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| Question... today didn't get a single follow on multiple baits, blades, top water, rubber, crankbaits for 4 hours, then went back to a known good area and absolutely burned 8's which led to 5 follows from decent fish but only one even turned in the 8. Just reacting to the speed? making myself feel better thinking none of them were gonna eat no matter what and they just showed when I burned the blades past them? Should I have done something different once I knew there were fish chasing? |
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Location: Minnetonka | There's no telling for sure, but when I've had similar happening, a few, random, quick rips throughout the retrieve sometimes triggers them. I don't know if it's the change in speed or the material flaring that gets em, but it's worked for me in the past.
Edited by MuskyMatt71 8/29/2017 2:31 PM
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| Sounds like you did a great job finding a way to peak the curiosity of fish that just were not in the mood to eat and get them to show themselves, which sometimes is 75% or more of the battle. Now that you know the area is holding multiple good fish, you can return in more favorable conditions (early morning, late evening, night, before a storm, etc.) and probably get them to eat. |
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| Add a direction change |
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| Thanks, I normally do a couple back to forth movements to change direction, but honestly I was cranking much faster than I normally would so I probably didn't remember to do it. |
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Location: oswego, il | Sometimes that speed is what gets them to go. I have seen it. Try this, next time you get hung in the weeds, snap whatever bait it is free, a couple good hard snaps to free as much crap off the bait, then burn it back as fast as you can. Doesn't matter if it is working or not i have caught fish on gliders doing this. Had a fish eat and come off that would make my posts relevant. |
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| I always assume the fish are catchable somehow I just don't know how to do it. In this case locating them may just have been the best I could do at the time. Thanks for the heads up! |
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| why 2nd guess yourselves into insanity? They had lockjaw now they don't. As Todd said they are always their
Fishing changes by the day and eve by the hour. 2nd last time out I could only get them om spinners. Next time out they were only interested in Depth Raiders? |
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Location: North Metro, MN | Sometimes it seems it's just timing & nothing different needed. Most of the time, it is just that little difference that can get them to bite. As Todd mentioned, speed can definitely be that difference. I've caught fish doing exactly what he mentioned. The coolest one I remember was on a top water.. tried to rip weeds off & then burned it back as fast as I could reel. Then it exploded ten feet from the boat.
When I really need a bite, contact & speed is key. Letting it hit weeds & ripping through or digging into bottom & ripping free. The last fish I caught smashed my buck tail after I ripped it twice & then cranked down much faster than it was going before..... 3rd time on the spot that day. Reading everything I can about the great spoonplugger Buck Perry taught me that depth & speed are by far the most important pieces...everything else comes after. Depth & speed....depth & speed |
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| Who can say for a fact that speed caused the fish to hit? Fishing five days a week all summer, I see many fish follow and not turn on a burned buck tail. Then, some turn and give me the fin, and some hit. It may be on one turn or after ten turns. It is a guessing game. One remembers the fish that hit on a particular presentation. All retrieves work at times; all boat side maneuvers work times. If one becomes proficient with casting, retrieving and doing a figure eight, one will catch some fish. However, some fish will not hit the lure no matter is done. Fish often, make many casts, throw good lures at good spots and fish productive lakes. Don't get hooked into one presentation or one structure. Feel free to experiment. There are few if any experts so just keep fishing and trying different things. PM if you want to fish a few days on LOTW at The Angle. Screw the bump boards... |
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Location: Apparently where the Muskie aren't | I had a ton of follows and bites today but only put 2 in the boat. Every fish except for 1 went into the 8 for at least 1 full turn. Every fish came in hot, and I was moving the bucktail pretty fast. I only caught 1 of the figure 8 fish but every other fish that followed hit the bait. I don't know what I'm doing wrong (if anything) but I would actually feel the bite but the fish just wouldn't get any hooks. It was like a tap and gone, I didn't even get to set the hook. The hooks are plenty sharp. It's almost like they are just nipping at the bend of the treble. It was just strange because not a single follow was lazy and the one I did get hooks in swallowed the bait |
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| My Tranx HG crapped out after 15 days so I used a much slower reel and got a 43" while others in the boat were burning with nothing to show for it. I also got the only other follow of a fish over 45". Burning is not always the answer. |
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Location: Apparently where the Muskie aren't | Abu7000 - 9/3/2017 8:27 PM
My Tranx HG crapped out after 15 days so I used a much slower reel and got a 43" while others in the boat were burning with nothing to show for it. I also got the only other follow of a fish over 45". Burning is not always the answer.
