Originally published in the May/June Release Journal 2012.
Steve Kerr – MNR Biologist
Steve Kerr is a senior fisheries biologist with Fisheries Policy Section of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. He has worked as a biologist at various locations in the province for more than 35 years. Steve has had a long involvement in cooperative projects with Muskies Canada and has published several papers on muskellunge. In 2010 he was inducted into the Muskies Canada Hall of Fame.
Do vertical holds really harm a muskellunge or is this a myth?
Amazingly, there have been few, if any, well designed scientific experiments which have examined this issue. The consensus amongst numerous experts (Butler 2004, Ramsell 2004, Landsman and Thorpe 2008), however, is that vertical holds should be avoided.
The body of a muskellunge is supported by water under normal conditions. When out of the water, large fish need to have their body supported. Vertical holds can lead to a number of problems including:
separation of the vertebrae
injuries to soft body tissues
damage to the operculum and connective tissues in the head and gills
organ displacement or damage
internal haemorrhaging
stretched or torn muscles
If necessary to remove a large fish from the water, do it quickly in a horizontal position and support the fish’s body mass with one hand or arm positioned near the mid section of the fish.
Instead of vertical weight measurements, muskellunge anglers should lift the fish (preferably in a cradle or knotless net) and weigh the fish while having its weight supported by the net.
Note: You can also use a weight calculator – based on length and girth.
What are some of the most important things to remember for a successful release?
There are several key factors to keep in mind:
quickly play and land the fish
remove hooks quickly
keep fish in the water as much as possible
do not touch the fish’s gills
use a horizontal hold (supporting the fish’s body mass) for photos
minimize the amount of air exposure
spend as much time as required to revive a fish
Does catch-and-release angling work?
Absolutely. There is considerable evidence to indicate that the quality of Ontario’s muskellunge fisheries is due to protective size limit regulations and an increase in catchand-release angling practices.
References:
Butler, M. 2004. Vertical holds of larger fish: not the best choice for catch and release. Muskie May:4-7.
Landsman, S. and M. Thorpe. 2008. Blending science and proper handling practices for a better release. Muskie. October:15-17.
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Muskies Canada Inc. 1999. Effective release techniques for muskellunge. Queen’s Printer for Ontario. 7 p. Ramsell, R. 2004. Muskie handling techniques to improve the chances of survival for your released catch
By Mike Kadoura Originally published in the Release Journal July / August 2011
Let me get to the point right away. Do not get distracted on a cast, or you will miss out on that fish you are yearning for so badly.
Case in Point…Last week my buddy Mark and I went out to Madoc to fish the opener on a nearby lake. It is a smallish lake, but we had boated four there a few years ago in two days, so in our own musky lore this lake had become a real gem. With his 32′ RV and my 17′ fishing machine trailing behind, we felt like quite the pros rolling down Hwy 7 from Ottawa that beautiful Friday afternoon.
We set up at Crystal Bay and were on the water by 6 pm. The water was 66 degrees and right away we spotted a saddle between four islands, five minutes from the launch. This being spring, the weeds hadn’t choked the spot up yet. There were two cherry bays in the area where I suggested to Mark they had spawned weeks earlier. “Bud”, I said, “this musky cabbage, those bays, and the deep water near us tells me we need to start here.”
I tied on a double showgirl and he began casting a glider. “Man, this looks good. If something sees it, she’s got to hit,” he said after the second cast, as he saw how his glider swept and swirled below. We were concentrating and not talking those first 10 minutes of our season. Had one hit, I thought, we’d have a good chance.
About 40 minutes later we’d covered 80 percent of the spot with no action. I picked up another rod and threw out a virgin Topraider. I told Mark that if the water is in the mid-60’s we should get them on top. We fish topwater down into the 50’s in the fall. On the second cast a 28’” pike hammered it. Mark then switched to his favorite jackpot from last season and began ‘dogging’ it.
“MUSKY! SETTHE HOOK!”
