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Posts: 9
| I don't have a lot of experience catching but have done quite a bit of fishing for Musky.
I recently came from a trip to Bemidji where we hired a guide to help. He got us on fish and that was about it.
We spent four days after on three different lakes and had not less than twelve fish follow. My son dit have one bite on a gold spoon but quickly shook the hook.
We fished sun up and sun down, moon rise and moon set, overhead and under foot.
I can't help but think with all the follows that I'm making a rookie mistake somewhere.
Any wisdom is appreciated. Thanks |
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Location: Contrarian Island | sometimes they just don't bite. Last October we moved 45 in 2 days and not 1 hit, or maybe 1 swiped ... best advice is to mix it up with different lures to see if something would trigger them. Gliders worked fast with some pauses, triple d's ripped with a pause, big cranks, you name it, throw it at em to see what might get a bite... but, at times they are just not going to open up.
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Posts: 2275
Location: Chisholm, MN | Apparently the guide had you throwing spoons? That would be mixing it up I guess! |
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Posts: 90
| Was the water pretty clear? Or did it differ from lake to lake? They seem to follow more in clear water. |
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Posts: 3469
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
This sounds like a good scenario to change size of bait. Same styles, but knowing the lakes are quite clear in that area, I'd maybe think downsizing would be a good option.
Same bait styles, same contrast, cadence, etc... just smaller size.
I'd say the spoon was a good indicator If my assumption is correct that the spoon was like a daredevil or something of that nature...
Steve
Steve
Edited by VMS 10/13/2017 11:04 AM
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Posts: 90
| VMS - 10/13/2017 11:03 AM
Hiya,
This sounds like a good scenario to change size of bait. Same styles, but knowing the lakes are quite clear in that area, I'd maybe think downsizing would be a good option.
Same bait styles, same contrast, cadence, etc... just smaller size.
I'd say the spoon was a good indicator If my assumption is correct that the spoon was like a daredevil or something of that nature...
Steve
Steve
I always downsize in clear lakes and they still follow, even size 3 blades.. |
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Posts: 8717
| This will make sense in the future:
The only way to get a following fish to eat is to get a bunch of following fish to eat. Changes of speed and direction are good triggers, keeping the lure in front of the fish is important, making wide turns so the fish can turn with the lure is important.
But until you convert a bunch of fish, it's kind of trial and error. |
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Posts: 770
Location: Delavan, WI | Welcome to muskie fishing I can recall some days when you can see in excess of 20 different fish in different areas and if you caught just 1 it was a good day, other days you may only see 3 but catch or at least hook 2 of them, its just part of the game, sure there was plenty of things you could have done different and who knows what the end result would be, keep trying change up lures if there following that's all you can do until you get a strike and then repeat, next time out things will be different and they may not even look at your same lure then you have to start all over till you find the one they want, sounds simple enough right |
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Posts: 50
Location: Southern Indiana | Like most things, the more you do it the better you get at it. You learn to read the fish's attitude and react accordingly. Learn what works and more importantly what doesn't. Early on I had 47 follows in 2 days, caught 2 fish. I'd like to have that one back. |
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Posts: 9
| All three were clear to 5-6 feet
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Posts: 9
| More like a red eye shoe horn |
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Posts: 1023
| There is an art to eights but sometimes they just won't hit. I got three in the eight yesterday but we had twenty follows the trip before with not one committal. It was fun and painful at the same time. |
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Posts: 9
| Thanks for the comments. Unfortunately were home in South Dakota now. Not much for Musky here. Not a total loss though, after 6 days in a tent in Bemidji State park and 9 days of hard fishing we did manage to get my son his first fish on Big Spirit lake in Iowa , small but a fish none the less. I hope he's hooked!(the goal of the whole trip). Thanks again |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Sometimes what we do helps promote follows - I think this might be especially true of those newer to muskie fishing - we can get so caught up in seeing a fish that maybe we do things that make it easy for them to just follow the bait. I caught very few boatside fish until the past couple years and one thing I do now is I get a lot more aggressive with baits as they near the boat using speed, rips, etc... whether I see a follow or not - the idea is to trigger them before the 8, if possible... I fish a twin cities lake that's clear and gets a lot of pressure - lots of guys throwing bucktails, which I think are "easy" for fish to follow... so, I throw a lot of crankbaits and jerkbaits and really work the hell out of them... fast/slow, rip/pause all in one cast... can't say that's a great answer, but I get a few...
Edited by MNSteveH 10/23/2017 4:01 PM
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Posts: 8717
| The thing to keep in mind is that if they wanted to eat your offering, they'd have done it already. Your job is to get them fired up so they HAVE to eat it. Had a fish this past season that followed like many others - about 4 feet behind the lure, just keeping pace with it. I sped up, she went a little faster, gained a few feet. I swung my rod out, sped up more, she was right up on it. Took her into the first turn and she was coming unglued. Around the outside and up, just a slight pause, and she just clobbered it.
Now... It's rare that they do exactly what you want and respond to your every move so you actually catch them high and on the outside where you want them. But if I had just kept going and done a nice smooth 8, that's a fish I probably would not have caught.
Get 'em riled up, and give them a chance at it while it's perpendicular to their face (sideways in front of them) and most will take a shot at it. |
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