Whoaaaaa!!!??!!?!? A tranx took a crap?????!??!??! Tell me more, I thought they were supposed to be able to reel in a semi truck. What happened? Was it a 400?
Edited by Musky_Mo16 9/4/2017 10:21 PM
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Location: Contrarian Island | Abu, were you in the front of the boat for both the catch and the one follow? first bait thru sometimes can be huge.for our LOTW trip we had 98 follows from the front. 8 from the back,
but I do agree, at times they want it slow, at times fast... let the fish tell you what they want.
Edited by BNelson 9/5/2017 7:04 AM
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| BNelson - 9/5/2017 7:03 AM Abu, were you in the front of the boat for both the catch and the one follow? first bait thru sometimes can be huge.for our LOTW trip we had 98 follows from the front. 8 from the back, but I do agree, at times they want it slow, at times fast... let the fish tell you what they want. Holy vacuum cleaners... At what point does the back guy quit casting and just hold the net? Obviously you are rotating back/front guy but still, that's gotta get tough fishing second with numbers like that. I run my tiller from the back on LOTW and haven't had numbers like that at all. How fast is your boat moving? |
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Location: Contrarian Island | those were just follows.. hits were fairly even
boat is generally going 1 to 1.6mph. slower in weeds
I kept track of follows, hits, lost, caught... when you do that you might be surprised at some of the #s... I think we ended up with 15 caught from front, 14 back of 29.
44 hits, 24 front, 20 back. big fish hits, (over 48) have always skewed to the front over 6 trips, at about 3 to 1
Edited by BNelson 9/5/2017 9:57 AM
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| Right on, I was assuming your bites followed the same trend as your follows. |
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| I was the 3rd person in the back of the boat. I just got lucky. However you are right the first lure gets a lot more action, but not always the biggest fish. Over the years the 3rd person in the boat has caught the majority of fish over 50". I don't what this means.
Using a 500 Tranx with a handle that keeps becoming loose. I am not sure why the handle keeps loosening up, but I stripped the nutt over tightening it. Mostly my fault.
Edited by Abu7000 9/5/2017 11:19 AM
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| I only burn with all that's in me when things are going crazy and I'm covering water fast to capitalize or more commonly fish aren't reacting well or just following. When fish refuse to eat a screamed in bucktail you could keep it up and wait for contact, try to go even faster or switch it up to a reaction bait but could just be they weren't ready to go just yet.
LOTW is definitely a lake favoring first guy in the boat as are similar Canadian waters. As mentioned the guy in the back can do as well but I think it's more work for him. If the fish are crushing blades that day the guy in the back has his work cut out for him as spots are visual and easier to hit. On lakes more deep weed oriented I don't think there is much advantage either way. |
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Location: mercer wi | I think the gold horse shoe is a major variable to catching musky. Right place right time perfect conditions right lure correct speed and casting angle is only 10%. The rest is luck |
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Location: new richmond, wi. & isle, mn | upnortdave - 9/5/2017 3:57 PM
I think the gold horse shoe is a major variable to catching musky. Right place right time perfect conditions right lure correct speed and casting angle is only 10%. The rest is luck Funny how some fisherman seem to be lucky a lot more than others.....hmmmm.;-) |
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Location: Ashland WI | jchiggins - 9/5/2017 5:07 PM
upnortdave - 9/5/2017 3:57 PM
I think the gold horse shoe is a major variable to catching musky. Right place right time perfect conditions right lure correct speed and casting angle is only 10%. The rest is luck Funny how some fisherman seem to be lucky a lot more than others.....hmmmm.;- )
Yes. They probably spend a lot more time (with the emphasis on time) in the right place, at the right time, during perfect conditions, with the right lure, etc.... |
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Location: mercer wi | Well this year I've been pretty lucky. Been out maybe 20x this year, only get out 3-5 hours a week. I have 29 fish in the boat, 5 under 40 biggest 47. Everything else has been 42-45. So I haven't been out a lot more then.others but try to get quality time out. Heres another weird fact, not a single one on a figure 8. Last year more then half my catches were on the 8.