After about an hour and a half, we began to settle ourselves, and remember that musky fishing can be lots of casting with no action. Focus is the key, as this story will now remind us all. As we approached the last island Mark made another beauty of a cast that brought the topwater between some surface weeds in about 8 feet of water. Twenty feet from the boat he stopped the lure. He took the rod out of his left hand and started to flex his arm. “My arm is getting sore already” was all he said. The sun was behind me and I could see his Jackpot sitting right next to this clump of weeds. Just as he said those words I saw a 45″ class ‘ski rise up, open its mouth, grab that bait, turn and dive. I yelled, “MUSKY! SET THE HOOK!”
In the time it took him to move the rod back to his left hand, grab the reel and pull back, that wise fish must have said to itself, “what is this woody thing?” because the lure popped back to the surface and he just buried it into the weeds as he yanked back hard. Now understand, I watched this fish rise, open its mouth, bite down and dive with the bait in its mouth. The fish was lost because he stopped thinking about his cast. He broke concentration. He interrupted his cast to massage his arm. That fish was catchable. It was his for the taking.
After that I began to notice how often I’d stop paying attention during a retrieve to look down at the trolling motor and adjust my direction or speed. I began to notice how often I let myself get distracted during the retrieve to look around, or how often I let go of the reel handle to reach for coffee or water. It happened a lot. That fish I saw him miss caused me to reflect on this.
So my message is this, fellow anglers. As a kind reminder, rub your sore arm between casts. Hit the juice on the trolling motor before that next cast. Do not look down and hit that switch during the retrieve. Take a drink of water after you finish the figure 8. But do not break concentration during a retrieve. We talked about this over steaks and a beverage that night. The second day we reminded each other. The results were better a 30″er, and a 45”er that got off after some tremendous head shakes and acrobatics.
Musky fishing is a game of patience with huge payoffs at unexpected times. Make sure to complete each cast with devotion and concentrate throughout. And the next time you see that big girl come out to eat or your buddy says, “Musky! Set the hook!” you will be one step ahead of him and will be able to say, “Fish on!”
By Jeff Gardner Originally published in the Release Journal July / August 2011
As my bucktail hit the water the blades started spinning immediately on entry, and two seconds later a long green shadow shot out of a weed pocket from my left, covering the twenty feet to my lure in the blink of an eye. She lined it up….and bailed out with only inches to go.
…I guarantee you can’t reel (or troll) too fast for a Musky to chase down your lure.
What happened? Well, I’m convinced that it was simply moving too slow. Prey flees for its life when being chased, and I believe the fact that my lure didn’t speed up further when the musky went to attack mode sent it a signal that something wasn’t right.
When it comes to casting, no matter what reel you are using or how fast you crank, I guarantee you can’t reel (or troll) too fast for a Musky to chase down your lure. Most of us have seen fish easily cover 20′ in one second; that works out to 13.6mph, and there is speculation based on observation that they are explosively capable of up to three or five times that speed.
So, does this mean to stop fishing slow altogether? No, not at all. In fact, there are times when fishing slower can be the ticket. The key lies in identifying when to apply what speed. This comes down to knowing whether you are fishing for reaction strikes from neutral or opportunistic muskies, food seeking/hunting strikes, or reaction strikes from negative muskies.
Reaction Strikes The Case for High Speed
The time a fish spends feeding represents a small fraction of each day. So, the vast majority of the time, it isn’t likely that we’re fishing for a musky that is actively seeking bait/food. However, the saving grace – and the point that allows an angler to capitalize – is that they are opportunistic feeders. In other words, Mrs. Musky might be just resting next to a nice little patch of cabbage, or on top of a warm boulder, but if something zips by and looks like it’s struggling, fleeing, or dying, she can make a split second decision to rocket out and chomp it, or let it pass by.
To catch a musky in this neutral mood, you have to make it flip the switch. Bring a lure past at low speed, or with too rhythmic a cadence, and she’s apt to either let it go by, or give a halfhearted lazy follow. When fish are on structure and in this kind of mood, it’s hard to beat a burned inline spinner (traditionally called a bucktail, but these days most often made from other materials). This technique literally gives the fish only a split second to react ‘fleeing food…eat it!’
