near the results on these days than my results on the day of and the two prior.  It almost seems that the action builds and peaks and then the muskies take a break rather than the action slowly tapering.  I have experienced good action during new moon periods, but nothing quite as profound.  I have however talked to anglers who prefer a new moon to a full moon.

Get It Together

Understanding the environment and watershed in which a musky lives as well as how external factors affect it is crucial when determining whether or not the muskies are on in a certain body of water.  Checking on conditions through any resources possible prior to an outing will prevent wasting precious time and money.  A little homework goes a long way.  Obviously, on the water inspection will be the final determinant.  While fishing, quickly evaluate the water and other conditions.  If things don’t seem right and a possible better option exists, go for it if time and money allow.  Don’t beat a dead horse.

Finishing the 1-2-3 Punch