I guess the basis of my post was nothings predictable except these fish are unpredictable and it takes more then skill and knowledge to stay ahead of these pain in the azz fish.
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Location: Ashland WI | I agree with you Dave. All we can do is keep putting decent baits in the water in decent spots. The rest is timing. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | musky fishing is like golf.. tell Jordan Speith he's just lucky to win cuz he uses the right club, at the right time, and makes the right shots... lmfao.... luck is part of it, but the best take as much luck out of the equation as possible.
Edited by BNelson 9/6/2017 9:05 AM
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Location: mercer wi | I don't know who Jordan speith is but when I play mini golf I'll take a lucky bounce allllllllll day.
I'm just thrown out my opinion. Agree or disagree. I'm happy with my fish in the boat to time on water. I fish smart and make smart casts to try to take luck out of the equation but I will always take a little luck on my side. Not questioning any one else. Just my imput.
I don't get to travel to all kinds of great destinations. I fish iron and nw Vilas and it's been that way since I started this ridiculousness. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | heck ya, I like some luck too..but if you rely on it you'll end up with lots of sunset pictures! 
Edited by BNelson 9/6/2017 4:41 PM
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Location: Ashland WI | BNelson - 9/6/2017 9:02 AM
musky fishing is like golf.. tell Jordan Speith he's just lucky to win cuz he uses the right club, at the right time, and makes the right shots... lmfao.... luck is part of it, but the best take as much luck out of the equation as possible.
Don't you also mention that one of the reasons you do better than most on LOTW is because you put a lot more time in when you are there? I guess that really wouldn't be called luck. Maybe just improving your odds?
I think there is a certain minimum level of proficiency required. After that point (again IMO) whoever puts more time in catches more fish.
The best way I know how to take luck out is simply to stay on the lake and keep casting. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | ...skill level in any sport comes into play. I do agree, improving your odds is always important, but that is not luck. that is simply fishing smart.
did we fish a lot of hours, yup, but we also put on 600 miles for the week, think of the run time we had per day.. most guys with less hours could have been actually fishing more than we did... we put 92 hrs on the water, we caught 29, so we caught a fish about every 3 hrs. did we get lucky on a few fish, sure, we all do. but we fish smart.
So far this year I have 71 in the boat in 294 hrs on water. I only point that out because I am sure there are lots of guys with more hours than me on the same waters with a lot less fish...so I'm just lucky I guess... and there could be guys with more fish in less hrs ....the guy that puts the most hours doesn't always catch the most fish. When you start looking at a guys hr per fish you start to see who uses their time on the water wisely and who could use some tweaking....luck is always part of the game but when you dissect the data, luck becomes less a part of the overall picture. after 24 yrs chasing these fish I have figured out a few things, and relying on luck is not one of them. The best on the water catch the most for a reason.
it's like golf, if 2 guys both play 100 rounds, and one guy has 50 birdies and one guy has 200, was the guy with 200 just that much luckier?
Edited by BNelson 9/7/2017 8:54 AM
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Location: Ashland WI | I don't think the golf analogy really applies because it is much more so under your direct control.
We can put a lot of time on the water (in a given day) do things right, and still come away empty handed. Its muskie fishing after all, these things happen. I do agree that with time (if you are doing things correctly) the good days and the bad will even out.
I am not trying to take away something from guys that catch a lot of fish, and just say they are lucky. I don't believe that is the case. It just seems (in my experience) time on the water seems to trump all. Maybe it is the lake I fish.
I have had days before where I have put in 8 hours (got skunked) and left the lake. Talked to a buddy that put in when I was coming out, and he caught 2 fish in the next hour. Was he a better fisherman than me? Or did he get lucky that his schedule allowed him to be on the water when the window opened? |
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Location: Contrarian Island | so what if he was out the same 8 hours and got 2 by throwing dawgs deep and you were throwing topwater shallow.. of course there are going to be windows that we simpy miss...but the best on the water catch more when the windows do open... I've always said, the fish have more control when we catch them, than we do..... it's not rocket science... I get skunked and my butt handed to me w the rest, but I'm darn sure when I think a window is going to open, or one is open I'm making the best use of my time... going out, throwing a double 10 around and then going in without a hit and saying they weren't biting is what most seem to do these days. Golf is a very good analogy to musky fishing imo...we CAN control more than most think. while I see your points, hours on the water doesn't equal more fish.
