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Posts: 241
| Looks windy this weekend so next out maybe late in the first week of November. I'm not hunting this year, have use of my brothers boat and have some 96 hours off shifts.
How long are lures - jerkbaits, gliders, big rubber - still a viable option before the "sucker bite" makes for better odds?
I rarely fish late into the fall - is there a time to say "enough is enough" with the lures and fish only a spread of suckers?
...and thanks for not laughing in my face at a silly question. I appreciate the advise.
Backdraft |
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Posts: 4269
Location: Ashland WI | I think I'm already at the point of liking my chances with the suckers better. If my hands get cold, I stop casting. |
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Posts: 20179
Location: oswego, il | Unless it is 1 line per angler cast with a sucker in the water. Casting is effective down to about 25 degrees, below that the reel ices up way too much. The water off your line becomes ice instantly. |
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Posts: 558
| Big rubber till the end. |
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Posts: 1636
| There are a few deep spots on some rivers. Ice forms over some of these deep spots in the coldest parts of winter. For some reason, the Muskellunge will sometimes react to a lure after you break off the giant sheet of ice over the hole. I assume the Muskellunges were sitting under the ice due to the location of where they reacted to the lures.
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Due to the identifiable visuals perceived through a couple naked eyes, I believe the actual memories of seeing giant schools of baitfish under the ice in the winter months have lead me to believe...
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- The crazy vibrations all of the terrified baitfish put off just might be the reason Muskellunge decide they want to "get ripped." xsrc="L.L."
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...It is pretty cool.
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Small Bulldawgs work very well. Storm Swim Shads and shallow running minnow baits work very well also. 6-7" lures have triggered the fish when it gets super cold to the point where you literally have to melt the ice on every piece of gear related to what actions you want to perform.
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These fish are always worth getting a girth measurement.
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Eggs and fish - or just eggs? :)
Edited by Reelwise 10/27/2016 6:43 PM
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Posts: 1199
Location: Walker, MN | I have better luck casting lures until they bounce, suckers rarely produce for me. I catch fish casting lures when the water is in the 30's, often the best fish of the year. Sometimes you cast all day for a short window though. |
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| Ask the boys that fished the PMTT Championship on Miltona how good the "Lure" bite is. If you are fishing a stocked musky lake in MN right now you should be dragging meat. |
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Posts: 556
| I have caught them casting Jerks and Rubber right up to Ice Up.....Just slow down my retrieve as the water gets colder..
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Posts: 612
| I use mainly Jerkbaits and pullbaits from in 8 to 30 FOW. I always jerk - pull them moderately fast right, straight thru June thru Oct. However I never use the blinding speed retrieves I see other guys use. I always pause the baits for a second or 3 after movements, regardless of water temp and get most of my hit during this time. I suppose I may lengthen the pause to 3 -4 seconds when water drops below 55 degrees. |
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Posts: 3240
Location: Racine, Wi | You can use hard baits all the way till you can't cast the ice out of your reel.  I tend to slow down my retrieves as it gets colder. But also tend to put some erratic moves into the baits. For example, DDDs, and 10" jakes. Straight crank at a slow to medium speed (after cranking fast a few times to get it to depth), then occasionally a few hard rips, followed by a decent pause.
The feeding windows are shorter as the water cools down, so be patient if you aren't seeing anything. When that window opens, it can be fast action, so keep your baits wet.
Also, don't be afraid to go super shallow at times. Most of our action is off the breaks and on deep flats, but we have seen some monsters up in 4 fow in areas we'd been contacting fish deeper. |
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Posts: 815
Location: Waukee, IA | I picked up 5 muskies between Monday and Tuesday in water ranging from 51-54?. Used glide baits but I wouldn't say I was crawling them (.5 to 1.5 seconds of pause per pull.) The feeding window followed the "major" closely both days and the action was zero if you missed it by more than half an hour. |
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Posts: 255
| agree with Tuffy1 on the straight cranks and the rip action. Sometimes the skis are following suckers as we checked them, but not chasing them, so the rip action triggers them. Water temp was 36 in late November for that once. Next day might be just a sucker bite, never know til you go. |
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Posts: 2275
Location: Chisholm, MN | The only bite we had yesterday was on rubber. Had a sucker down all day with no rips. Rubber and other artificial baits work great until the end. |
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Posts: 427
| With no closed season we fish all year and catch fish all winter on rubber, cranks, and occasionally glides. Love fishing the deeper edges in January and February with rubber, short windows but nothing like getting down and dirty with a FAT girl. |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | Cfollow - 10/27/2016 6:59 PM
Ask the boys that fished the PMTT Championship on Miltona how good the "Lure" bite is. If you are fishing a stocked musky lake in MN right now you should be dragging meat.