Now, if you are built like a gorilla and have all the stamina in the world, you can high speed burn double 10’s Colorado blades, such as the Double Cowgirl. It takes a lot of work to crank up the speed on them; they just thump/pull so hard. If you’re going to do this for any length of time, I would highly recommend inlines with single or double #8 blades, in french or indiana, or willowleaf varieties.
Another group of lures that gets the nod for high speed are glider jerkbaits. In this application, the approach is not taptap-pause, tap-tap-pause. Instead, the lure needs to be ‘quick hopped’ back to the boat; in other words, twitching and snapping while reeling as fast as you can the entire time. This brings the erratic into the equation. Here the fish gets one or two seconds to react ‘injured/dying food…eat it!’ Both torpedo shaped (e.g. Reef Hawg) and flat sided (e.g. Phantom or Hellhound) gliders can be worked in this fashion.
Finally, tail spinning prop topwaters like the Topraider bring surface commotion into the mix, and can be worked at a fairly fast clip to trigger strikes.
A selection of high speed baits. Counter-clockwise from top left – Reef Hawg, Soft Tail Phantom, fluted french bladed inline, colorado bladed inline, double fluted french bladed inline, and double willowleaf bladed inline.
Food Seeking/Hunting Strikes
It’s pretty difficult to say with any kind of certainty when exactly a feeding event is going to take place, or when a window will open. However, there are a couple of queues that can be taken while on the water, as well as events that can be planned around ahead of time.
When it comes to planning ahead of time, I always consider the major and minor periods of every day to be a feeding window sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset. These are the prime times to be on the best spot you know, or where you’ve seen the biggest fish. When it comes to queues on the water, there are two key indicators to feeding activity a change in weather, and sighting of fish.
Weather can be a complex subject, but suffice to say that change is good. A storm rolling in is best, and wind picking up or changing direction to the southerly and/or westerly side of the compass is very good. The wind dying after a northerly or easterly blow can also be a positive change.
Seeing follows can be simultaneously exciting and frustrating. However, learning to read the attitude of the fish can lead to improved success. Watch for signs to see whether the fish is on the hunt for food. If the distance to your lure doesn’t change, or the mouth or gills aren’t discernibly moving, the fish is messing with you. Well, ok, let’s not give them that much credit. Perhaps the mood is curiosity (if they are capable of that), or perhaps it’s just escorting an unwelcome guest (your lure) off its spot/home.
A selection of high speed baits. Counter-clockwise from top left – Reef Hawg, Soft Tail Phantom, fluted french bladed inline, colorado bladed inline, double fluted french bladed inline, and double willowleaf bladed inline.
If the fish closes the distance to the lure, gills flaring, mouth open, consider it an eater. If you don’t get it to go on the figure 8, or on a back cast, now is the time to hang a lure in its face for long enough that it can zero in and gobble it up. When speed fails in these situations, it’s time to break out the slow movers. My favourites are slow moving wobbler style topwaters, or slowing a prop tail topwater down to where it just rotates the blade with a deep plopping sound. The imitation of a slow moving, dying baitfish on the surface is just too much to resist for a musky that is actively seeking food.
If you’re senses tell you that the surface is not the place to go, it’s also hard to beat a dive and rise jerkbait like a weighted Suick, which offers the best of erratic/dying imitation and the hang time to let the fish line it up to t-bone for an easy meal.
Negative Moods – The Middle Ground in Speed
So what about when they are just plain in a funk, sitting on the edge or just off structure, with not even the slightest notion in their mind about food? We’re talking bluebird, cloudless days; blistering hot, or drastically cooler, than the previous days. On days like this, I prefer to fish solely at first light and last light if I’m on a vacation trip. If I have to get out during the daytime, there are two approaches I’ve found to work in these situations. The first is going erratic, and the other is getting right in their face. Both approaches basically come down to pissing a fish off to provoke a strike not out of hunger or opportunity to eat, but out of downright aggression.
On the erratic side, my weapon of choice is a 10” Jake. The technique involves twitching the lure very hard two or three times, with slack given in between in each twitch, followed by a pause. What I’m trying to do is get the lure going hard and fast from side to side, but not coming back toward the boat more than a foot with each twitch. From a mental/visualization perspective, try to twitch it in place. You’re aiming to get a reaction strike, but are giving the fish time to make up their mind.