Edited by BNelson 9/7/2017 9:35 AM
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| I feel like the fish smart vs fish hard debate is pretty silly. You need to do both to be successful. I've been having really good numbers this summer per time on the water but noticed the bite times haven't always been conventional. One weekend for example on the first day we caught 3 fish at 6a.m., 11p.m. and 12:45p.m. The very next day I put in a half day before heading home and caught one at 12:30p.m. and the other at 1p.m. after starting again at sunrise. That is so typical and it shows that if a person started mid morning then fished until noon, then went back out for the sunset bite and left at dark there's a very real chance they'd of caught zero fish instead of 5. I actually considered that weekend to be a bit on the slow side too but was glad with the end result. Now that said not everyone fishing my same hours would have put themselves on fish either. The key is to be out there long hours while consistently putting yourself on fish.
As far as luck goes you can do everything right and just not get the bite you deserved and conversely sometimes the guy doing everything wrong can catch a giant (thinking of the newspaper articles of kids on docks catching 50's on a nightcrawler). Realistically though I think it's safe to say "luck" is the much lesser side of the equation. More often then not putting in the hours while being "smart" on boat control, presentation and location will give a person the desired result.
Edited by musky-skunk 9/7/2017 10:45 AM
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Location: Ashland WI | BNelson - 9/7/2017 9:31 AM
so what if he was out the same 8 hours and got 2 by throwing dawgs deep and you were throwing topwater shallow.. of course there are going to be windows that we simpy miss...but the best on the water catch more when the windows do open... I've always said, the fish have more control when we catch them, than we do..... it's not rocket science... I get skunked and my butt handed to me w the rest, but I'm darn sure when I think a window is going to open, or one is open I'm making the best use of my time... going out, throwing a double 10 around and then going in without a hit and saying they weren't biting is what most seem to do these days. Golf is a very good analogy to musky fishing imo...we CAN control more than most think. while I see your points, hours on the water doesn't equal more fish.
Couple things. In my scenario, we were both sucker fishing the same spots. Same depths, etc. I do think in that instance, he was more fortunate than I.
When comparing anglers to each other, luck, time on the water, etc. may not be as comparable. Skill is probably the overriding factor. But, when you can compare how you yourself did from one month or year to the next, at that point, I think time is the key. If I fish more, I catch more fish. I do know that.
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Location: Contrarian Island | interesting I just got a PM from a guy that was telling me he agrees with what I typed in this thread...he said he fished just as much this year, but has been fishing smarter, and has caught 3.5 x as many as he did last season... so for him, it wasn't just more time on the water..  must just be luck.
say 10 yrs ago, I would probably catch a fish every 7 to 8 hrs on water. I'm at 4 hrs now the last few years.. when your skill level goes up, you can catch more fish with less time... you'll figure that out someday.
Edited by BNelson 9/7/2017 11:54 AM
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Location: Seymour, WI | I'm with BNelson on this one. I think there's a big difference in the skill level of different musky fishermen. The guys who catch fish are not catching them just because they spend more time on the water. They're catching them because they're doing something different than the rest of the crowd. They figure out where the fish are and then the key is putting a bait in front of the fish that will trigger a strike. Triggering a strike is the hardest part. On pressured water you have to do something different than all the other guys out there to get that fish to eat. I think the really good musky fisherman are using baits quite a bit differently than the rest of the crowd. Sometimes they're using speed as a trigger, sometimes they're using cover contact as a trigger, sometimes they're fishing deeper or shallower than everyone else, but it's not just luck. They're doing something different. I've fished with enough good sticks to see the difference. |
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| Completely agree with bnelson. Last year was my first full year of musky fishing at age 21 and I'd go out and toss bucktails around basically hoping I'd get lucky. I ended up with 4 in the boat with ALOT of time on the water... Learned a lot though. This year I've spent a similar amount of time on the water, but have spent a lot of time focusing on the smaller details. I've put 14 in the boat so far this year by fishing smarter. Attention to detail has definitely been the difference, if I would have done the same as I did last year I would be in the same spot. |
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Location: Ashland WI | I don't think time on the water vs. skill level is in direct disagreement with each other. How do we gain that skill level? Or find that certain uncharted rock pile or that nich in the weed line? Time on the water...