Unless you just don't care to catch them that way. |
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Posts: 1220
| It's hard to give up on casting just yet, especially if you're fishing Miltona or anywhere in Minnesota where you get only one rod. Sitting there with one sucker out can make for a cold and lonely day. I saw the better option pre-fishing Friday when we stopped to talk to three locals casting with two suckers dragging (supposedly) the lines belonging to two very young kids they had along. That made a lot of sense. Here in Wisconsin right now, if I'm alone, I'm casting and dragging two suckers. But in two more weeks with the water temps going below forty...it's all suckers. I find the closer to hard water you get, the fish just won't chase a bait--even pays to have a dead or near-dead sucker with the group for the musky that just won't put out any effort at all. |
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Posts: 1969
| Propster - 10/28/2016 11:17 AM
Cfollow - 10/27/2016 6:59 PM
Ask the boys that fished the PMTT Championship on Miltona how good the "Lure" bite is. If you are fishing a stocked musky lake in MN right now you should be dragging meat.
Unless you just don't care to catch them that way.
Exactly, hundreds in IA, MN, and Canada October-November with water temps down to 36, over the years...I've never put a sucker or any live bait in the water for skies... I could fish two suckers and cast in Iowa..no thanks, if I want to fish like I'm catfishing.. I'll go chase flatheads To each their own..not for me.. You can definitely catch them on lures up to ice up.
Edited by IAJustin 10/28/2016 10:19 PM
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | Casting big baits until Ice up.
No suckers for me either, one line only in N. MN.
Oh water temps are 48 and the White fish nets went up yesterday for some odd reason. white fish are no where near spawning.
Next 6 days will be above freezing. |
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| A couple of giants from THIS weekend caught on suckers.
Happy Casting!
Edited by Cfollow 10/30/2016 8:19 PM
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Posts: 200
Location: Twin Cities | Cfollow - 10/30/2016 8:09 PM
A couple of giants from THIS weekend caught on suckers.
Happy Casting!
Tonka? |
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | Cfollow - 10/30/2016 8:09 PM
A couple of giants from THIS weekend caught on suckers.
Happy Casting!
good for you...Any Pics ? |
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Location: Contrarian Island | so do you use livebait saltwater fishing IA Justin? 
there are days/times when a guy can go out and just cast lures and get blanked while another boat could get a bunch of hits on livebait....and the same can happen in reverse, or there are days they both work.... anyone thinks they can always outfish one or the other tactic is fooling themself... baits and live bait work at all times of the year, not just in fall... |
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Posts: 200
Location: Twin Cities | Top H2O - 10/31/2016 9:51 AM
Cfollow - 10/30/2016 8:09 PM
A couple of giants from THIS weekend caught on suckers.
Happy Casting!
good for you...Any Pics ?
he has pics there as attachments, just have to download them |
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Posts: 1969
| BNelson - 10/31/2016 10:06 AM
so do you use livebait saltwater fishing IA Justin?
there are days/times when a guy can go out and just cast lures and get blanked while another boat could get a bunch of hits on livebait....and the same can happen in reverse, or there are days they both work.... anyone thinks they can always outfish one or the other tactic is fooling themself... baits and live bait work at all times of the year, not just in fall...
Saltwater live bait- Honestly rarely, sometimes as a "teaser"/ no hooks and when I do use live bait with a hook in saltwater I'm fighting fish that pull like a freight train.. the fight of a muskie has almost no "trill" of why I choose to chase them... |
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Posts: 3136
| Bought NY strip for $6.99 a pound,suckers I hear are about $10-13 ??? I'm content with weighted jerks and rubber and a good meal afterwards |
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Posts: 3136
| Just out of curiosity I can remember about 6 ?? Fish in the fall last few years that were at or past the Minnesota state record were any on suckers ???
Edited by happy hooker 10/31/2016 1:58 PM
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Location: Contrarian Island | to each their own, but I've seen days in WI we fish we have suckers out and we are casting 2 baits... we get zero hits on baits all day but can have 5+ fish days on suckers... (we can use 3 lines each here)... I go out there to catch fish, not wash lures...so to me, yah, it sucks to pay 8 bucks or more a sucker but I look at it this way... how many baits do I have that have never put a fish in the net....good chance that $8+ is gonna get hit! money well spent in my book.
Edited by BNelson 10/31/2016 2:03 PM
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Posts: 3136
| Personally I don't fish suckers but I do believe that below 50 degrees water temp they do "trigger" bites better. But you definitely cover more water casting and trolling in a fall smaller window season.
It would be interesting to have a late fall tournament where live bait and lures are allowed on a premiere lake. |
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Posts: 230
Location: St Paul, Minnesota | I'm pro-both. All weekend we loaded the boat up with 4 anglers, had two casting and two soaking suckers. We brought in a couple follows on the baits, but the winners this weekend went to the anglers soaking suckers off the back of the boat who went 3-for-4 on suckers including a super fat 46.5"er and a really fun 41" that happened to be the girl in our boat's first musky ever (though not for lack of casting and near misses earlier this year).
Both work great, both count in my book, and I'll continue to do both until ice-up.
-C7 |
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Posts: 99
| If we could use two lines in mn I would soak a sucker. Until than mostly casting for me. Get too bored watching a bobber. |
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