The other technique is bringing a spinnerbait right past their face. Sometimes this means grinding it through weeds, sometimes slow rolling across the tops of rock, and sometimes halfway between surface and bottom.
Rad Dog spinnerbait, and 10” Jake. Bluebird day savers.
This is a ‘hit it-or get out of the way’ approach; think about someone putting a finger in your face you either defensively move out of the way, or you act to get it out of your face.
Double #10s & #12s:
You’ll notice there hasn’t been much talk here about the ‘magical’ double #10 and #12 colorado bladed inlines. Without a doubt, they catch fish under a very wide variety of situations. For me, there’s two applications in which they shine. The first is using it as a search bait; there’s probably nothing that will cover water better and show you where fish are.
The second is as a first attempt at a known big fish. I’ll give such a fish a chance to smoke a big double bucktail first, and then move on to a slow mover if it fails.
Final Thoughts:
My parting advice is to also consider mixing up speed within a given cast. A burst of speed or a pause can be just the thing that gets a fish that was eyeing your lure to commit. A speed burst puffs the skirt material of an inline, or sputters water forward on a topwater, signaling a musky that it’s trying to get away. A pause of a slow moving topwater or big minnowbait signals that injured prey is on its last legs, and makes for an even easier meal. The next time you’re out there don’t just think about what is he right lure or the right spot to fish. Think about the best speed to fish as well.
An idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind.
At the time, it seemed reasonable that I should be planning my opening day muskie trip in early February. Where to go, color patterns, size … you know the process. I was online using the Navionics apps when my wife walked by and asked me what I was up to. Planning the opener I replied. The fact that she knew what “the opener” was and approximately when “it” was, will give you an idea of how frequently the topic is mentioned at my house.
You’re obsessed was her curt reply as she continued on past me. I carried on with my work and now have a good plan in place with several options to accommodate water conditions etc.
I was in the basement sharpening hooks the other night when her comment came back to me – you’re obsessed. I’ve never really thought about it that way. I work with my fishing partner and we talk muskie pretty much every day at the office and planning trips 4 or 5 months in advance seems pretty normal. We follow muskie forums and guides online year round and there is never a shortage of topics to discuss, baits to buy or videos to watch. Once a month we have a Muskies Canada chapter meeting and there are 30 or 40 other members that, to a greater or lesser extent, are all doing the same type of thing.
A strange thing happens though when you go outside of the “muskie world” and start to talk about “normal” activities. My sister in law was in town last month and couldn’t believe the wall of baits in the basement. A very modest 150 lure collection of muskie baits seemed crazy to her and why would I need 5 different rod/reel combinations to fish with? What’s with the survival suit and $3K worth of electronics ?? You’re obsessed.
I remember the look on my neighbors face at the cottage when both of my girls knew exactly what phase the moon was in and when the prime time slots were for fishing. “How could teenage girls possible know that?” They both rolled their eyes in classic teenager fashion and just looked over at me – Dad’s obsessed with muskie fishing – he talks about “prime time” constantly.
Maybe these “rules” are not so normal either:
if the season is open and the launch is not plowed in with snow – we are going fishing
safety trumps all, but temperature, rain/snow, moderate wind and personal comfort are not safety factors
if there is a storm that makes conditions unsafe, we sit in the parking lot until conditions change – post frontal can be good – or we get out in front of the storm – pre-storm is even better
When people say muskie fishermen are obsessed, I try to explain the thrill of catching an apex predator. The adrenaline rush, the intense battle, holding the fish up for the grip and grin photo and the satisfaction of a good strong release afterward. The fact that guys that have been catching muskies for 30 + years still have the same reaction.
An idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind.
Ok – I’m obsessed. I don’t have any more time to think about it. I’ve got to get ready to work a 4 hour shift at the Muskies Canada booth in our local outdoors store – talking to people about muskie fishing. It’s a great place to meet “normal” people or maybe convert a few over to my version of normal.