More time I spend on the water, my skill level increases.
Edited by 14ledo81 9/7/2017 2:54 PM
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Location: Contrarian Island | It should. Agreed. But for many it doesn't. |
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Location: mercer wi | Didn't think my luck comment would take off lIke this. I put my time in for year learning water that I fish. Figuring out how structure layed. How bait sat on it. How it was affecred by weather. And am still figuring out why a fish is on certain spot at any given time. I think I fish smarter now then I did 5 years ago. Time on the water improved my knowledge after many frustration.
Everyone set in their way and their thinking.
So if your skill set is the way some people feel can you then say you can guarantee a caught fish at any 1 of your hot spots at any time?
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Location: Elk River, Minnesota | BNelson - 9/7/2017 8:28 AM
...skill level in any sport comes into play. I do agree, improving your odds is always important, but that is not luck. that is simply fishing smart.
did we fish a lot of hours, yup, but we also put on 600 miles for the week, think of the run time we had per day.. most guys with less hours could have been actually fishing more than we did... we put 92 hrs on the water, we caught 29, so we caught a fish about every 3 hrs. did we get lucky on a few fish, sure, we all do. but we fish smart.
So far this year I have 71 in the boat in 294 hrs on water. I only point that out because I am sure there are lots of guys with more hours than me on the same waters with a lot less fish...so I'm just lucky I guess... and there could be guys with more fish in less hrs ....the guy that puts the most hours doesn't always catch the most fish. When you start looking at a guys hr per fish you start to see who uses their time on the water wisely and who could use some tweaking....luck is always part of the game but when you dissect the data, luck becomes less a part of the overall picture. after 24 yrs chasing these fish I have figured out a few things, and relying on luck is not one of them. The best on the water catch the most for a reason.
it's like golf, if 2 guys both play 100 rounds, and one guy has 50 birdies and one guy has 200, was the guy with 200 just that much luckier? :)
Hiya,
In this scenario, or any scenario for that matter, the body of water also plays a big role in those numbers. Take those same number of hours and put yourself on a different body of water....Say...Leech Lake for example. The population density is nowhere near as high, nor do you have anywhere near as much structure to fish as lake of the woods...As such, the hours per fish would be vastly different...much lower than that of lake of the woods numbers. On lake of the woods when a pattern is dialed in, you have a bunch more places to go find them...hence the 600 miles or so of travel that BNelson made in his latest trip to that locale. More places to find fish, hence more fish to contact.
No doubt time on the water learning it is huge....Improving technique is also huge... The body of water you fish is also huge... The numbers essentially when someone puts them out there, are only relative to where that person was fishing.
The key here, I believe, is definitely putting time on the water...Assuming your technique most likely improves with time, you increase productivity, but learning the water is a major portion...that involves time. Then, in years to come, your fish per hour should increase...you have more spots to try, with more techniques in your arsenal to try out on the fish that do show.
Steve |
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| ^^^Ding ding |
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Location: Contrarian Island | I agree to some degree, something else to think about is not only the population density of any given water but the pressure on that lake. I have fished many lakes in MN that have lower densities to say the Madison lakes that I fish but my fish per hour is consistent on both... why? there is very little pressure (compared to Madison) on those lakes in general. While they may be lower density they don't see nearly the pressure that other lakes do. I have many weeks on lakes like Bemidji where ppl say it's low density with 30 some fish in 100 hrs on water.. I was on a lake over the 4th of july this year in MN a few times and we saw ZERO musky boats... and it's a great musky lake... give me a lake with lower density and lower pressure and those fish often times can be fooled much easier than the opposite lake...there are other factors that come into play than just musky density. Of course one wouldn't expect the fish per hour ratio to be the same on Mille lacs as LSC, but overall the musky populations on "most" lakes in WI and MN are fairly similiar... time on the water of course is important to hone your skills...but to say it's just the body of water isn't really true at least by my data over the last 10 yrs...muskies are muskies.
Edited by BNelson 9/13/2017 11:27 AM
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| Where was it stated that it's "just the body of water?" He was simply stating that the body if water you fish plays a huge role when it comes to numbers. If you fish LSC all year compared to Leech...that becomes pretty obvious. |
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| I agree 100% with BNelson. My fishing time has decreased dramatically from where it was 5 years ago and yet my fish totals have been fairly consistent. I've learned when to go, how to effectively use different lures, various patterns, how to read fish, techniques to trigger, how the conditions tend to affect fish location, when to make a shift in pattern (and when not to.), etc. All of it adds up to better catch rates. I doubt any of my skills are perfect, but they are far more honed that they were 5 years ago and it makes a huge difference.
Anybody can go out and wash baits, if that was all it took then we'd never see guys make posts on here about their struggles, especially rookie anglers. |
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Location: Stevens Point, Wisconsin | BNelson - 9/6/2017 9:02 AM
musky fishing is like golf.. tell Jordan Speith he's just lucky to win cuz he uses the right club, at the right time, and makes the right shots... lmfao.... luck is part of it, but the best take as much luck out of the equation as possible.
“Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.”
? Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
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Location: Aurora | I couldn't agree more with every single thing that's been posted in this thread.
Oh, and to those that haven't figured "it" out yet, best of luck to all yawls.
Werd!
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Location: oswego, il | Brad is pretty much nailing it. If you know what your doing and doing it at the right time and place you will catch more fish. There is nothing like being the only boat fishing really good musky water time after time. I can fondly remember a lake that gets alot more pressure now that i had to myself for a couple years and we averaged 4 fish in our first 20 trips. I have had similar results fishing other lakes like that one before the guides found them and shown to the masses.
Edited by ToddM 9/14/2017 5:47 AM
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Location: Ashland WI | I still think timing is a huge aspect of it. Take two guys with similar skill levels and timing is the difference maker. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | yes, I often say to my buds "timing IS everything" but the best musky fishermen I know capitalize the most when that times comes... there is absolutely NO way to 100% predict when muskies will become active, best advice I can give is to keep fishing the best spots over and over and over, so when a window does open you are on em... and when it does open, make hay! one of the differences between great anglers and an avg anglers is when fish are active the boat with 2 great anglers might have a 5 to 10 fish day or outing, the boat with less skilled might end up with 1 to 3... timing is huge but so is executing when that time comes... all good replies... been interesting to read !
Edited by BNelson 9/14/2017 7:09 AM
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Location: Elk River, Minnesota | ToddM - 9/14/2017 5:46 AM
Brad is pretty much nailing it. If you know what your doing and doing it at the right time and place you will catch more fish. There is nothing like being the only boat fishing really good musky water time after time. I can fondly remember a lake that gets alot more pressure now that i had to myself for a couple years and we averaged 4 fish in our first 20 trips. I have had similar results fishing other lakes like that one before the guides found them and shown to the masses.
Not sure I would agree brad is actually nailing it... It should be more of something we all realize as what I see him saying I would feel people see as common sense.
Key elements:
The body of water you choose helps or hinders catch rate
The body of water you choose helps/hinders the "average size" of fish you catch
The amount of time on that water learning it helps/hinders your catch rate
The techniques you use and how well you apply those techniques helps/hinders whether or not you are catching or even contacting fish.
The timing of when you go to a certain body of water helps/hinders catch rate
Grouping all of your fish together into one category so the numbers look good, is honestly painting a great picture and we can all sit there and say "Wow"...that's awesome... because those numbers skew toward certain bodies of water and not others and doesn't tell the whole story. Separate them out and those numbers now tell much more about how things really are.
Bodies of water change over time. Mille Lacs, Vermilion, Bemidji, you name it...they all go through ups and downs for various reasons. That is why we have seen so many guides over the years skip around from one body of water to another. They go where the fish are... Not all guides do that... and nor would I feel the masses of muskie fisherman have the time or the means to do so either...
BUT...that is not to say catch rates don't increase at all for individual bodies of water...that is not what I am saying at all. Catch rates should increase over time on a body of water, but that also fluctuates depending on other factors the fisherman is not in control of such as pressure, winter-kill (where it happens), catch and keep (whatever techniques are being used) by others etc. That all goes into choosing the body of water to fish.