Originally published in the Muskies Canada Release Journal 2005
A worrisome and ignorant activity carried out by non reasoning anglers is pre-season angling for muskellunge. This usually occurs during the month of May and early June – the muskie spawning period in most northerly locales, usually under the guise of pike fishing.
These muskies are usually released but a question remains- What was the impact of angling stress on the subsequent spawning activities and spawning results for these angled muskellunge?
Studies on other species are eye opening. Research on largemouth bass and trout caught and released during the spawning period indicate a surprising impact on the fry- the next generation. It was discovered that young of the year fish from stressed parents were smaller, weigh less, and have later swim up times than fry from a control group of non angled fish.
During the following winter it is common that smaller YOY fish usually fail to survive the cold water season as nature culls the weak. These results provide evidence that stress before spawning has the potential to negatively impact a fish’s future reproductive success. From these results on offspring, anglers should be discouraged from targeting muskellunge during the preseason beyond the usual reason of bad form (fishing illegally out of season) but also their negative potential impact on the future of wild muskie stocks.
Originally published in the Muskies Canada Release Journal – March April 2008
From many angler observations, it appears female muskellunge will usually feed up in April before spawning activities start in early May. This behavior is witnessed by their presence at perch, crappie and other panfish runs and aggregations during the month of April.
This anecdote is passed on by Rob Cruise, the coordinator of a Muskies Canada telemetry project on the Madawaska Reservoir in the mid 1990s.
“Late last April, one of the radio collared muskellunge, a bruising 44 inch female( nicknamed Bess), was tracked to a location near a walleye spawning site just below the up stream dam and she remained there until after May 8.
This seemed strange because there was no typical muskie spawning habitat within miles. Concurrently the Arnprior Fish and Game Club were carrying out their annual walleye spawning bed census usually at night with spotlights, visually counting walleyes using the known spawning reefs on the reservoir.
One night in very early May, they reported seeing a large muskie ( with the external tag) stationed on the middle of a spawning reef surrounded by dozens of walleye. My guess is that Bess wasn’t there to lap up fresh spawn, but more likely to chomp down an amorous walleye or two.
Shortly after May 8th, Bess gave the trackers the slip for about a week. When she was finally found again she had moved 6 miles downstream to a large shallow flat, where ironically one of the tagged males had been residing for some time.
By Jeff Gardner Originally published in the Release Journal March/April 2010
Browsing across the various web forums or flipping through the pages of magazines, one might be led to conclude that trophy muskies are only accessible to those willing to pound it out in frigid, windy November and December conditions.
The fact of the matter is that the biggest fish in every body of water swim beneath the surface all year long, just like their smaller brethren. While they won’t be at full winter weight during the summer and early fall, would anyone turn down a 30 or 40lb’er earlier in the year just because it wasn’t at peak late season weight? What follows are my general thoughts on what it takes to target and catch the biggest fish in any particular body of water.
Pick Your Waters
If your goal is to catch a fish over 50”, you need to concentrate on bodies of water with a fishable population of them. While the odd 50” might come out of numbers areas like the Kawartha chain of lakes, fishing there for a giant stacks what are already long odds even more heavily against you.
There’s no secret about the bodies of water that routinely crank out trophies the eastern shores of Georgian Bay and the rivers and bays that connect to it, the North Channel, Lake Nipissing, the St. Lawrence River, the Ottawa River,Lake St. Clair, Lake of the Woods, Eagle Lake, Lac Seul,etc.
What makes these bodies of water so good?
Massive acreage, cover and structure options, forage base, and the strains of Muskies prevalent. Now, this doesn’t mean you should stop reading if you aren’t inclined to fish these waters.What will follow applies to catching the biggest fish in any system whether that’s a 40”er, 45”, a 50”, or bigger.
Right Place at the Right Time
Trophy Muskies are elusive beasts.You could be fishing the greatest piece of structure in town, but if you are there at the wrong time, you might as well be casting onto shore. For a thorough explanation of structure favoured by Muskies on both mesotrophic and trout water, pick up a copy of Dick Pearson’s Muskies on the Shield. As a quick summary, you will increase your odds greatly if you focus on complexes. Complexes are areas where multiple pieces of structure and cover intersect for example, a group of islands located in/near a neckdown, with points, saddles, reefs, cabbage beds, inside turns, current (wind or natural), bait, a feeding flat, and quick access to the safety of deeper water.