Steve
Edited by VMS 9/14/2017 7:25 AM
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Location: Contrarian Island | single best way to catch more isn't to simply fish longer hours, it's increasing your skill level... just like golf to get more birdies don't just golf more. get better! fish smarter, not harder. I guarantee we are doing a lot of things different than the masses that fish lotw the same week we do.... one spot we got 5 fish from 48 to 52 off we never saw another boat fishing it til the last day an indian guide hit it once... I'll take fishing where and when others aren't every day of the week over taking a number...maybe that is why I like night fishing so much
Edited by BNelson 9/14/2017 8:25 AM
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Posts: 833
| How you manage your day and the decisions you make are also a huge part of it. What observations do you make? Of those observations, which do you keep, which, if any, do you discard? When do you shift your pattern? When do choose to stick it out? Etc. Etc.
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Posts: 20179
Location: oswego, il | Making all the right choices, that includes the body of water. Some people feel the need to live and die in one place. Good fishermen don't.
Edited by ToddM 9/14/2017 11:37 AM
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Posts: 612
| musky-skunk - 9/7/2017 11:42 AM
I feel like the fish smart vs fish hard debate is pretty silly. You need to do both to be successful. I've been having really good numbers this summer per time on the water but noticed the bite times haven't always been conventional. One weekend for example on the first day we caught 3 fish at 6a.m., 11p.m. and 12:45p.m. The very next day I put in a half day before heading home and caught one at 12:30p.m. and the other at 1p.m. after starting again at sunrise. That is so typical and it shows that if a person started mid morning then fished until noon, then went back out for the sunset bite and left at dark there's a very real chance they'd of caught zero fish instead of 5. I actually considered that weekend to be a bit on the slow side too but was glad with the end result. Now that said not everyone fishing my same hours would have put themselves on fish either. The key is to be out there long hours while consistently putting yourself on fish.
As far as luck goes you can do everything right and just not get the bite you deserved and conversely sometimes the guy doing everything wrong can catch a giant (thinking of the newspaper articles of kids on docks catching 50's on a nightcrawler). Realistically though I think it's safe to say "luck" is the much lesser side of the equation. More often then not putting in the hours while being "smart" on boat control, presentation and location will give a person the desired result.
x2 all the way
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Posts: 8719
| Not so much for the young guys, but recognizing when you are likely to have feeding windows from day to day is huge. Beating the water to a froth when nothing is happening, leaving yourself tired and unable to focus when they finally decide to move is a mistake we used to make a lot. Sometimes it's best to take it easy, fish for something else, stop and have a sandwich, or go back to the cabin and take a nap for an hour and go back out later on. Putting in hours is one thing, being on top of your game when the other team finally shows up is another. |
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Location: Latitude 41.3016 Longitude 88.6160 | Abu7000 - 9/5/2017 11:12 AM
I was the 3rd person in the back of the boat. I just got lucky. However you are right the first lure gets a lot more action, but not always the biggest fish. Over the years the 3rd person in the boat has caught the majority of fish over 50". I don't what this means.
Using a 500 Tranx with a handle that keeps becoming loose. I am not sure why the handle keeps loosening up, but I stripped the nutt over tightening it. Mostly my fault.
Use BLUE Lock Tight inside the Handle Nut
Do Not over tighten!!
If it comes loose after using Blue
Then use RED !! Lock Tight |
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Posts: 1425
Location: St. Lawrence River | Man i would like to try my hand at LOTW one day.. i dont even want to figure my numbers. Low density. The one thing i have going for me is that our average fish is 47"ish and it seems about 1 in every 3 or 4 that we contact is a 50+..
Focusing on prime times is definitely key here, to me. Has a lot to do with us getting better at this over the last couple years.
Edited by JakeStCroixSkis 9/16/2017 3:28 PM
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Location: Contrarian Island | decision making is key to success, making good decisions at the right times pays off huge. Last weekend we had been having a fairly tough go of it one day. It was primetime, we have been seeing fish in one area and getting hits but it went cold, as my buddy Brett says "we were burning daylight" fast... I pulled the pin on our hot area to go to the last spot we had known a bigger fish to be....pull in, not 15 casts, 50" in the net and it wasn't even the one we saw. this past week only confirmed for me again how important it is to watch moon times ... anyone that doesn't believe they will up your odds at big fish is missing out on fish....when the weather has them in a funk the only shot you might get could be a moon rise/set/overhead/underfoot..make it count
Edited by BNelson 9/25/2017 3:31 PM
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Burning