The more of these things you can put together, the more often big fish will be found. No matter how good it looks, a lonely piece of structure might cough up a big musky only from time to time. Complexes, on the other hand, hold fish consistently either right on them or off the edges, depending on conditions.
When it comes to the right time, particularly in summer and early fall, I am a firm believer that big fish and smaller fish are distinctly different. The biggest fish will use the easily identifiable classic structures mostly under prime conditions. That means stable or rising warm temps, some wind blowing, a cloudy sky, one of the majors imminent (sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset), and there could be a storm coming.
In these conditions you may find the biggest girl in town up on the spot-on-the-spot, and possibly even in five or fewer feet of water. For many musky hunters, fishing skinny water is a piece of cake; it’s where they spend much of their time regardless of conditions. The problem is, in less than prime conditions, this usually results either ringing the doorbell when no one is home, or only contacting the smaller fish.
So, what about cold fronts, bluebird cloudless days, and other less favorable conditions?
I curse these days, but fish whenever I can and try to make the best of it. Remember, they haven’t vacated the lake, and while it may be more of a challenge, they can still be caught. Based on experience, my most successful approach under tough conditions is to fish the outside edges and a cast length or two off the edge, where classic structure that forms complexes drops off quickly into deeper water.
Depending on the body of water, this could be a drop to anywhere from 5-15′ into 25-90′ of water in a matter of a few boat lengths. In my experience, 40-60’seems to be best.
The key is that whatever the depth of water, fish your lure at the same depth the structure dropped off. If a saddle dropped off at 5′, fish your lure 5′ down. If a shelf dropped from 15′ into 50′, work your bait in the 10-15′ range. Some will argue that under cold fronts Muskies might be predisposed to drop vertically when they do slide off the edge. That may be the case, but a fish that negative (dropping vertically in the water column) is not likely to be persuaded by any means.
I think for the most part we’re pretty good at knowing what kinds of structure and cover Muskies like. The key to finding big ones lies in knowing when to fish what. Tackle
Big fish call for stout tackle. Line:
When it comes to line, 80 or 100lb braid is the bare minimum. It’s required to cast large lures, eliminates line breakage, and keeps the fight short, which is a must for successful and responsible release. You should be able to put every fish – whether it is 24” or 60” – in the net in a matter of a couple of minutes at most. The epic tales of half hour battles may sound glorious, but the end result of that is a dead musky (either at the boat, or near certain post-release mortality).
Rods:
Heavy and extra heavy musky rods in lengths over 8′ help hook big fish and keep them pinned. They are also much less fatiguing than shorter rods through the course of the day, and are easier to figure eight with. I wish I’d found that out when I first started. One thing I wish more manufacturers would do is make an action slightly slower than ‘fast’ or ‘extra fast’. While stiffness and backbone are critical for hooksets, your rod must maintain bend while fighting a big fish. Most of us know all too well that a split second of slack line results in a tail-waving goodbye and a stream of obscenities. Rods with the right amount of bend during the fight eliminate the possibility of slack.
Stout rods will also take the fatigue out of throwing big baits all day long.
Reels:
Match durable well built reels to the stout rods. The reel is going to take the brunt of abuse from throwing big baits. Preferences vary greatly on this, but some popular choices include Abu 7000, Shimano Trinidad, Daiwa Saltist, Abu Revo Toro, and Shimano Calcutta 400TE.
Leaders and terminal tackle:
It is up the individual what kind to use – solid wire, seven strand, fluorocarbon, etc. Personally , I prefer solid wire in heavy gauges (140lb or more), tied in a haywire twist, in lengths of 12-18” for casting, and up to 36-48” for trolling. I fish a lot of rocks, and after seeing a 130lb fluoro leader nicked after landing a fish a few years ago, I made the switch back to wire. These fish are not leader shy , and I believe solid wire gives me the best chance of no break off, and standing up to pounding rocks.
Whatever your choice of leader material, remember that your setup is only as strong as the weakest link. Pairing heavy wire or fluoro with undersized rings or snaps doesn’t cut it. Stick with 150lb-400lb terminal components. Some will contend such tackle is overkill, but the fact is that insufficient terminal tackle can result in near certain death for a fish that swims off with a lure pinned in its mouth. Lures:
There is no such thing as a magic lure. Big muskies eat everything – surface lures,crankbaits,jerkbaits,bucktails, spinnerbaits, and so on. I pick something I believe in, that has a high hook-up ratio, and follow the guidelines below.
When it comes to Musky lures in general, I believe bigger is better; all the more so when it comes to targeting big fish. I know , I know – lots of big incidental Muskies are taken on little walleye lures and jigs. On St. Clair it is practice all season long to catch big fish on 6” baits, etc. But, I’ve caught so many big bass and small pike on 10” lures that when it comes to targeting four foot plus beasts, very few lures under 10” get the nod for me these days, regardless of conditions.
On speed – I spent a couple of my first years starting each day with my best one or two lures, regardless of conditions. This typically meant throwing a jerkbait or crankbait all day to hopefully catch one fish when I could have been throwing fast moving lures and catching multiple fish. I ultimately stumbled across an article that suggested the best approach was to always fish the fastest that the prevailing conditions would dictate.
For example, with a warm summer storm pending, the sky clouding over , and wind starting to kick up a
Above: necessary terminal tackle – 100lb line, 140lb solid wire, and swivels, snaps, split rings and solid rings in the 200-400lb range
bit, I would highly recommend you throw something you can run back to the boat as fast as possible -inline blade baits, spinnerbaits, tail prop topwaters. Or, if it is dead-calm bluebird skies at mid-day, think more along the lines of low and slow.
Fishing as fast as conditions warrant allows you to make contact with the maximum number of catchable big muskies on any given day. Don’t make the mistake of thinking big fish are fat and slow either; they are explosively fast. No matter what reel you are using or how fast you crank, I guarantee you can’t reel too fast for a big Musky (or any Musky) to catch and annihilate your lure.
To illustrate, let’s say you are a machine and you can reel 10′ per second (that is five full cranks in 1 second on a reel that picks up 24” of line per crank) – that converts to 6.8mph.
Most of us have seen fish easily cover 20′ in one second; that’s 13.6mph. You simply cannot reel (or troll) faster than they can swim.
Big lures for big fish. A selection of baits from 10-18”, covering the water column from top to bottom. Don’t worry about going ‘too big’. Many big bass and small pike ar e caught on 10” lures, and the author has caught Muskies down to 36” on 14” lures.
Dedication:
We are already targeting the apex predator , and therefore lowest density fish, in the system. When you take that a step further and target not just any musky you can catch, but the biggest one that swims, you have to accept that you are going to spend a fair bit of time not catching. While some bodies of water carry larger numbers of big fish, by and large it is a trade-off; numbers for size.
You could go days without even seeing a fish. You could also hit conditions right, make the right choices about where to fish, and catch (or at least see) several fish over 50” in one day.
Some guys have the trophy bug so bad they will fish all year for the sake of a couple of bites from 50+”ers. Some guys are happy to land a 30”something on most of their trips.
Some like to mix it up between the two. Just make sure you know what you’re getting into with targeting the big ones, because that first rod buckling behemoth might change you forever.
Spend some time before the season thinking what camp you want to fall into this year and gear up accordingly.
Paul Shibata talks with “Big” Jim McLaughlin and muskie guide Marc Thorpe about muskie patterns and the importance of release techniques in warmer water.
Listen in and get some great tips on handling muskies to ensure the best possible release.
Paul Shibata talks with Ottawa River muskie guide John Anderson about the 2015 season, keys to success and how new gear helps make you a better angler.
We’re still a couple of months away from getting on the water, but listen in and get your self ready (like you haven’t been ready since the day after the season closed last year …..)
With his 32′ RV and my 17′ fishing machine trailing behind, we felt like quite the pros rolling down Hwy 7 from Ottawa that beautiful Friday afternoon.
